Attractions and Events

SeaWorld San Diego’s highly anticipated coaster, Arctic Rescue, is set to open this spring. This family-friendly multi-launch ride will invite guests to hop on a snowmobile and launch at up to 40 mph on a chilly adventure as they race through the unpredictable arctic climate to help endangered animals. The coaster will be the longest and fastest straddle coaster on the West Coast.

LEGOLAND® California Resort’s all-new Miniland U.S.A.: San Diego debuted March 23, 2023 representing the world’s first LEGO version of San Diego. Featuring famous landmarks, attractions and themes that make up the city's DNA, Master Model Builders drew inspiration from areas like the Gaslamp District, Coronado, Del Mar. Petco Park and San Diego’s incredible coastline. The section joins New York, Washington D.C., Las Vegas and San Francisco, all located in Miniland U.S.A, at the heart of the park.

The 40th Annual Gator By The Bay-Zydeco, Blues & Crawfish Festival returns to San Diego Bay May 11–14. The Mardi Gras-themed music and food festival will feature 100+ live musical acts and performances on seven stages, wooden dance floors, shade, green grass and plenty of fun for the kids. Gator By The Bay's French Quarter Food Court will serve authentic Cajun, Creole and Southern culinary delights, including gumbo, jambalaya, beignets and 10,000 pounds of crawfish from Louisiana.

The 2nd Annual S.D. Beer Weekend, presented by the San Diego Brewers Guild, takes place June 9 –11. San Diego is known as The Capital of Craft™, and guild member breweries throughout the County will host events and serve their beer in commemorative pint glasses. S.D. Beer Weekend, which was created in 2022 to celebrate the Brewers Guild's 25th anniversary, is the preamble to the nationally known San Diego Beer Week, whose 15th annual rendition will take place in November.

Belmont Park has big plans in preparation for its 100th anniversary in 2025. Currently, the park is working on opening a new ride and interactive climbing tower, Sun Kid Tower, which will offer thrill seekers beautiful ocean views and Mission Beach boardwalk, opening in early Summer. Belmont Park also recently replaced its Control Freak ride with a new but similar ride called Flip Out and expanded its Lazerblast Arcade, adding 14 new games and additional prizes.

The Port of San Diego Big Bay Boom July 4th Fireworks Show is back this year promising another spectacular display over San Diego Bay. Fireworks will be discharged simultaneously from bages placed strategically around the Bay off Shelter Island, Harbor Island, Embarcadero North, Marina District and Coronado Ferry Landing. The impeccably choreographed display will last approximately 18 minutes, starting at 9 p.m.

Comic-Con International, the largest comics and pop culture event in the United States, attracting thousands of artists, celebrities and fans of comic books, movie memorabilia and all things related to pop culture, is returning to San Diego Convention Center on July 20–23. Along with panels, seminars, and workshops with comic book professionals, attendees can enjoy of exclusive previews of upcoming feature films, portfolio-review sessions with top comic book and video game companies, and evening events such as awards ceremonies and the Masquerade, a costume contest; and the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival, which showcases shorts and feature-length movies that do not have distribution or distribution deals.

The Del Mar Racetrack is back with a 2023 racing season from July 21 to Sept. 10. Fans will flock to the iconic racing track where the "turf meets the surf" to bet on the nation's top racehorses, trainers and jockeys while having fun in the sun. Aside from the high-quality racing, there will also be various trackside events available to attend. including the Del Mar Beer Fest on July 22, Taste of New Orleans on August 5 and Tacos and Tequila on August 26.

Bleached Festival, a collaboration between Tight Knit and FNGRS CRSSD, is coming to San Diego’s Waterfront Park on August 5–6. The two-day event will connect indie-pop and new-wave R&B for fans with a diverse lineup that is topped by Japanese icon and R&B artist Joji and Neo-soul singer-songwriter Leon Bridges. Other performers include Omar Apollo, PinkPantheress, Lizzy McAlpine, Stephen Sanchez, Channel Tres, Surf Curse, BADBADNOTGOOD, Dayglow, Inner Wave and more.

New Hotels & Renovations

San Diego’s first Marriott AC hotel, known for its European styling and appeal to millennial travelers, opened in the Gaslamp Quarter in February. The 147-room AC Hotel San Diego Downtown Gaslamp Quarter will also include a rooftop pool and lounge that will open in early summer. In May, the rooftop bar — Techo Beso, meaning rooftop kiss — will offer a tapas-style menu with tacos, ceviche and cocktails. The rooftop bar is inspired by the energy and culture of love found in Tulum, Mexico, and features a main bar space for a communal party atmosphere with a DJ elevated to connect the bar to the pool deck.

This May Palihotel San Diego will reimagine the historic St. James Hotel, originally built in 1912, as a vibrant and bustling mainstay. Located in the heart of the Gaslamp District and featuring 122 guest rooms and a rooftop space, Palihotel San Diego will bring a youthful design to San Diego's hotel landscape. Each guest room will blend Palisociety’s signature California quirky sensibility with nautical-inspired charm. The hotel will also feature Saint James French Diner, an all-day dining room that will blend the approachable nature of an American diner with the subtle elegance of a French bistro.

