Take a Dunk This Summer Off San Diego’s Golden Shores at Our Best Swimming Beaches

No question that San Diego ranks among America’s great beach cities, not least for its world-famous surf breaks and Southern California coastal culture. And your beautiful, historic, and centrally situated accommodations at the Sofia Hotel here in Downtown San Diego put this stunning and varied beachfront right at your fingertips—or perhaps we should say right at your barefoot toe tips.

That said, more than a few San Diego beaches venerated by surfers are too rough or riptide-roiled to appeal to the average swimmer (though they’re still plenty fine places to kick back, sunbathe, and spectate). Here we’ve put together a sampler-pack roundup of some of the best seashores in the Sofia Hotel’s greater backyard for casual dips in the great blue Pacific perennially caressing our coastline.

Silver Strand State Beach

Silver Strand State Beach on the eponymous isthmus connecting Coronado to the San Diego mainland is a beachgoer’s paradise, given it encompasses plush sands on both the Pacific and San Diego Bay side of the Silver Strand. The waters along the bayfront are the calmer and more swimmer-friendly ones, and you get to splash around with a fabulous view of our ravishing harbor.

Mission Beach

Mission Beach is another popular swimming beach within easy reach of you as a Sofia Hotel guest, and among the ones monitored by lifeguards.

La Jolla Shores

This time of year, the waters off this roughly mile-long stunner of a beach—which also comes lifeguarded, by the way—are among the gentlest in the region: perfect for swimming, and, like highly swimmable La Jolla Cove just south, also popular among snorkelers and scuba divers.

Del Mar City Beach

Some two miles long and lifeguarded, Del Mar City Beach is another excellent choice if you feel like mixing up the sun-worshipping with some up-close and personal time with Southern California brine. More than a few rank this long carpet of sand among the very best beaches in San Diego County.

Moonlight State Beach

Moonlight State Beach up in Encinitas (and managed by the city, though a state park) is a total crowd-pleaser of a strand, ideal for swimming and also decked out with picnic tables, concessions, volleyball courts, and other attractions. There’s a swimming-only section bookended by surfing zones, and a year-round lifeguard post.

A Couple Northern (and Day-trippable) Beaches

We’ll close this survey of some standout swimming beaches in San Diego County with a couple more north beyond Moonlight Beach, fine daytripping destinations from the Sofia: South Carlsbad State Beach makes a handsome swimming hotspot, and meanwhile you can admire the classic photo-op of Oceanside Pier from its adjoining beach.

Mark the San Diego Summer With a Beachside Swim During Your Stay at the Sofia Hotel

So treat yourself to that Southern California beach getaway of your dreams—it’s high time, don’t you think?—with a summer escape to the Sofia Hotel, and take advantage of top-grade swimming in San Diego Bay and the Pacific close by. And furthermore, if you’re among the many business travelers who take advantage of our convenient location and prime amenities, why not reward your hard-working self with a dip?