San Diego

The air in San Diego smells like sunscreen and salt even in January, and the light has a way of making everything look like it's mid-afternoon even when it isn't. When families road trip through here, a few stops keep coming up. Balboa Park is one of them — people tend to arrive, take a walk around, and end up staying longer than planned, sometimes folding in the San Diego Zoo while they're at it. La Jolla Cove is another regular. The sea lions at Children's Pool are genuinely worth the detour — kids and adults both end up standing there longer than expected, watching them pile on top of each other. For food, travelers tend to land at Puesto at The Headquarters, a converted old police headquarters near the water, or drive up to La Jolla for breakfast at The Cottage. On the higher end, Addison at Fairmont Grand Del Mar comes up for families treating the trip as a special occasion. For lodging, the Hotel del Coronado shows up a lot — it's the big white Victorian on the beach that looks like it's from another era, and it kind of is. If you're mapping out a California road trip or a Southwest loop, San Diego fits naturally as a place where you slow down for a day or two before moving on.