Is San Diego a good place for a bachelor party?

Yes, and the reason is the daytime. Most party cities give you a great night and nothing to do until four the next afternoon, and San Diego gives you a surf lesson, a boat, a tee time or a ballgame before the bars even open, with weather that sits in the seventies most of the year. The nightlife is smaller than Vegas or Nashville and that is fine, because nobody comes home from here needing a second vacation.

What are the best daytime bachelor party activities in San Diego?

A private yacht on the bay, a group surf lesson at La Jolla Shores, a half-day fishing trip out of Point Loma, a round at Torrey Pines or the cheaper Coronado municipal course, a Padres game on the Gallagher Square lawn, and the ferry to Coronado with rental bikes. Pick two a day, one in the morning and one that ends at sunset, and leave the evening loose.

How much do bachelor party activities in San Diego cost per person?

Anywhere from nine dollars to over three hundred. The Coronado ferry is nine each way, a lawn ticket at Petco Park is the cheapest seat in the building, a half-day fishing trip runs 75 to 90 dollars, a group surf lesson is about 105 plus a city surcharge, and a weekend round on the South Course at Torrey Pines as a non-resident is north of 300 before the cart and the booking fee. A yacht charter is split twelve ways, so it comes out lower than most people expect.

Can you bring your own alcohol on a boat charter in San Diego?

On some boats, yes, and BowTie Charters is the one we send bachelor parties to for exactly that reason, because it has no liquor license, so the bar is whatever you carry aboard, with the rule that pouring hard alcohol means adding one of their bartenders. A cooler of cans avoids that entirely. The beach is the opposite story, since San Diego banned alcohol on its city beaches and boardwalks in 2008 and Pacific Beach enforces it.

Do you need a car for a bachelor party in San Diego?

Not if the house is in Pacific Beach or downtown, where the bars, the ferry and the ballpark are all a walk or a short rideshare away. You do need a driver, or a big rideshare budget, for Torrey Pines, La Jolla Shores, Point Loma and anything in Encinitas, and the smart move is to stack those on the same day so one car trip north covers the surf lesson, the tacos and the sunset.

Things to Do in San Diego for a Bachelor Party: 12 Real Ideas

If you search for things to do in San Diego for a bachelor party you get the same list every time, Gaslamp bars, a brewery tour, “hit the beach,” and none of it tells you which surf school will take ten guys on a Saturday morning or if you can carry your own cooler onto the boat. So this is our version, twelve things we would actually book for a groom, with the price, the catch, and the shop nearby that stocks the cooler. If you want a whole weekend laid out around one kind of group, the itinerary guide does that six different ways, and this is the menu you build one of those from.

One thing first. The City of San Diego banned alcohol on its beaches, boardwalks and beach parking lots back in 2008, and Pacific Beach is exactly where it gets enforced, so the drinks live at the house, at the bar, or on the boat, and never on the sand.

Jump to: Surf lesson · Sea caves · Golf · Yacht · Fishing · Padres · Soccer · Coronado · PB crawl · Breweries · Sunset · Cardiff Crack

1. Take a group surf lesson at La Jolla Shores

Surf Diva on Avenida de la Playa has taught people to stand up at La Jolla Shores for decades, and the Shores is the right beach for a group because the bottom is sand and the waves are small and slow, so nobody gets hurt or humbled in front of his friends. Semi-private lessons for five or more run 105 dollars a person with the board and a rashguard included, a wetsuit is nine more, and the city adds a 16 percent surcharge at checkout, which surprises everyone. If half the group already surfs, send them up to Swami’s in Encinitas and meet for lunch, and warn them the lot up top is full by seven on any weekend with swell, so park on the 101.

A surf school set up on the sand under two orange canopies, soft-top boards lined up and a group in wetsuits heading for small waves

2. Kayak the sea caves

Everyday California runs a ninety-minute guided kayak tour of the La Jolla sea caves from the same block, up to ten people per tour, and it is the one thing on this list that works for the guy who does not surf, does not golf, and was not sure he wanted to come. The sea lions bark at you from the rocks, at least one boat flips on the way back in, and everyone is on the sand by lunch. If the house is in La Jolla, Valley Farm Market on La Jolla Boulevard and Keg N Bottle on Torrey Pines Road both stock SUNGOD.

3. Play Torrey Pines, or play Coronado and save the money

Torrey Pines Golf Course is the tee time everyone asks about, and it is worth doing once for a groom who actually plays, as long as you know the numbers going in: a non-resident weekend round on the South Course runs north of 300 dollars a player in 2026, the cart is 48 on top, and visitors book up to ninety days out for a 50 dollar per player reservation fee that is not refunded. For a golf day that does not need to be a flex, Coronado Golf Course is the smarter round, a 1957 municipal course along Glorietta Bay with the bridge behind half the holes, visitor green fees somewhere in the 44 to 83 dollar range, and a three to fourteen day booking window for non-residents with a 25 dollar fee.

