Where to stay in San Diego: the best areas and hotels

The Gaslamp Quarter is sixteen or so blocks of handsome Victorian buildings that spend the day looking respectable and the night behaving otherwise. Restaurants spill onto the pavements, rooftop bars fill up after work, and on game nights the whole district flows downhill towards Petco Park, home of the Padres. The convention centre is across the road, so expect capes and cosplay if you land during Comic-Con.

Hotels here are part of the scene. The Pendry is the polished one, with a spa, a rooftop pool and three restaurants. The Andaz is openly a party hotel at weekends, so light sleepers should look elsewhere. The US Grant is the grande dame, a Beaux Arts landmark with a famous grill, and the Omni has its own private footbridge straight into the ballpark.

A few blocks north of the Gaslamp, Little Italy is San Diego's most walkable neighbourhood and its best place to eat: trattorias, wine bars, coffee roasters and open-air markets strung along India Street. The Embarcadero is just downhill, with the USS Midway Museum, harbour cruises and the shops of Seaport Village along the water. The airport is minutes away, which is handy and occasionally audible.

In Little Italy itself, the Carte is the stylish newcomer and the Dextro and the Courtyard are reliable, well-placed alternatives with the restaurants on the doorstep. On the bayfront, the Manchester Grand Hyatt towers over Seaport Village with harbour views from almost every window, a few steps from the Gaslamp.

Coronado sits across the bay from Downtown, joined to it by a soaring blue bridge and a passenger ferry, and it feels like another decade. The streets are quiet and lined with bungalows, the main avenue has ice-cream parlours rather than nightclubs, and the beach is enormous: wide, flat, gently shelving and flecked with mica that makes the sand glitter.

The Hotel del Coronado is the reason many people come, a red-turreted Victorian fantasy right on the sand that has been hosting film stars and presidents for well over a century. Shore House at The Del offers residences with kitchens and balconies within the same resort. The Bower is a small, serene alternative with just 39 rooms, and the Marriott, on the bay side, has three pools, tennis courts and a spa.

La Jolla is San Diego's jewel box, a wealthy seaside village wrapped around a rocky cove where sea lions and seals lounge within a few feet of the footpath. Galleries and good restaurants line the streets above, La Jolla Shores has a long family beach and calm water for kayaking, and to the north the cliffs rise to Torrey Pines, a state reserve of rare pines and one of the most famous golf courses in America.

In the village, the Grande Colonial is the classic choice, an elegant old hotel with a pool and a much-praised restaurant. Up on the bluffs, the Lodge at Torrey Pines is a Craftsman-style beauty overlooking the 18th green, with the Hilton next door sharing the same view. Estancia, a rancho-style hotel and spa, sits between La Jolla and Del Mar.

Del Mar is the quietest and most exclusive of the coastal villages, a hillside of expensive houses above a long surf beach, with a famous racetrack that brings a dressed-up crowd every summer. There is not much to do except walk the beach, eat well and watch the sunset, which is rather the point.

L'Auberge Del Mar sits in the middle of the village, a block from the sand and a mile from the racetrack, and feels like a private coastal estate. Inland, the Fairmont Grand Del Mar is a different proposition altogether: a Mediterranean-style resort set in a canyon nature preserve. The Hilton San Diego/Del Mar is the practical option close to the beaches and shops.

This is everyday San Diego at play. Pacific Beach is the lively one, a long boardwalk of surf shops, taco stands and bars where flip-flops count as evening wear. Behind it, Mission Bay is a vast sheltered lagoon made for paddleboards, bikes and small children, with SeaWorld on its southern shore. Point Loma, the peninsula guarding the harbour, is calmer still: marinas, seafood shacks and the cliffs of Sunset Cliffs.

Tower23 is the boutique pick in Pacific Beach, a 44-room hotel with a rooftop terrace over the sand. The San Diego Mission Bay Resort sits right on the bay a mile from SeaWorld. On Point Loma, Kona Kai is a tropical-flavoured resort and spa on Shelter Island with its own tiki bar, and the Monsaraz puts you within walking distance of the area's best-known fish counters.

Half an hour up the coast, Carlsbad is where San Diego families go on holiday. LEGOLAND California is the big draw, but the town also has miles of uncrowded beach, spring flower fields and some of the best golf in the region. Neighbouring Encinitas is a proper surf town, and Oceanside, just north, has a long wooden pier and a pair of smart new beach hotels beside it.

The resorts are large and well equipped. The Park Hyatt Aviara spreads across 250 green acres with separate adult and family pools and a golf club. Omni La Costa is a long-established golf, tennis and spa resort a few minutes from the beach, the Sheraton has a waterslide and a free beach shuttle, and Cape Rey sits right beside the ocean.

About an hour inland from the coast, Temecula is a valley of vineyards, tasting rooms and hot-air balloons drifting over the vines at dawn. It makes an easy two-night add-on to a San Diego trip, and a very different one: slower, warmer and built around long lunches.

Stay among the grapes. Ponte Vineyard Inn and the Tuscan-style Carter Estate both have working wineries attached, along with outdoor pools for the heat of the afternoon. Temecula Creek Inn is the golfer's choice, with its own course and a well-regarded restaurant.