Sunsets, Sea Lions, and Sublime Tacos: What to Do in La Jolla Shores for 3 Days

The Definitive Blueprint for What to Do in La Jolla Shores for 3 Days (Without Going Broke)

Figuring out what to do in La Jolla Shores for 3 days is less about finding activities and more about strategic scheduling to avoid needing a second mortgage. This corner of San Diego delivers everything from gentle surf breaks to wildlife encounters with the efficiency of a Swiss watch, just with better tacos and more consistent sunshine.

Day 1: Beach Life Immersion (Or: How to Pretend You’ve Lived Here Forever)

Morning in La Jolla Shores should begin with toes in the sand—preferably before 9am when parking transforms from “reasonably achievable” to “mathematical impossibility.” The beach here features gentle 1-3 foot waves, making it one of the few San Diego beaches where beginners won’t be immediately sacrificed to Neptune. The Kellogg Park parking lot charges $20 for a full day, while street parking is free if you’re willing to arrive early or walk several blocks in flip-flops carrying more beach gear than seems humanly possible.

Equipment rentals present their own economic hierarchy. Surf Diva charges $25 per hour for surfboards and $20 hourly for paddleboards, while La Jolla Kayak offers boards for around $20 per hour. Weekday rentals typically run 15-20% cheaper than weekends, because even surfboards understand supply and demand economics. For beginners, the consistently gentle breaks here provide the perfect learning environment—you’ll fall spectacularly, but with fewer witnesses than at more crowded beaches.

When hunger strikes, The Cheese Shop (established 1972) offers sandwiches running $10-15 that are engineered to feed approximately 1.7 adults. Their “no substitutions” policy is enforced with military precision, suggesting perhaps that following rules is the secret ingredient that’s kept them in business for half a century. The turkey and avocado sandwich has sustained three generations of beachgoers who lacked the energy to argue about condiments.

Afternoons demand a pilgrimage to La Jolla Cove’s sea lion colony, which has grown from a modest 20 animals in 2000 to over 300 today—a population boom that delights tourists and horrifies property owners downwind. The best viewing spots are along Coast Boulevard between Scripps Park and Children’s Pool, where you can observe these blubbery celebrities without fighting through tour groups. The sea lions spend approximately 80% of their day napping, 15% barking, and 5% posing for photos with a natural understanding of their best angles.

For dinner, embrace the taco spectrum. El Pescador Fish Market offers $5-8 tacos (cash only before 3pm, as if credit cards haven’t been invented yet), while Galaxy Taco serves $15-22 dinner plates featuring the same basic ingredients but arranged with architectural precision. The universal rule applies: taco price correlates directly with the number of adjectives used to describe the fish and inversely with the probability you’ll need a second one.

Day 2: Water Adventure Day (With Varying Degrees of Wetness)

Day two of what to do in La Jolla Shores for 3 days takes you beneath the surface. Morning calls for kayaking La Jolla’s Ecological Reserve ($44-79 per person depending on group size and how aggressively you haggle). The rental companies provide dry bags with waterproofing claims that should be considered aspirational rather than factual. The seven sea caves along the coastline offer geological marvels, though Summer Solstice Cave remains the only one you can actually enter by kayak without requiring search and rescue involvement.

Snorkeling at La Jolla Cove presents another aquatic option, with water temperatures ranging from “immediately regrettable” 57°F in winter to “actually pleasant” 72°F in late summer. Wetsuit rentals ($15-25) are less optional than the rental agents suggest. Between June and September, leopard sharks congregate here in impressive numbers. Despite thousands of daily opportunities to attack humans, these sharks have maintained a perfect safety record, suggesting they’re either extraordinarily polite or find humans aesthetically unappealing.

Lunch at The Taco Stand offers the rare combination of a 4.7/5 rating and a perpetual 20-minute line that somehow moves with the efficiency of a German train schedule. Their $3.95 fish tacos provide the necessary fuel for afternoon activities, while the $6.50 churros offer scientific proof that deep-fried dough rolled in cinnamon sugar solves most of life’s immediate problems.

Afternoons are well spent at Birch Aquarium at Scripps ($19.50 adults, $16.50 seniors), where the 3pm feeding presentations reveal that marine biologists have surprisingly good comedic timing. The aquarium’s manageable size means you won’t develop the thousand-yard stare seen on parents exiting larger facilities like SeaWorld. The panoramic ocean views from the outdoor tide pools also offer the rare opportunity to simultaneously observe captive marine life and their wild counterparts in the distance.

