Awards and Recognitions

In September 2021, the Michelin Guide announced its newly starred California restaurants and San Diego is now the home of four Michelin starred restaurants. Newly starred restaurants include Addison, Jeune et Jolie, Soichi and Sushi Tadokoro. Michelin also selected five San Diego restaurants to its Bib Gourmand category, a designation its inspectors award to restaurants that provide good quality and value and leave diners with a sense of satisfaction at having eaten so well at such a reasonable price. In the United States, the criteria include being able to order two courses and a glass of wine or dessert for $40 or less. Callie, Cesarina, Ciccia Osteria, Dija Mara, and Morning Glory comprise the latest group of Bib Gourmand-awarded establishments in San Diego.

Attractions and Events

The 10^th Annual “Kids Free San Diego” has returned this October with special savings and fun for the entire family. During the entire month, more than 100 San Diego hotels, restaurants, attractions, museums, tours and transportation companies are offering families with kids 12 and under a variety of deals from complimentary attraction and museum admission to free meals as well as welcome amenities at area hotels.

The new San Diego CityPASS program, launched in August 2021, gives visitors deeply discounted admission to various combinations of top attractions in and around San Diego. The three combinations of tickets, which allow travelers to save up to 40% off combined regular admission, are SeaWorld San Diego plus three additional attractions, LEGOLAND California plus three additional attractions, and SeaWorld San Diego plus LEGOLAND California plus three additional attractions. The other San Diego CityPASS partner attractions include the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park, the USS Midway Museum, a harbor tour with City Cruises, and Old Town Trolley Tours, which has a Silver Pass that provides one day of unlimited touring with hop-on, hop-off privileges at 11 stops in San Diego and Coronado.

Following its San Diego debut in 2017, the Breeders’ Cup World Championships returns to Del Mar Thoroughbred Club on Nov. 5-6, 2021. The Breeders’ Cup combines an international championship of horse racing with the chance to experience San Diego’s spectacular beaches, world-class entertainment and attractions. Horse race afficionados can experience the best horse and jockeys from around the world with picnic-style seating throughout the infield or at the bar while sipping on signature cocktails, craft beers and premium wine offerings.

The 17^th annual San Diego Bay Wine + Food Festival returns to San Diego on Nov. 11-14, 2021. Tickets are now available for the annual culinary classic that once again will feature the action-packed Grand Tasting Finale, San Diego’s and Baja’s celebrated chefs, international and domestic wineries, breweries, spirits, brand experiences and live entertainment. The wine and food festival’s talent lineup includes a spotlight on diversity found throughout the city's talented chefs, legendary winemakers, guest mixologists, award-winning authors, Master Sommeliers, brewmasters, artisans and tastemakers.

Comic-Con Special Edition will be held as a three-day event over Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 26-28, 2021, at the San Diego Convention Center. It will be the first in-person convention Comic-Con has hosted since July 2019 and will allow the organization to highlight all the great elements that make the annual Comic-Con such a popular event each year.

New and (Re)New Holiday Happenings

Thrilling happenings abound at SeaWorld San Diego’s Howl-O-Scream, San Diego’s newest nighttime attraction. This separately ticketed event, which runs on select nights through Oct. 31, offers all the scares and screams of a typical Halloween event, along with the thrilling rides and high-quality entertainment of a theme park. Guests will adventure through three haunted houses and six scare zones and encounter four eerie roaming hordes. Other thrills include nighttime rides on the park’s always-exciting coasters, a Vampire Circus show, steampunk-themed dance club and three creatively, creepy themed bars. Howl-O-Scream is not recommended for younger guests, but families can still enjoy fun, kid-friendly Halloween festivities during SeaWorld’s annual daytime Spooktacular, which features trick-or-treating, costumes, the Sesame Street Countdown to Halloween show, and the return of the Spooktacular Pumpkin Hunt.

The San Diego Zoo’s Halloween-themed extravaganza, HalGLOWeen, has returned and runs through Oct. 31. As the sun goes down each weekend, from 5 to 9 p.m., guests can enjoy an array of entertainment options, including live music, amazing performances, interactive games and costume fun, featuring the Zoo’s zany Dr. Zoolittle. Guests can meet and greet the Zoo’s Boo Crew, who are all dressed up in their Halloween finery, while enjoying seasonal treats at eateries throughout the Zoo.

