Oceanside
Travel Guide

Oceanside, California, is exactly that—a beachfront city in the most northern coastal part of San Diego County.

It’s a little removed from main tourist attractions like the San Diego Zoo, La Jolla, and Downtown, so hotels tend to be a little lower priced. But nowadays, you can spend an entire beach vacation in Oceanside without leaving. And it’s pretty great.

Hi, I’m Katie and I help people upgrade their San Diego vacations through my hotel VIP perks, discounts, and content.

What you’ll find here

Oceanside Hotels

Things To Do

What To Eat

Beaches

Oceanside with Kids

Resources

Getting To & Around

Travel Tips

All Articles

My Favorite Oceanside Hotels

A few of the hotels that we book the most in San Diego County are located in Oceanside. These are The Seabird Ocean Resort and Mission Pacific Hotel, both Hyatts that we have VIP amenities.
They’re located across Mission Avenue from the beach. What’s neat is that since they are sister properties, when you stay at one, you can use the facilities at the other.
But then there are great boutique hotels like The Fin and The Green Room.

Get Our VIP Perks at These Hotels

The Seabird Ocean Resort and Mission Pacific Hotel are Hyatt properties next door to each other. If you stay at one, you have signing privileges at and access to the other.

The Seabird Ocean Resort

Estate Suite balcony with ocean views at The Seabird Resort

Have kids? Stay here. My Seabird Resort review.

LJM Perks:

Upgrade at time of booking
$100 hotel credit
Daily breakfast for two
Extended check-in/out times if available

Mission Pacific Hotel

View from my hotel room at Mission Pacific in Oceanside.

The more adult-centric of the two hotels with the Top Gun House and Michelin-starred Valle restaurant onsite. I’ve stayed here and I love it. My Mission Pacific review.

LJM Perks:

Upgrade at time of booking
$100 hotel credit
Daily breakfast for two
Extended check-in/out times if available

best OCEANSIDE Hotels

Research and Book Hotels on Your Own

We offer two tools if you’d like to research hotels with VIP programs on your own.

In both cases, you’ll need to understand the occupancy and bedding of the room or suite you’re booking. You can find this information on a hotel’s website directly. We’ll receive your reservation within minutes and will follow up to help make sure everything is correct.

Virtuoso

You will need to create a free account and log in to see the most accurate rates.

Book with Virtuoso

TravelWits

This tool allows you to see other VIP rates, such as Four Seasons Preferred Partner and Hyatt Prive, in addition to Virtuoso.

Book with TravelWits

Fun Things to Do in Oceanside, California

The most popular thing to do in Oceanside is to go to the beach. The beach north and south of the pier is pretty awesome. There’s a beachfront road called The Strand that residents and visitors use for running, walking and bike rides (rentals are available near the pier).

The Most Popular Oceanside Activities

Going to the Beach
Oceanside Museum of Art
Riding Bikes Along the Strand
California Surf Museum
Fishing and Whale Watching
Water Sports on the Bay and Surfing Lessons
Mission San Luis Rey

Brunch at one of the downtown restaurants plus a walk along the beach and pier is a nice morning out with family and friends.

best things to do in OCEANSIDE

Where and What to Eat

What tends to surprise our clients is how many great restaurants are located in the beach area. You can have Michelin-star Contemporary Mexican at Valle, a slice of pie served inside the actual Top Gun house, or even fantastic Southeast Asia at Dija Mara. Not to mention the many casual breakfast spots, breweries, and taco joints.

A lot of these places to eat are walkable from the two Hyatt beach resorts and other boutique hotels in the downtown area.

You’ll find lots of eateries with menus featuring fresh produce from San Diego’s farms, seasonal and organic ingredients, and vegetarian-friendly options. You can dine with water views and all are family friendly. There is everything you could possibly want here, including delicious sweets and amazing coffee.

We like:

Valle
Piper
Dija Mara
Matsu
The Plot
Petit Madeline
Turmeric Hut
Flying Pig

Going to the Beach in Oceanside

During a recent staycation at Mission Pacific, I walk down to the beach and along The Strand.
It’s awesome.

The most popular places to enjoy the beach in Oceanside are just north and south of the famous pier. Here, you’ll find concessions, bike rentals, some play areas, and helpful amenities to make your beach day awesome. The sand area is quite large and lifeguards patrol all of it.

However, you can also find smaller beaches in the more residential areas which are the ones a lot of locals frequent.

best beaches in OCEANSIDE

Visiting Oceanside with Kids

We place families at Oceanside hotels when they’re looking for beachfront experiences on really fantstic SoCal beaches that are pricing better than say Coronado hotels.

The Seabird is one of the most kid-friendly options in all of San Diego anyway.