Sunset demands dinner at George’s at the Cove Ocean Terrace, where entrees run $26-45 and somehow justify their price tag through sheer scenic magnificence. Their $36 fish tacos—essentially the same food you ate for lunch but served on china—somehow taste better when accompanied by a sunset that would make a romance novelist question their descriptive abilities. To secure a view table, make reservations exactly 30 days in advance at 10am when their system opens, treating it with the same urgency as concert tickets for a farewell tour.

Day 3: Coastal Culture (For When Your Skin Needs a Break)

The final day in your what to do in La Jolla Shores for 3 days itinerary balances beach time with cultural pursuits. Morning should begin with the La Jolla Shores to Scripps Pier walk (2.3 miles round trip), ideally before 9am when the marine layer creates lighting conditions that camera phones can’t properly capture but will attempt to anyway. The pier is technically closed to the public, but researchers rarely challenge respectful visitors who maintain the fiction that they’re deeply interested in oceanographic research rather than Instagram opportunities.

Sunday visitors should head to La Jolla Open Aire Market (9am-1pm) where 150+ vendors sell everything from Encinitas-grown avocados ($2-3 each but containing more flavor than an entire East Coast supermarket display) to locally made hot sauces ($10-15 per bottle) that won’t be confiscated by TSA agents with suspiciously specific concerns about liquid explosives.

Lunch at The Med at La Valencia Hotel runs $22-30 for food that’s merely adequate but comes with unmatched people-watching opportunities. The clientele presents a fascinating cross-section of wealth demographics, from old money pretending to be modest to new money working overtime to ensure nobody makes that mistake. There’s enough cosmetic enhancement on display to constitute a walking advertisement for the local medical community.

Afternoon cultural pursuits should include La Jolla Contemporary Art Museum (free admission!) followed by window shopping on Prospect Street, where price tags for seemingly ordinary items correspond roughly to monthly mortgage payments in the Midwest. The shops maintain displays suggesting that $400 plain white t-shirts represent reasonable consumer decisions rather than evidence of societal collapse.

Early dinner begins with sunset cocktails at Duke’s ($15-18 per drink, with prices increasing proportionally with the sunset’s vibrancy) followed by dinner at Puesto ($16-28 entrees) where Mexico City-style tacos arrive with a side of industrial décor designed to make you feel cooler than you actually are. By your third day of elevated taco consumption, you’ll have developed opinions about masa that you’ll inflict on friends back home who didn’t ask.

Where to Rest Your Sunburned Self: Accommodation Options

Budgeting for accommodations in La Jolla requires a flexible definition of “budget.” La Jolla Shores Hotel ($250-350/night in summer, $180-250 in winter) represents the entry-level option, which anywhere else would be considered mid-range or even luxury. The direct beach access would cost millions to own but can be temporarily rented for merely hundreds per night.

Mid-range travelers should consider Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa ($300-450/night), featuring Spanish colonial architecture and gardens meticulously designed to serve as backdrops for vacation photos that will make your colleagues simultaneously jealous and resentful. The property’s 9.5 acres provide enough space to avoid other guests while pretending you’ve purchased a private estate.

For those whose credit cards don’t burst into flames above certain charge amounts, La Valencia Hotel ($450-800/night) offers the iconic “Pink Lady” experience. Opened in 1926, this property has hosted celebrities whose fame predates your parents, providing excellent material for name-dropping opportunities at dinner. The Mediterranean-inspired architecture makes an excellent backdrop for pretending you’ve traveled much farther than Southern California.

Insider Tips That Actually Matter

Parking requires strategic planning rivaling D-Day. Arrive before 8:30am or after 4:30pm, or use the free shuttle service from Kellogg Park on summer weekends. The multi-space parking meters accept credit cards but occasionally develop technological amnesia in the middle of transactions.

The most valuable photo opportunity comes at Scripps Pier at precisely 5:47pm in winter or 7:30pm in summer when the sun aligns perfectly between the pilings. Photographers mark these dates on calendars and defend their tripod positions with territorial vigor normally reserved for disputed international borders.

Weather forecasts require interpretation. May and June experience the locally famous “May Gray” and “June Gloom,” when morning marine layers create temporary depression among visitors who didn’t research microclimate patterns. The fog typically burns off by noon, but those precious morning hours can feel like Seattle rather than Southern California. September and October offer the most consistently sunny days, along with slightly thinner crowds and marginally less traumatic accommodation prices.

Despite La Jolla residents’ year-round wardrobe of expensive athleisure wear suggesting eternal summer, temperatures drop 15-20°F after sunset throughout the year. Bringing actual jackets rather than assuming perpetual warmth will prevent the evening shivering that identifies tourists from thirty yards away.