Travel Guide: Top 6 Things to Do for a San Diego Honeymoon

Do you like oceans, beaches, perfect weather, and tons of fun things to do? A San Diego honeymoon may be the perfect place for you to go after your wedding or on a quick getaway! We’ve been there together a few times, and chose it as our honeymoon destination, so here is our list of our top 6 things to do in San Diego!

1. The Safari Park:

Go see the animals!

The San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park is our favorite zoo that we have ever been to! If you go on a San Diego honeymoon, this would be the zoo we would recommend first! When you go there are moments where you seriously feel like you are on your own safari in Africa. Many of the animals share a large open savannah-like area together. Envision seeing giraffes, rhinos, wildebeest, birds, and other animals all in the same place. It really is a safari and not like a zoo at all! The animals are constantly active, even during the day, which can sometimes be a problem when you visit zoos.

They also have tons of tours that you can go on. There are caravans that will take you down close enough that you could almost touch a giraffe or rhino! It’s pretty awesome. While we were on one of the tours, we were told by our guide that the Safari Park has a huge amount of baby animals born every year. You’re almost guaranteed to see some kind of baby animal while you are there. I don’t know about you, but seeing baby animals is one of the best things about any zoo!

2. Old Town, San Diego:

History + Awesome Food?

Old Town is such a unique spot in San Diego. Half of it is filled with cheap souvenir shops and the other half is a restored and replicated version of historic San Diego, complete with old fashioned shops, restored buildings, and local shopping. If you’re going on a San Diego honeymoon, this is a must visit!

Old Town is built directly on the site of the original town of San Diego and really is a step back in time. You can go tour the old courthouse, the Whaley House which Travel Channel calls the number one most haunted house in America, the newspaper building, an old school house, and some incredible homes. It’s definitely worth taking the time to walk through the old buildings and maybe you’ll even hear some ghost stories!

There are tons of shops where you can buy Mexican style bags and blankets, and gourd artwork which are all pretty fantastic. We even found a Utah State Mexican style backpack while we were there, so of course we had to buy it! One of the highlights was all the local shops. We found a local San Diego store called “Nibble” that sells chocolate from all across the world. The stuff is so good, that we brought some home, finished it and then decided we needed to order more from their online store!

3. Whale Watching Tours:

Get out on the Ocean!

If you don’t get seasick easily and if you want a relaxing morning or afternoon, a whale watching tour is for you! Imagine feeling the slight breeze of the ocean against your face while you soak in the sun on the deck of a fishing boat. Now add in packs of dolphins… and we mean packs! We saw probably around 300 dolphins on our three hour outing, plus a couple of whales. The dolphins were incredible though! There were little families of dolphins that would swim up right next to the boat and jump into the air! It was so fun to watch, and a BLAST to try to take picture of. We went through San Diego Whale Watch and they did a great job of making sure that we knew when a whale or dolphin family was spotted.

4. The San Diego Mormon Battalion State Historic Site:

An interactive history center?

If you’re from Utah, you’ve probably gone to at least one LDS visitor center before, especially if you are LDS. This state historic site is run by LDS missionaries as a visitor center, but it is SO MUCH COOLER than any other visitor center that we have been to. We don’t want to give anything away, but just trust us, this place is one of our favorites and a must see whenever we visit San Diego. We’ll just say that it is interactive, immersive, and a ton of fun. They really focus on the history and the story of San Diego and the Mormon Battalion. There is no entrance fee and they have free souvenirs as well. We first went here on our own San Diego honeymoon, and we go back every visit!

5. The USS Midway:

This deserves the statement, HOLY SHIP! 🙂

If you haven’t ever been on a naval ship, then you HAVE to go experience this. The USS Midway really is a time capsule of US history. This thing is HUGE, so we’d definitely dedicate about four hours or so to really explore. You can do an audio tour throughout the whole thing and it makes it come alive. One thing that stood out to us was how difficult it would be to be in the Navy and to have to run through the hallways. Talk about breaking ankles on doorframes! It makes you really appreciate the work that takes place. The other standout areas were the cafeterias, the control rooms, the post office and also the doctor’s office/surgical center, and the dentist’s office. It’s pretty crazy and maybe a little anxiety causing to think about having your teeth cleaned while out at sea!

6. San Diego Padres:

A newer stadium in the middle of the city!

If you visit during the baseball season, a San Diego honeymoon isn’t complete without going to a Padres game – even if the team has a terrible record! The relatively new Petco Park is super nice and adds to the experience of watching an MLB game. Don’t be surprised to find a few dogs hanging out behind the outfield. They have an entire area dedicated to fans that bring their dogs to the park! How cool is that? There is a lot to do and a lot of awesome stadium food here. One of the favorites at Petco Park is the BBQ, which definitely was worthy of being a favorite because of the amount of food they give you on your plate and the quality – that pulled pork, dang! The stadium is also right in the middle of the city and is surrounded by skyscrapers on all sides, which really sets the scene and makes for a great atmosphere. We love going to as many MLB games as we can each summer!