Brick-or-Treat at LEGOLAND® California Resort is back with its kid-focused after-dark festivities every Saturday in October. Guests can enjoy nighttime rides, trick-or-treating, live entertainment and Halloween décor. LEGOLAND® is also offering offers seasonal food and beverage options for the whole family. SEA LIFE® aquarium is joining in on the celebration with Halloween-themed decorations, live creatures and spooky-fun exhibits.

At the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, there’s a new celebration this year: the Autumn Festival. Guests are invited Saturdays and Sundays from Oct. 16-31 to celebrate the fall season with wildlife encounters, entertainment and treats. The festival experience also offers upbeat, modern country soundtracks and live Bluegrass music along with interactive trivia games about autumn and the chance to win culinary prizes. Safari Parker, explorer and adventurer extraordinaire, will share entertaining and educational insights about the importance of wildlife, including tips on how to help support and protect wildlife habitats. Safari Park guests will also get an opportunity to find out more about the numerous flowers and fascinating plants around the Safari Park that thrive during fall. And at the Safari Park’s many restaurants, guests will discover tastes of autumn, with pumpkin- and apple-flavored drinks and food.

Guests can meet slimy sea creatures, learn about mysterious animals from the sea and get up close with spooky science at the Haunted Aquarium at the Birch Aquarium at Scripps Oct. 22-24. Admission includes access to all aquarium exhibits and treat bags as well as Halloween fun, including a “kelp” maze, costume showcase and music. Children ages two and under are free, and children under 16 must be accompanied by a paid adult. General admission tickets cannot be used for Haunted Aquarium.

The 50th Annual San Diego Bay Parade of Lights, on Dec. 12 and Dec.19, 2021, is a time-honored holiday tradition courtesy of the local boating community. Just as in years past, the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights promises to dazzle and entertain bayfront crowds with boats decorated to fit this year’s “The Twelve Days of Christmas” theme.

Annual holiday cocktail pop-ups Miracle and Sippin’ Santa, which have made a regular appearances at local watering holes like The Grass Skirt and Polite Provisions, are returning to town and will offer inventive holiday-themed drinks and decorations from Nov. 22-Dec. 31. The Miracle cocktail list includes past classics such as the gingerbread-y snowball old fashioned and the spiked jingle balls nog as well as new concoctions like elfing around, which is made with prosecco, gin, mulled wine, grapefruit shrub and bitters. This year, Miracle is returning to Polite Provisions and popping up at the Roxy Encinitas and Temecula’s Apparition Room while Sippin’ Santa will be transforming The Grass Skirt in Pacific Beach and Devilicious Eatery in Temecula.

New Hotels & Renovations

The Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine in UTC completed a property-wide, multiphase $10 million renovation in June 2021. Offering a fresh, elevated design inspired by the surrounding locale, the renovation includes a remodeled exterior and interior with a transformed lobby, 416 refreshed guestrooms, and 16 suites plus social and event spaces. The hotel also now has three signature restaurants and cafes: DRIFT eat + drink, which serves up seasonal menus that highlight regional ingredients and healthy and artfully served food; Market La Jolla, which is located adjacent to the lobby and offers breakfast and coffee options or homemade gelato to enjoy by the cozy terrace firepits; and Shor, which serves up fresh, traditional breakfast dishes.

Formerly the La Jolla Inn, the Cormorant Boutique Hotel, which is slated to open in the fall 2021, has undergone an extensive, three-year renovation that brings a mid-century modern aesthetic to the heart of La Jolla. Named after the seaside town’s famed Cormorant birds, the hotel includes 26 nautical-inspired guestrooms, each with a balcony and expansive views of the Pacific Ocean; a new rooftop terrace bar, Birdseye, which features craft cocktails and small plates; and Prospect Market, an upscale grab-and-go marketplace filled with local goods, branded gear and beach essentials and is as an homage to the property’s origins as the only market in La Jolla Village in the 1940s.

Arts and Culture

Opened August 2021 and being shown through January 2022, Disestablishment: John Raymond Mireles at the San Diego Museum of Art upends the traditional museum experience. Local San Diego artist John Raymond Mireles took photographs of remote and staggeringly beautiful sites that have recently had their US National Monument status revoked opening them up for mining and drilling. To create a visceral understanding about the potential damage that awaits these environments, the artist removed the prints from the wall in September and invited visitors to physically damage the works. The destruction is an integral part of the exhibition, with public responses filmed and included in the re-installation of the altered works, and now on display.

