Get Out & Enjoy San Diego Bay During Your Stay at the Sofia!

Here in San Diego, we’ve got as our liquid doorstep one of the finest natural harbors—and one of the finest urban saltwater playgrounds—in the entire country. San Diego Bay contributes an incalculable amount to our city’s livelihood and lifestyle: as a naval and shipping hub, as an irreplaceable ecological resource, as world-class recreational waters, and as a gorgeous Pacific backdrop to our cityscape.

When you bed down in style and luxury at the Sofia Hotel (one of the very best Downtown San Diego hotels), you’re mere blocks from the San Diego Bay waterfront. Let’s run down some of your options for appreciating this cosmopolitan harbor, on and off the water!

Boating the Bay

Whatever your level of nautical interest and skill (or lack thereof), it’s a joy to get out on the Bay itself and take in the views of the San Diego skyline, Coronado Island, and the San Diego-Coronado Bridge. Join a sightseeing cruise or charter a sailboat, paddle via kayak or stand-up paddleboard, or crank up the speed (and the splash) by renting a jet ski. Given the plethora of boat tours, rentals, and instructional classes available on San Diego Bay, there’s an on-the-water option for everybody.

Pedal the Bayshore Bikeway

You can nearly circumnavigate San Diego Bay, meanwhile, by riding the lovely Bayshore Bikeway, a 24-mile bike route between Downtown San Diego and Coronado Island. The Bikeway takes in Imperial Beach, Chula Vista, and National City in the process, as well as a smorgasbord of waterfront scenery and plentiful spots for midroute fuel-ups at spots such as Coronado Brewing Co.

As a Sofia guest, you can rent a bicycle from us to take a spin on the Bayshore Bikeway—and it won’t cost you a red cent!

Visit a Bayfront Museum

San Diego Bay also hosts some of the best-known museums in the city. At the USS Midway Museum, for example, you can climb aboard the longest-serving aircraft carrier in U.S. military history, where you’ll find a fascinating array of exhibits and a squadron’s worth of vintage flying machines to boot.

And then there’s the Maritime Museum of San Diego, which in addition to many permanent and temporary exhibits maintains a fleet of historic vessels: most famously the 1863-built Star of India, the oldest active sailing ship in the world, but also a diesel electric submarine from the Soviet Navy, a Vietnam War-era Swift Boat (PCF), and a replica of the yacht America for which the America’s Cup was named, among others. Some of these venerable vessels, such as the San Diego Harbor Pilot and the San Salvador (a replica of the ship Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo captained through San Diego waters back in 1542), host passengers for cruises.

San Diego Bay Events

Of course, the San Diego calendar comes packed with annual events that at least partly take place out on or along the waters of the Bay—everything from the San Diego Bay Parade of Lights and the Extreme Sailing Series at Harbor Island to the San Diego Bay Food + Wine Festival’s Grand Tasting.

Visit the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Get a tranquil glimpse of San Diego Bay’s natural side at this multi-unit National Wildlife Refuge, whose saltmarshes and tidal flats host a fabulous array of birdlife and other organisms.