Elegant and sunny San Diego is truly a city with something for everyone – it’s one of the most popular vacation destinations in the United States. Parents and children alike love San Diego’s wide range of fun and family-oriented activities – many of them free – most of them outdoors in the warm sunshine. From the theater to wild animals, San Diego has something for everyone. Here are six things to do in San Diego that every visitor should not miss when visiting our wonderful city.

1. The Gaslamp Quarter is San Diego’s vibrant dining, entertainment and shopping district. A walk through this eighteen-square-block in historic downtown San Diego takes you by modern restaurants and nightclubs inside turn of the century architectural buildings, complete with gas lamps and brick sidewalks. Explore avant-garde art galleries, historic theaters, unique boutiques and shops, more than a hundred restaurants, chic bars, hot nightclubs and a hardware store founded more than 100 years ago. One of San Diego’s best travel destinations, the Quarter is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and extends from Broadway to Harbor Drive, from Fourth to Sixth Avenue.

2. John D. and Adolph Spreckels donated the Spreckels Organ, one of the world’s largest outdoor pipe organs, to the City of San Diego in 1914 for the Panama-California Exposition. This unique organ contains 4,530 pipes ranging in length from the size of a pencil to 32 feet and is housed in an ornate vaulted structure with highly embellished gables. Since 1917, San Diego has had a civic organist who performs free weekly Sunday concerts.

3. At dusk on the first Wednesday of each month, following the monthly “Sky Tonight” planetarium show in the Space Theater of the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, members of the San Diego Astronomy Association set up big telescopes by the large fountain in Balboa Park for free public sky viewing. See Saturn’s rings through a big telescope as well as the moon, planets, nebulae and globular clusters – up close and personal.

4. See things you never saw before at The Museum of Contemporary Art in LaJolla featuring an enormous collection of 4,000 works created after 1950. Here you’ll find exhibits of all media and genres: painting, sculpture, works on paper, photography, video and film. Designed in 1916 by world-famous Irving Gill and originally the home of distinguished philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps, the 60,000 square-foot Museum will thrill you with its breathtaking coastal views.

5. Explore the tide pools in Point Loma below Cabrillo National Monument when the tide is out and get up close and personal with flowery anemones, scampering shore crabs, elusive octopus, spongy deadman’s fingers and many other cool sea creatures. Located on the western side of Point Loma, these pools lie in the rocky inter-tidal zone and offer a window into the ocean ecosystem. San Diego travel tip: Ranger walks are available during most low tides and a slide program is shown daily at the Cabrillo park visitor center.

6. The Beach. We’ve got 70 miles of coastline here in San Diego – dozens of sun-worshiping possibilities. All San Diego beaches are free – perfect for reading that mystery novel, swimming, watching world-class surfers, people watching or just chilling.

Here are 2 good resources with accommodation information and links for when you visit the San Diego area: Carlsbad B&Bs and Hotels in Del Mar.