The New Children’s Museum’s first stand-alone satellite location in San Diego County, dubbed Art + Play Space, opened August 2021. A smaller version of the Museum’s 50,000-square-foot downtown location, the new space located on the upper level of the Del Mar Plaza shopping center features a commissioned art installation, a hands-on makerspace and a museum store. Highlights of the Art + Play Space include a scaled-down Wobbleland, San Diego artist Marisol Rendón’s popular installation of a giant sink with larger-than-life by fruit and vegetable sculptures, and “drop in” hands-on art making as well as fee-based classes and workshops, which will start later this fall.

The La Jolla Playhouse has relaunched live performances, with two highly anticipated productions scheduled for the fall and spring. The first “to the yellow house,” which runs from Nov. 16-Dec. 12, is Kimber Lee’s art- and color-filled play set in 1886 Paris, where struggling painter Vincent Van Gogh is trying to find love and overcome failure before his move to Arles, where inspiration finally struck. “Bhangin’ It,” winner of the 2019 Richard Rodgers Award and running from March 8-April 17, 2022, is a new musical about a young woman who discovers that her identity cannot be defined by checking a box, so she sets off on a quest to dance to her own beat. The musical, which is a collaboration from former Playhouse resident artists Mike Lew and Rehana Lew Mirza, mixes competitive Bhangra with other Indian and Western dance forms.

In September 2021, the New Children's Museum officially unveiled its collaboration with New York’s Risa Puno, an interactive artist whose work examines invisible systems that guide human interaction. Puno’s work embodies the spirit of kapwa: a Tagalog word used to describe one of the core beliefs of pre-colonial Filipino culture. The collaboration, dubbed In the Balance, is a path of intersecting wooden beams that challenges guests to keep their balance and explores the myriad ways people are connected, made even more visible through COVID-19. The installation is free for the public to experience in the Museum Park from September 2021 through January 2022.

From September 2021 to June 2022, the San Diego Natural History Museum is bringing back the always-popular Canyoneers, who are volunteer trail guides with extensive knowledge about the natural history of the region. This season of in-person, guided hikes includes 57 different outings that cover diverse terrain, ranging from the coast to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, and from the Tijuana Estuary to Palomar Mountain and vary from short loops on paved trails to challenging hikes with substantial elevation changes. The guided, interpretive hikes are free, but advance online registration is required, and capacity is typically limited to 25 participants for each hike.

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego will celebrate the reopening of the Jacobs Building downtown with Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist. Running from Oct.16, 2021-April 24, 2022, this will be the first solo exhibition in a museum for Yolanda López (1942-2021), the path-breaking artist, activist and educator whose career in California spanned five decades. López, who passed away in early September, was celebrated for her role in the Chicano art movement and for her iconic Guadalupe series. Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist presents a compendium of López’s work from the 1970s and 1980s, when she created an influential body of paintings, drawings and collages that investigate and reimagine representations of women within Chicano/a/x culture. The exhibition brings together approximately 50 works in oil pastel, paint, charcoal, collage and photography, including never-before-exhibited large-scale self-portraits.

The San Diego Museum of Art is introducing a new photography exhibition: Masters of Photography: The Garner Collection, which will be on view from Nov. 20, 2021-Feb. 21, 2022. The exhibition features more than 100 works spanning major photographic movements that are diverse in subject, style and technique. Made possible by a loan from prolific collectors Cam and Wanda Garner the exhibition includes works from many of the most influential photographers in the medium’s history, including Ansel Adams, Frank Eugene, Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke-White and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Phase one of the two-phase opening of the new Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park is set for November 2021. The new museum will allow fans and the public to see exciting and fun exhibits, art, and images connected to comics and popular art while serving as a meeting place for the community of its fans. Comic-Con plans to continue to expand its interior display space and educational area over the next several months leading to a grand opening of the three-floor museum, scheduled for July 2022. Museumgoers can expect 25,000 square-feet dedicated to rotating exhibits; a 6,000-square-foot education center; a 4K video theater and presentation space; a gift shop filled with comics, graphic novels, branded souvenirs and more; learning-focused labs, classes and seminars. The new Comic-Con Museum is located in the former Hall of Champions near the Pan American Plaza.