But did you know that Oceanside is roughtly half-way between Disneyland and San Diego Zoo?

Oceanside with kids is mostly for families who want to relax on the beach. They might go to LEGOLAND or the Safari Park or take a day trip to downtown. But, because of the value proposition, quality of accommodations, and overall experience, I haven’t had anyone say it’s too far away from things.

Oceanside with kids

Resources

Sometimes, there isn’t one clear way to buy. I’ll tell you where to crunch numbers.

Go City San Diego

Save up to 50% on over 50 attractions across the county. Use promo code GOSDO5LJM for 5%.

Use Go City

CityPASS

Includes San Diego Zoo, USS Midway, SeaWorld, LEGOLAND and a few others people staying in Oceanside tend to see.

Use Citypass San Diego

Whale Watching

Choose between a couple of great options in Oceanside for seasonal grey or blue whales.

Luxury Cruise Dolphin & Whale

Food Tours

Carla and Linda’s Food Tours can take you to eat and drink around Oside.

Beer Tours South Oside North Oside

Getting To & Around Oceanside

Sure it’s on the border of Orange County, but public transportation makes it easy.

Amtrak / Coaster / Sprinter Trains

You can walk to the train station from many popular hotels which means it’s easy to carless once you get off the train.

Tip: You can take Amtrak to Disneyland!

Ride Circuit

Download the Circuit app and choose Oceanside as your location. This way you can ride the gO’side shuttle around downtown for free! It runs daily up until about 10 p.m. usually.

Uber/Lyft

Both work really well across San Diego County so you can use either rideshare service for quick rides around Oceanside.

Approximate Drive Times to Other Parts of San Diego County

San Diego Zoo

38 miles

~42 minutes

LEGOLAND California

8 miles

~15 minutes

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

28 miles

~38 minutes

Sesame Place San Diego

51 miles

~55 minutes

La Jolla Cove

30 miles

~40 minutes

Del Mar Village

20 miles

~25 minutes

Downtown San Diego (Petco Park)

40 miles

~45 minutes

San Diego International Airport (SAN)

38 miles

~43 minutes

Santa Fe Depot (Amtrak Station)

39 miles

~42 minutes

Disneyland

62 miles

~60 minutes

Oceanside Travel Tips

VISITOR CENTER

Stop in to ask questions in the convenient downtown location at 928 N Coast Hwy, Oceanside, CA 92054.

Rental Cars

Most people who stay in Oceanside have rental cars. However, it’s possible to go carless using a combination of the trains, Uber, bikes, and Circuit.

PARKING IN Oceanside

Each parking lot has its own rules but Visit Oceanside has done an excellent job of explaining the options. Do plan to pay to park.

BEST TIME TO VISIT

For weather, come between July–October. For price, come in shoulder seasons of September (after Labor Day)–beginning of November or January–mid-March.

TRAIN STATION (And Train Noise)

Oceanside train station is a few blocks away from the downtown hotels. I’m a light sleeper but I was prepared with ear plugs (and our hotel provided them as well) and I slept fine.

Dogs

Leashed dogs can be walked on The Strand but they’re not allowed on the beach, beach parks, or pier.

Frequently Asked Questions About Oceanside

A lot of people hesitate when we suggest that Oceanside might fit better into their budgets. I hope that the content here has helped alleviate any concerns but here are a few other questions that people ask us.

Yes, there can be traffic during rush hour near downtown, Del Mar, and in Carlsbad starting in the late afternoon on weekdays. You will want to plan around it if you can.

Yes! It’s very easy to take the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner train to Anaheim. We do it all the time. It takes longer than driving in zero traffic but there often is traffic so it can take the same amount of time.

Once you arrive in Anaheim you can take an Art bus to the park or a short Uber. I usually do the latter.

You can learn more in our guide to taking the train to Disneyland.

A lot of people split time between Oceanside and either Downtown or Coronado because they want to stay in a reasonably priced hotel in Oceanside but also do a lot of sightseeing near Downtown.

Or, people want to experience two different beaches by staying in Oceanside and Coronado. Or, they don’t want to pay to stay at Hotel del Coronado for their entire trip so then they book an Oceanside beach hotel.

It’s not necessary to break up your trip, but many people enjoy San Diego this way.

Rideshares work well in Oceanside. Uber says the average route price in an UberX is $62. A black car service is about $200 each way.

Free parking is tough to find in Oceanside. There is some street parking away from the beach and free parking in the transit center parking lot on Cleveland Street.

Frequent visitors can buy an annual parking pass but tourists staying in hotels should plan to pay the hotel’s parking free.

Rest assured though that there are plenty of fee based lots that are display and pay. Meaning you pay in a machine and need to display a ticket on your dahsboard.

All Oceanside Articles

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Oceanside
Travel Guide