Coronado Island

San Diego's Best Beaches are on Coronado Island

Linked to downtown San Diego by the arching Coronado Island Bay Bridge and to southern San Diego County by a slender, sandy isthmus, Coronado Island is technically not an island, it's a peninsula. It's home to the North Island U. S. Naval Air Station and the U. S. Navy SEALS center, but it's not the military that attract tourists to Coronado Island. It's not Frank Baum's Oz House, Wallace Simpson's home or the Coronado Island Museum, either. It's the white, sandy beaches that have earned the Travel Channel's ranking as one of top ten beaches in the U. S. and a Best Weekend Getaway.

I also like Coronado Island for its quiet, laid-back simplicity and for its beautiful views of the downtown San Diego skyline. See It Now: Photo Tour

Things to Do on Coronado Island

• Ferry Landing/Tidelands Park: Just below the Coronado Bay Bridge's western end lies the Coronado Island Tidelands Park and Ferry Landing Marketplace, with more than 30 shops, restaurants and art galleries. Visitors and locals walk or bicycle along the shoreline path or picnic here, enjoying San Diego skyline views. This is a great place to be at sunset, with views of the bridge and downtown. There's a farmers market here on Tuesdays.

• Hotel del Coronado: A sprawling, barn-red-and-white, Victorian-style seaside hotel, opened in 1888. The National Historic Landmark has hosted the twentieth century's most famous and infamous, from Marilyn Monroe to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Some say it also has a resident ghost. Even if you're not staying there, you can browse through the historic exhibits and photographs downstairs, or enjoy a meal in the restaurant.

• Coronado Beach: Travel Channel named Coronado Beach, north of here the Best Weekend Getaway Beach and one of the Best Beaches for Families, and it's uncrowded even in summer.

• Take a Tour: Walking tours leave several times a week from the Glorietta Bay Inn, or if you'd rather glide than stride, try a very cool Segway human transporter tour with Electro-Glide Tours. If you'd rather let someone else do the pedaling, try a pedicab tour withCoronado Pedicabs..

• Gondola Cruise: For a romantic rendezvous, take a Gondola cruise through the canals of Coronado Cays, a small community about four miles south of Coronado Village. They leave from the marina near Loews Coronado Bay Resort.

• Go Bicycling: With 15 miles of bike paths along the coast, you'll have plenty of places to go. You can rent a bike on Orange Avenue, at the Hotel del Coronado or at the Ferry Landing.

• Orange Avenue, which runs past the Hotel Del, is a popular shopping and dining area.

Where to Stay on Coronado Island

Any of our top Coronado Island hotels would be a great place to stay, but our favorite is the Glorietta Bay Inn.

Getting to Coronado Island from San Diego

If you're driving, take the Coronado Bay Bridge exit off I-5. By water from San Diego, take the Coronado Ferry that runs Broadway Pier on the San Diego side of the bay and Coronado Ferry Landing. It runs hourly from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., or if you miss it, you can call a water taxi at (619) 235-8294. The walk from the Ferry Landing to the Hotel Del Coronado is about 1.5 miles.

San Diego Trolley Tours stops here as well as other sights, and it's a good way to get around town with driving and parking hassles. Save time. Order your trolley tickets from Viator.com. They guarantee the best price, and you get a print-at-home voucher right away.