Restaurants, Breweries and Bars

Opened July 2021, Seneca, the latest of CH’s projects, is a Roman trattoria located at the top of the InterContinental Hotel San Diego with sweeping views of the San Diego harbor and skyline. Adopting a timeless Roman menu, Chef Russel Rummer, in collaboration with Chef Jason McLeod, crafted a detailed and simplistic menu that features an abundance of San Diego’s local seafood in addition to fresh pastas, pizzas and porterhouse steaks grilled on a wood-burning hearth. The restaurant is designed to make patrons feel as if they are on an ocean vessel, with the open space kitchen overflowing into the dining room and the custom-made glowing, orange lighting. The cocktail program is split across five categories: spritz, long, fix, gin down, whiskey and agave.

In Oceanside, plant-based restaurant, The Plot, re-emerged as the first of its kind in the county this July 2021. With total and cross usage, The Plot is using all but <1% of the produce and dry goods coming into the restaurant, as compared to the industry average where 4-10% of food coming in is thrown away before it even hits the plate. The Plot focuses on the whole vegetable, some of which is grown directly behind the restaurant and regeneratively managed by Community Roots Farms. The Plot hopes to one day have 30% of its produce coming from it garden. Every facet of The Plot, from the design of the space to the sourcing, menu development and waste elements, is designed to be sustainable and zero-waste generating.

Reopened in August 2021, Camino Riviera, a revamp of India Street fixture El Camino by SDCM, has been reconfigured for a renewed focus on dining to bring Mexico’s Riviera Maya. With 80 seats indoors and out, lounge seating and a VIP dining cabana on the patio, the restaurant and bar opens at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but it’s planning to expand its days of operation and extend to brunch service soon. Chef Brian Redzikowski uses an outdoor wood-burning grill to cook most of the proteins and vegetables on the menu, which can be enjoyed with fresh agave-focused cocktails. The bar is also bringing back regular live entertainment that will revolve around Afro-Latin music.

Opened in August 2021, Kula is San Diego’s first and only all vegan, all gluten-free retail ice cream scoop shop in Sorrento Valley that offers a variety of flavors from chocolate chip cookie dough to lava cake to pistachio along with sugar cones and house-made waffle cones. Well-known for accommodating dietary restriction and allergies, Kula has developed an array of bases and flavors, including nut-free, coconut-free, and sugar-free, to cater to the community at-large. Besides scoops and pints, customers can also pre-order gluten-free ice cream cakes.

Wolfie’s Carousel Bar in San Diego’s Little Italy neighborhood opened in August 2021. At the heart of the 2,500-square-foot, 256-seat restaurant and bar is an antiqued carousel-shaped, 24-seat circular cocktail bar that slowly turns, making a full rotation every 14 minutes. Inspired by The Carousel Bar & Lounge, whose revolving merry-go-round bar has spun in New Orleans for more than 70 years, Wolfie’s Carousel Bar serves New Orleans signatures like the sazeracs and vieux carrés as well as other classics like the French 75. The menu ranges from bistro staples such as steak frites and French onion soup to luxuries like caviar and wagyu beef tartare.

In September 2021, La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club named Mike Minor as its executive chef, where he will lead the culinary teams at the Marine Room, the Shores Restaurant, Club Dining, and catering events. Minor is an award-winning chef who established his reputation for innovation and creativity in Las Vegas and has worked under the guidance of Las Vegas’ biggest names in the industry including Wolfgang Puck, Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger. A fresh take on The Shores’ menu is Minor’s next project, where he will emphasize the use of local indigenous ingredients in a casual, beachfront setting. In the meantime, guests can head in to enjoy the newly opened ocean front patio with seating steps from the sand.

Opened early in September 2021, Bohemian Alchemist is Del Mar’s newest coffeehouse, boasting the first and only sand brewing system approved by San Diego’s health department. The base of their drinks is Turkish coffee, a smoother, silkier counterpart to traditional espresso, but French press, pour over and cold brew options tea blends, herbal beverages, and seasonal iced teas are also available. The space has a low Turkish seating area with a colorful silky tent roof, handmade Art Nouveau tables, antique and eclectic pieces repurposed to serve as counters and shelves. The coffeehouse also offers baked cream scones, muffins, shortbread cookies and fruit tarts.

