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Residents here enjoy an endless summer climate and an easy-going lifestyle. Life revolves around Garnet Avenue, lined with nightclubs, cafés, late-night restaurants, and shops. The street ends at the 1927 Crystal Pier, a great location to watch the surfers below, catch a fish, or spend the night in a tiny cottage. Come early to claim a fire ring on the beach and cook up some marshmallows, or bicycle along the boardwalk to Mission Beach (see Mission Beach).

Sunset views over the Pacific define high living at one of San Diego’s finest beach hotels. Large guest rooms come with a balcony or patio. There’s no full-service restaurant, but the friendly staff can suggest neighborhood choices.

Come upstairs to enjoy the view as vintage biplanes take off and land. Breakfasts are hearty and lunch plates are heaped with sandwiches, fries, and coleslaw.

High atop one of North County’s highest mountains, the dome of the observatory has an otherworldly look. Part of the California Institute of Technology, Palomar is home to the 200-inch (508-cm) Hale Telescope, the largest optical instrument of its kind when installed in 1947. Its moving parts weigh 530 tons, the mirror 14.5 tons. Thanks to computer technology, no one “looks” through the telescope anymore; however, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (see Reuben H. Fleet Science Center) runs summer programs which utilize the 60-inch (152-cm) telescope.

To celebrate the opening of the Panama Canal and draw economic attention to the first US port of call on the West Coast, Balboa Park (see Balboa Park) was transformed into a brilliant attraction. Fair animals found homes at the zoo (see San Diego Zoo) and Spanish-Colonial buildings became park landmarks.

You can’t miss this coffee-house housed inside a historic Santa Fe Railroad Depot. Grab a beverage and sit upstairs or outside on a shady deck.

This magical place is filled with treasures from all over the world, such as festive Rajasthani umbrellas, beaded chairs from Nigeria, Mexican sugar skull molds, countless tea sets, and coffee, tea, and spices.

A paper airplane is artfully transformed into an Origami crane.

At this Indonesian-style spa, jasmine-scented or hot stone massages can precede a soak in a rose petal bedecked tub. The brightly decorated cottage rooms have private lanais .