C.H. Projects, known for creating some of San Diego's most interesting restaurants and bars, is expanding its hospitality microcosm by entirely reimagining the historic Lafayette Hotel & Swim Club in North Park, San Diego's hip neighborhood. The entire property will be re-conceived through the CH lens, attempting to create an all-encompassing immersive oasis in the heart of North Park. Slated to open in June 2023, the hotel will include 141 redesigned guestrooms, lobby space and pool, three new restaurants, two additional dining and drinking outlets, a vintage bowling alley, cocktail bar, game room and an all-new pool bar.

The Guild Hotel, a landmark in San Diego's downtown, has partnered with Be Saha Hospitality Group to lead the food and beverage operations at the hotel. Be Saha Hospitality will open a new concept in the hotel's courtyard (formerly Luca) this summer and will also reimagine the Guild Bar, garden and lounge, as well as handle all onsite events and room service. The Hospitality Group has brought on renowned Tijuana, Mexico chef Ruffo Ibarra and culinary director Janina Garay to spearhead the project. All concepts are slated to be open and in place by early summer, with new details on the bar and lounge concepts that include the theme of far niente or “the art of doing nothing.”

Downtown San Diego's Hotel Solamar is undergoing a $31 million renovation to transform into California's first urban location of Margaritaville Resort, set to open this summer. Located in the heart of the Gaslamp Quarter, the Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter will feature 235 newly upgraded guest rooms and signature Margaritaville food and beverage concepts that will replace the property's current offerings. The former Jsix restaurant will be transformed into Landshark Bar & Grill, and the poolside Upper East bar will become 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar. Both concepts offer a casual, beachy vibe focusing on American beach fare and blended cocktails. The lobby will also house a quaint Margaritaville Coffee Shop, offering an array of coffee, espresso, tea, and other soft drinks.

Arts and Culture

Mingei International Museum is showing 25 Million Stitches: One Stitch, One Refugee from March 25 through October 15. The exhibition raises awareness of the unfathomable number of refugees displaced around the world by counting and acknowledging each displaced person with a hand-sewn stitch. In the show, over 2,000 panels are combined vertically to create 408 floor-to-ceiling flags. These flags will be suspended from the ceiling, allowing visitors to walk through and around the installation, being both an immersive and emotional experience.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) Downtown will develop a multi-disciplinary arts hub this year to nurture the visual and performing arts of the region. MCASD Downtown will welcome people to artistic performances, exhibitions, events, and experiences following a flexible schedule. The campus will also participate in partnerships and collaborations with The La Jolla Playhouse’s Without Walls (WOW) Festival and Optika Moderna; the World Design Capital 2024, San Diego and Tijuana; and Blindspot Collective with DISCO RIOT.

The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center’s free courtyard concerts, launched last year, are returning for three months this April, with Traffic Jams kicking off on Friday, April 7, offering live jazz during rush hour. Midday Classics will present live classical music beginning on Tuesday, May 23. The Wu Tsai QRT.yrd concert series will close with a lecture and Midday Classics: Aviara Trio on Wednesday, June 21.

From March 16 through August 13, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) in La Jolla is presenting the first museum retrospective of Texas-born artist Celia Álvarez Muñoz (b. 1937). Spanning forty years of her career, the exhibition features over 35 artworks––including six large-scale immersive installations, photographic series, and book projects––that highlight the artist’s playful, witty style, often characterized by her use of bilingual puns and mistranslation in text and image. Concurrently on view, Griselda Rosas: Yo te cuido is the San Diego/Tijuana-based artist’s first solo museum exhibition, presenting new textile drawings and sculptures that explore the layered histories of the San Diego-Tijuana region.

Shopping

The Cardiff 101 Mainstreet Association now hosts a weekly Farmers Market every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Located at Mira Costa College San Elijo Campus, Cardiff Farmers Market is a Certified California Farmers Market featuring locally sourced produce sold by local farmers. The new farmers market also has an array of related food products, prepared food vendors, and a curated group of craft vendors and local makers. Confirmed vendors include Mooski Snacks, Wonderland Farm, MP Family Farm, Rodney Kawano Farm, Sea Greens Microgreens, Crescent Meat, Fishbone Fish, Cardiff Tiny Farm and Emmy Lou Jewelry.

One Paseo, the urban village in San Diego's north county coastal community of Del Mar, has become a destination for dining, shopping and events. In 2023, the coast-meets-country curated mixed-use space will welcome several additions and updates to its already stacked collection, including South of Nick's, the Mexican-inspired sister concept to Nick's Del Mar (opening in May), Land & Sea (opening in April), a golf and surf lifestyle shop, and The Great (opening in May), an industry favorite womenswear line.

