This time, the idea was to simply hang out at Ocean Beach all weekend. We wound up going to Balboa Park for some museum hopping on Saturday, but other than that, we ate and drank and walked and reconnected. Ocean Beach is a good place for all of that.
 |
| Beach town parking |
 |
| Ocean Beach from the pier |
 |
| Courtyard of the Ocean Beach Hotel |
 |
| Burger, fries and beer at Hodad's |
We stayed at the Ocean Beach Hotel. The rooms are somewhat worn - and damn the lights that stay on all night just outside the courtyard room windows - but the location is good and the price was right ($119 plus tax for a courtyard queen). Even with rain and clouds, we had a fine time walking on the pier and around the neighborhood.
You can eat well in Ocean Beach. For our first meal, we headed straight for Hodad's, where there are almost always lines out the door, but not at 1:30 p.m. on a Friday. Although I go easy on red meat, I crave a hamburger a few times a year. By last weekend, I'd had my hamburger jones for about two months -- and Hodad's was the ideal place to finally fulfill it with one of the best burgers I've had in years, especially paired
with some bleu cheese and tasty fries and a delicious red ale. (The music was outstanding, too.) We barely had room for anything on Friday night, but I managed to eat one excellent fish taco and drink a pint of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA at South Beach Grille.
We had heard both from our hotel desk clerk and a local food critic that Bo-Beau is the best place in Ocean Beach for fine dining. So after a Saturday afternoon in Balboa Park, we went straight from the bus to Bo-Beau and got the last available table at 5:30. (Alas, it was in the crowded dining room to the left instead of the more spacious one to the right.) Despite the cramped quarters, the food was delicious.
For breakfasts, we tried the Ocean Beach Pier Cafe (nothing special, but a cool setting) and Shades, where many breakfast dishes are available in downsized versions, perfect for people who've eaten way too much food earlier in their Ocean Beach visit.
Transit notes
On Friday, it was an easy $2.25 bus ride on the MTS 923 from the airport to Ocean Beach. It's a 5-minute walk from Terminal 1 to the bus stop at North Harbor Drive and Harbor Island Drive.
On Saturday, we took the 35 bus, the Green and the Orange lines, and the 7 bus to Balboa Park. We skipped the 7 bus ride on the return trip, since it was an easy downhill walk to the Orange Line.
On Sunday, the Ocean Beach-airport bus line doesn't run, so we had to take the 35 bus to the Old Town Transit Center, where we caught the Green Line trolley to Santa Fe station. From there, we got the 992 bus to the airport. (Look for the bus shelter near the Starbucks at the corner of West Broadway and Keltner, diagonal from the train station.)
The transfers were mostly well-timed, though we had a few waits of more than five minutes. On at least two of our five trolley rides, MTS officers checked to be sure people had paid their fares. I wish Muni would do that more often.
The day pass situation in San Diego is a bit confusing. You can ride all day within the basic area for $5, but the driver charged us $7. Apparently, the day pass only costs $5 if you have a Compass card, which costs $2. So if you pay with cash on board, you're charged the extra $2.
If you plan to visit San Diego and ride transit for a few days, it might be worth getting the Compass card on your first day and paying for the number of days you want.
