anyone been to San Diego

[Spectre8]

Cannot decide which hotel to base myself at, I could afford something as expensive as the Intercontinental but not sure and then there are cheaper options like the Westin or Hampton Inn.

Going in November and was looking to base myself in downtown so I can get to everything easily

If anyone has been and wants to give any advice that would be great

Yes, I've been there a few times, and will be back in 7 weeks. Its lovely being on the water, but check whether there is a big convention when you'll be going. Its nice to have the option of being by the pool for a bit of a chill out.
I've stayed at the Hilton, Marriott and Grand Hyatt - if you have a hotel by the trainline ask for a high floor as the train is really noisy in the night

Agree re train - which is one reason we don't stay downtown. We found hotels reluctant to guarantee a higher room away from the tracks.

Do you want access to the tram? what do you want to see/do? We found the area around gaslamp not very nice on our last visit and I wouldn't stay around there. Horton plaza is under major redevelopment which is taking a long time (years) and the area around isn't that nice.

Lyft is super easy and cheap to use to get around.

Took my ds there in 2017. We stayed at the Best Western Plus Island Palms Hotel & Marina, which I can recommend, but I had a car so it wasn't central.

We enjoyed riding the trolley, visiting Coronado Island and riding a Surrey bike, visiting Old Town, the zoo, and the aquarium at La Jolla. Had a great time and hope you do too!

We stayed at the Kimpton Palomar.

Thanks everyone

@CMOTDibbler @PatriciaHolm

So I have 4 days (arrive sun pm and leave thurs am) my plan was to base.myself near public transport to do following

1 day cover Balboa Park which I hear will take most of the day if I include the zoo and then visit little Italy for the evening or maybe gaslamp

1 day cover a visit to La Jolla and work my way down the coastline and see Pacific beach and watch the sunset at sunset cliffs

1 day cover the harbour and the military ships for the morning before heading over to coronda and spending rest of day and evening there, maybe hire a bike

Potentially do a harbour cruise if its worth it.

So I figured being near santa fe depot might make it easy to get around but I just decide id love to have an ocean/ harbour view and I was looking to stay around point loma or mission bay but I wont be hiring a car so figured thats too difficult to get around without paying lots of uber costs.

However if you think its worth it and much nicer then I'll reconsider.

Feom what I've seen the downtown hotels seem a bit dated in their style and have lots of resort fees that id rather not pay.