In September 2021, the InterContinental Hotel San Diego brought on Franck Tasic as their new executive chef. In his new position, Tasic will oversee hotel restaurants Garibaldi and Vistal, as well as the outdoor lounge Layover. Most recently coming from the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines, Tasic served as executive chef for over six years and managed the operations of the entire culinary department. Hailing from France, Tasic’s cooking style blends traditional French cooking techniques with a more modern California approach, highlighting seasonal produce and ingredients.

Pure Taco, the latest concept by co-founders of Casero Taqueria, opened September 2021 in Carlsbad Village. Pure Taco is an elevated fast-casual, modern taqueria, bringing global flavors influenced by the vibrant multicultural fabric that makes up America today, while also serving specialty margaritas, palomas and local beers on tap. Pure Taco’s signature tacos are served on fresh, hand-pressed tortillas and flavor profiles range from the traditional pastor tacos, with rotisserie roasted chili-rubbed pork, cilantro, onion, fresh cut pineapple and salsa verde to the unique Korean pork bo ssam tacos, with braised pork, cilantro, avocado, ssamjang, shaved radish in a fresh-pressed corn tortilla. The menu also features burritos, fresh salads and bowls and offers Baja-inspired breakfasts, served all day, as well as a variety of signature cocktails, beer and wine.

Recently reopened in September 2021, Mingei International Museum is now home to CRAFT CAFÉ at Mingei and ARTIFACT at Mingei, in a partnership between Mingei International Museum and Urban Kitchen Group. Opened early September 2021, CRAFT CAFÉ serves daily grab-and-go breakfast and lunch, and offers specialty coffee, tea and smoothies. The full-service restaurant, ARTIFACT, slated to open mid-October 2021, will feature craft cooking inspired by ancient methods, spices and botanicals. A quarterly pre-fixe menu crafted by Tim Kolanko, executive chef, Urban Kitchen Group, and Jeff Armstrong, ARTIFACT’s chef de cuisine, will be a nod to Mingei’s changing international exhibitions in an environment filled with functional, innovative art and design. ARTIFACT will serve lunch and dinner, with internationally inflected menu.

Transportation

In October 2021, the expansion of the CBP processing area within the Cross Border Xpress  terminal will be completed, allowing for a more spacious and comfortable experience for passengers. The new layout will also include four additional double stacked booths that will enable additional officers to simultaneously process passengers reducing wait times. The Cross Border Xpress-San Diego is a direct, secure border crossing between San Diego and the Tijuana International Airport for ticketed airline passengers providing a convenient alternative to accessing the airport.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) added non-stop service to Norfolk, Virginia via Norfolk International Airport (ORF) on Southwest Airlines starting June 7, 2021. Flights operate once daily, excluding Saturdays.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) added non-stop service to Kona, Island of Hawaii via Ellison Onizuka Kona International at Keahole Airport (KOA) on Southwest Airlines starting June 27, 2021. Flights operate once daily.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) added daily non-stop service to Santa Barbara, California via Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) on Southwest Airlines starting June 17, 2021.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) added non-stop service to Lihue, Kauai via Lihue Airport (LIH) on Southwest Airlines starting June 27, 2021. Flights operate once daily.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) resumed non-stop service to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada via Vancouver International Airport (YVR) on Air Canada starting Aug. 1, 2021. The year-round non-stop flights operate once daily.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) resumed non-stop service to Calgary, Alberta, Canada via Calgary Airport (YYC) on WestJet starting Sept. 30, 2021. The year-round flights operate two times weekly on Fridays and Sundays and increases to three times weekly, adding a Monday flight beginning Nov. 1.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) will resume non-stop service to London, England, United Kingdom via Heathrow Airport (LHR) on British Airways starting Oct. 13, 2021. The year-round nonstop flights operate three times weekly on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) will add non-stop service to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada via Edmonton International Airport (YEG) on Swoop, Canadian-based ultra-low-cost carrier, starting on Oct. 31, 2021. The flight will initially operate weekly on Sundays and increase to three times weekly, with Tuesdays and Thursdays added between Dec. 21, 2021 and April 26, 2022.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) will add non-stop service to Bozeman, Montana via Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport (BZN) on Southwest Airlines starting Nov. 23, 2021.

San Diego International Airport (SAN) will resume non-stop service to New Orleans, Louisiana via Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) on Southwest Airlines starting Nov. 7, 2021.

Happiness is calling you back to San Diego. For more information on San Diego’s offerings, including exciting vacation packages and valuable coupons for attractions, restaurants and more, visit the San Diego Tourism Authority’s website at www.sandiego.org.