4. Charter the yacht and bring the cooler

BowTie Charters runs a renovated eighty-foot yacht out of H&M Landing on Point Loma for up to twelve guests, with a thirty-foot water slide off the second deck you can add on. There is no liquor license aboard, so the bar is whatever you carry down the dock, and pouring hard alcohol means adding one of their bartenders. Our advice is to skip that whole problem with a cooler of cans, and a Solar Drift at five percent with pineapple and coconut and no fizz is about the right thing to have in your hand when the boat swings around toward the skyline. Board late in the afternoon so you are out there when the sun drops behind Point Loma.

Two guys sitting on the bow of a boat at anchor off a rocky shore, the sun low and the water going gold behind them

5. Go fishing out of Point Loma

The same landing runs half-day sportfishing trips, and this is the underrated one for a big group because it fills a morning that would otherwise get spent on a couch. H&M’s half-day boats go out at 6:30 in the morning and again at one in the summer, the fare is 75 to 90 dollars a person, rod and tackle rental is about twenty more, and anyone sixteen and up needs a California fishing license. You fish the kelp beds off Point Loma for calico bass and bonito, and the morning boat is back at the dock in time for lunch.

6. Padres game on the lawn

Petco Park is the easiest afternoon on the list from late March through the end of September. Skip the seats and buy Gallagher Square, the sloping lawn beyond the outfield, where the tickets are the cheapest in the building, nobody has an assigned seat, and the group can spread out on the grass and drift up to the standing rails when the game gets interesting. Nothing right by the ballpark stocks us, but The Bottle House on Grape Street in South Park is a short ride away and carries SUNGOD.

7. San Diego FC, if the wedding is in the fall

If baseball is over by the time the dates land, Snapdragon Stadium in Mission Valley has San Diego FC through the MLS regular season, which runs to Decision Day on Saturday, November 7 this year. Check the home schedule before anyone books flights. Total Wine on Rio San Diego Drive is a few minutes from the stadium and stocks SUNGOD for the house after.

8. Ferry to Coronado, rent the bikes, end at the Del

Take the ferry from Broadway Pier, nine dollars a person each way, every hour on the hour, fifteen minutes across. At the Coronado Ferry Landing, Holland’s Bikes & Beyond rents cruisers from about ten dollars an hour and surreys, the canopy things that seat six adults, and a bachelor party on a surrey is ridiculous in exactly the right way. Ride down Orange Avenue to the Hotel del Coronado, flat the whole way, and finish on the Sun Deck by the fire pits. It closes at seven on weeknights and eight Friday through Sunday, so the sunset round is the last one. Nothing on the island stocks us, so load the cooler on the mainland before you cross.

9. The Pacific Beach bar crawl, in the right order

Start at The Duck Dive on Mission Boulevard for happy hour, three to six, then walk over to PB Shore Club on Ocean Boulevard for the sunset, because the deck is right on the boardwalk facing west. Then The Grass Skirt on Grand Avenue, the tiki bar you walk into through a freezer door in the back of a poke shop, closed Mondays, open from five, and it takes group inquiries for parties of eight to nineteen. End at Mavericks Beach Club on Garnet, five bars, fire pits, backyard games and a dance floor in the back, and stay there, because every group that tries to upgrade to downtown at midnight loses an hour and half the party. Chips Liquor on Garnet and Crest Liquor on Ingraham both carry SUNGOD for the house.

10. Walk the North Park breweries

If the group would rather drink well than drink loud, North Park is a flat walk of about a mile between three breweries. North Park Beer Co. on University Avenue opens at noon and has a proper kitchen now, Mike Hess Brewing on Grim Avenue opens at noon with steel-tip darts and a skybridge over the tanks, and Fall Brewing on 30th Street opens at eleven, is a little punk rock about it, and is our favorite of the three.

11. Sunset Cliffs for the last light

Sunset Cliffs Natural Park at the Ladera Street end is the sunset spot when the group is downtown or in PB. Parking is free in two dirt lots and along Ladera, and on a Friday or Saturday from spring through fall it fills completely, so be there forty-five minutes to an hour before the sun goes, and there are no restrooms. For what to look for in the last two seconds, we wrote that up here.

The sun flattening into the horizon beside a pier, a row of people silhouetted along the rail against a deep orange sky

12. The Cardiff Crack lunch in Encinitas

If the surf half of the group ended up at Swami’s, lunch is a few blocks north at Bier Garden Encinitas on the 101, with the Cardiff Crack steak sandwich and the Loaded Cardiff Crack Fries both on the menu, which gets everyone the famous tri-tip without a Seaside Market line (we wrote up all the ways to do that). Seaside itself is open seven to ten every day and stocks SUNGOD, so it is the tri-tip and the cooler in one stop, and Moonlight Wine and Spirits on the 101 is the last stop before Moonlight Beach if the evening is a fire ring. The Encinitas playbook has the parking and the wind covered.

A Cardiff Crack steak sandwich and fries on a patio table next to a can of Minted Sol

Putting a day together

Two of these a day is the right number, one in the morning and one that ends at sunset, and the groups that try for four end up sitting on the 5 at three in the afternoon arguing about dinner. Every shop named above is on the locator, and if the house is in Coronado or downtown where nothing is close, a case ships to the door before the first flight lands.