In addition to Tahona Bar in Old Town, San Diego’s Be Saha Hospitality Group will open a retail-focused expansion of the Tahona brand called Tahona Mercado in the up-and-coming area of National City in June. Tahona Mercado will be an exclusively retail-focused concept where visitors can shop a wide range of agave spirits, local craft spirits, and a curated selection of local and Mexican snacks and artisanal products. The Mercado will offer a tasting area where guests can discover new favorite brands and where educational events will be frequently held.

New Venues

Scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, Horton Campus will transform from a shopping mall to a grand, wide-open development with inviting parks, retail shops and office and lab space. The renovated campus is projected to have 683,000 square feet of office and life science space and 264,000 square feet of retail space. For visitors, there will be 50-60 stores, a grocery store, and a gym.

Restaurants, Breweries and Bars

Spring is in full bloom indoors at the Top of the Hyatt, having been transformed into a lush enchanted garden for a special spring pop-up from March 30 through May 23. The Over the Top Grand Garden, a whimsical space full of Instagrammable angles, is decorated with giant mushrooms and extravagant floral displays; the immersive experience even extends to different fragrances placed around the room that might suggest the scent of a garden after the rain or a bundle of fresh flowers. A dedicated menu created just for the pop-up includes themed cocktails and dessert samplers. Regular menu items, including the bar's best-selling espresso martini and other light bites, are also available.

Urban Kitchen Group opened a garden cafe at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in March. The Kitchen offers a full-service daytime menu that highlights the Mediterranean, ranging from Turkish-poached eggs and sweet and savory buckwheat crepes to swordfish kebabs and lamb bulger burgers. Later this spring, chef/partner Tim Kolanko and executive chef Jeff Armstrong will turn a private event space at the museum into a lunchtime pop-up featuring four-course tasting menus.

Heritage Barbecue & Beer Co., the Oceanside counterpart to San Juan Capistrano’s award-winning restaurant, now has a companion cocktail bar fashioned out of the 600-square-foot vault inside the former bank building. Named Ladies Love Outlaws after a hit album by outlaw music superstar Waylon Jennings, the lounge’s honky-tonk vibes and classic country soundtrack, provided by a vintage Wurlitzer jukebox, set the mood for kicking back with a nightcap after dining at the brewpub, which is currently shifting its menu to a more traditional barbecue platter format.

The Gaslamplighter, a karaoke and cocktail bar due to land in the Gaslamp neighborhood this year, will feature a list of classic and contemporary cocktails and a menu of bar bites and shareable plates. The bar will host karaoke on its main stage from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Tuesday through Sunday. There will also be occasional live music programming, including local acoustic artists and nationally known names.

Seaport Village, San Diego's harbor-side hub, will be home to several new dining options as part of the Port of San Diego's ongoing revitalization. The restaurants being added include L.A. restaurant chain Gladstone’s; Cork & Batter, a baseball-themed restaurant and sports bar; Zytoun, featuring authentic Mediterranean and Greek cuisine; SoCal-inspired dining destination Malibu Farm; and Old Harbor Distilling Co.’s first satellite tasting room.

This spring, North Park’s absinthe bar and restaurant, Wormwood, will open a new bar-within-a-bar concept that lies hidden beyond its regular back patio: The Secret Garden will be a fully-outdoor bar serving creative cocktails with absinthe and French spirits, developed by Wormwood's beverage director Jacob Mentel (formerly with Consortium Holdings). The Secret Garden's drink menu embraces the idea of "liquid cuisine" through a strong culinary influence and complexity of flavors.

This summer, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk and founding Jeune et Jolie chef, Eric Bost, will launch their gourmet chicken sandwich shop, Chick N’ Hawk, in Encinitas. The restaurant will serve chicken items, fresh seafood, and cocktails.

San Diego celebrity chef Brian Malarkey and business partner Chris Puffer have taken over Herringbone in La Jolla. The Puffer-Malarkey Collective will transform their former haunt into Le Coq, a French-inspired steakhouse slated to open at the end of 2023. While the concept is still developing, the restaurant will transport diners to Paris in the 1920s with a menu of globally inspired fusion dishes and dry-aged meats.

Bivouac Ciderworks will debut a new concept in the fall, directly adjacent to its North Park tap room and urban production facility. The Bivouac Adventure Lodge will feature generous communal seating, a members-only private tasting club and an in-house general store featuring local, chef-driven pantry goods for build-your-own charcuterie boards and other provisions for purchase, including outdoor gear, apparel, gifts, and more.

Transportation

San Diego International Airport (SAN) announced the 2023 Fly Quiet Awards winners, which recognize airlines for reducing noise during arrivals and departures at San Diego International Airport (SAN). Southwest Airlines received the highest Fly Quiet Score in the large domestic carrier category for its continued use of the Boeing 737 MAX, a newer and quieter aircraft. Spirit Airlines won in the small domestic carrier category for flying more than half of its overall flights at SAN with newer and quieter aircraft. DHL, operated by iAero, won the air cargo carrier category for its use of quieter aircraft, and Lufthansa won the international carrier category, achieving the best overall score in all categories.

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