San Diego
California
A harbour city on the Mexican border where the Pacific coast runs from the Coronado sand to the cliffs of La Jolla and the surf towns of North County. Inland of the bay you find the pueblo plaza where the city began, the old Gaslamp downtown, the murals of Barrio Logan and the exposition towers of Balboa Park.
7 challenges · 32 stops
STARTERA Tall Ship, a Kiss and a Carousel
≈ 2,500 steps1.1 mi · about 1.5 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.A flat walk down the Embarcadero along San Diego Bay: the 1863 sailing ship at the Maritime Museum, the giant sailor-and-nurse statue by the Midway, and the old carousel at Seaport Village. About ninety minutes on the waterfront promenade.
STARTERFrom the Broadway Fountain to the Kiosko
≈ 4,000 steps1.8 mi · about 2 hoursStarter · 3 stops · 500 credStart where you live.A downtown walk south from the fountain on Broadway, under the Gaslamp Quarter arch on Fifth Avenue, and across to the murals of Chicano Park in Barrio Logan. About two hours on flat city sidewalk.
STANDARDLa Jolla from the Surf Shack to the Summit
≈ 4,000 steps + 2.7 mi by car2.0 mi on foot · about 4 hoursStandard · 4 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.Half a day along the La Jolla coast: the palm-thatched surf shack at Windansea, the seawall where harbour seals haul out, the cove below the bluffs, then a short drive up to the memorial on Mount Soledad. About four hours.
STANDARDOld Town, the Presidio Hill and the First Mission
≈ 2,500 steps + 7.3 mi by car1.2 mi on foot · about 4 hoursStandard · 4 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.Where the city began: the plaza of the old Mexican pueblo, a Greek Revival house of the 1850s, the museum on the hill where the presidio stood, then a short drive up Mission Valley to the first of California's missions. Half a day.
STANDARDTowers and Fountains of El Prado
≈ 1,900 steps0.9 mi · about 3 hoursStandard · 4 stops · 600 credOne trip earns it.Half a day in Balboa Park along El Prado, the promenade built for the 1915 exposition: the tiled tower, the lath-roofed glasshouse and its lily pond, the fountain at the east end, and the outdoor organ to the south. Three hours or more, all on foot.
ADVANCEDThe Harbour Mouth, Point Loma to Coronado
≈ 4,000 steps + 24 mi by car2.0 mi on foot · a full dayAdvanced · 6 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.A full day around the mouth of San Diego Bay, by car: the tuna fishermen's statue and the Japanese bell on Shelter Island, the old lighthouse at Cabrillo National Monument (entry fee), the pier at Ocean Beach, then across the bridge to Coronado's ferry landing and its beach.
ADVANCEDThe North County Surf Coast
≈ 3,000 steps + 40 mi by car1.5 mi on foot · 1 day or moreAdvanced II · 8 stops · 800 credGetting there is not the hard part.Two days up the old coast highway by car, from La Jolla Shores to Oceanside: the research pier, the gliders on the Torrey Pines cliffs, the pines themselves, the surf towns of Cardiff, Encinitas and Carlsbad, the long pier at Oceanside and the mission inland.
Counted between stops; you'll walk more at each one.
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