The 32 Best Places to Drink and Do in San Diego
Sections
- Eat , off. Turn on 222 Only Eat
- Drink , on. Turn off 26 Only Drink
- Stay , off. Turn on 30 Only Stay
- Do , on. Turn off 6 Only Do
Tap to add or drop a section. At least one stays on. All sections
The best places to drink and do in San Diego, according to the experts: Forbes Travel Guide, The Pinnacle Guide, and The 50 have all weighed in, and their honors are what rank this list. The Spa at Fairmont Grand Del Mar comes out on top.
More Less
The Spa At Rancho Valencia and The Realm of the 52 Remedies hold the next two places. The Infatuation shows up on more of this list than any other guide, with Difford's Guide next.
-
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Five Star
-
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Five Star
-
Rank 3. The Realm of the 52 Remedies
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Pinnacle Guide The Pinnacle Guide: 2 Pins
- The 50 The 50: #93 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
- The Pinnacle Guide 2 Pins
- The 50 #93 · North America's 50 Best Bars
- James Beard Awards 2026 · Semifinalist · Outstanding Bar
-
A château-style health spa and retreat less than an hour from San Diego, built with actual French structures shipped over stone by stone, including a centuries-old chapel. The 32 private villas and manicured grounds lean hard into the Provençal fantasy, while the programming runs from interval training to trapeze yoga. Notably, they feed you real bread and real coffee. Vogue named it one of the 100 Best Spas in the World, and Oprah's a regular.
The awards
-
Twenty-five miles of private hiking trails wind through the property before you've even booked a massage, which tells you something about the scale of this all-inclusive wellness retreat outside San Diego. The Golden Door has been doing the spa week thing since before it was a thing, and it carries that history lightly: think summer camp for people whose summers cost considerably more. Vogue named it among the 100 Best Spas in the World.
The awards
-
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
-
A spa where the treatments are essentially a love letter to the cliffs outside: coastal sage scrubs, pine exfoliation, and seawater hydrotherapy baths that borrow directly from the landscape. The champagne facial, using yeast extracts, sounds like a premise from a sketch show but draws a loyal following. A Forbes Four Star property, and the kind of afternoon that makes driving back to reality feel genuinely inconvenient.
The awards
- Forbes Travel Guide Forbes Travel Guide: Forbes Four Star
-
Rank 8. Part Time Lover
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- Esquire Esquire: The Best Bars in America
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
The awards
-
The awards
- Eater Best New Bar
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
-
Floral barstools, a patio that catches every bit of the La Jolla sun, and tiki drinks that mean it, this is a destination restaurant where the tropical theme actually does the work rather than just hanging on the walls. The kitchen leans into it too, with local ingredients pulled in Asian and tropical directions. The robata-grilled coconut shrimp is a good signal of the mood: familiar enough to order without thinking, specific enough to make you glad you did.
The awards
- Esquire The Pelican · The Best Martinis in America
- Michelin Guide Selected Restaurant
- Eater The 38 Best Restaurants in San Diego
-
The awards
- James Beard Awards James Beard Awards: 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- James Beard Awards 2025 · Semifinalist · Best New Bar
- Spirited Awards 2025 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best New U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
-
The awards
-
The awards
-
Rank 15. Noble Experiment
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: Difford's Guide
-
You get into this cocktail bar through a fridge door, which tells you roughly everything you need to know about the vibe before you've ordered a drink. Once inside, the mood pivots hard from novelty to velvet-draped, warmly lit Old World opulence. It was built in collaboration with Sam Ross of Attaboy, and the CH Projects crew behind it has a habit of making San Diego's more theatrical drinking rooms.
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: Difford's Guide
-
The awards
- San Diego Magazine Best Bar Food · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- Spirited Awards 2026 · Regional Top 10 Honoree · Best U.S. Hotel Bar – U.S. West
-
Rank 18. Polite Provisions
Cocktail Bar
A hundred-foot marble bar runs the length of the room, and the apothecary shelving, brass fixtures, and velvet accents make the whole place feel like a Victorian soda fountain that took a wrong turn into a Parisian atrium. This cocktail bar in Normal Heights has been an anchor of the San Diego drinks scene for ages, built around housemade bitters, syrups, and sodas long before that was a cliché.
The awards
- Punch Best New Bartenders · Dominique Muñoz
- San Diego Magazine Best Cocktail Bar in San Diego · The Best Restaurants in San Diego
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
-
Rank 19. Aero Club Bar
Dive Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. Convoy Music Bar
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. False Idol
Tiki Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. Kamon Craft Cocktail Bar
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. Same Same
Thai Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. The Silver Fox Lounge
Dive Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. Turf Supper Club
American
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. Understory Bar
Cocktail Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
Rank 19. WetStone Winebar
Wine Bar
The awards
- The Infatuation The Infatuation: The 12 Best Bars In San Diego
-
The awards
- VinePair Drinks Professional of the Year · The Next Wave Awards · Erick Castro
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide
-
The awards
- The 50 The 50: The 50 Discovery
- Spirited Awards Spirited Awards: 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: Difford's Guide
- The 50 The 50 Discovery
- Spirited Awards 2023 · Regional Honoree · Best U.S. Cocktail Bar – U.S. West
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide
-
The awards
- Difford's Guide Difford's Guide: Difford's Guide