San Diego Beer Week

Celebrating Craft Beer In San Diego: November 5-14, 2010

A Guide To Visiting San Diego’s Beer Destinations

San Diego is home to many award-winning breweries, brewpubs, beer-friendly restaurants, and other brew-centric venues. The following is a summary of information you’ll need to navigate our hoppy city’s broad expanses.

Need directions between events? Try our San Diego trip planner to find the best route to and from your destination.

Central & Inland San Diego

Breweries
Venues

Getting there by car: Central San Diego neighborhoods like North Park, South Park, Mission Valley, University Heights and Downtown feature the highest concentration of great brewpubs, beer bars and craft brew-centric restaurants. The main freeways leading to these areas are State Route 163 (exiting into Kearny Mesa, Mission Valley, University Heights, Hillcrest, Uptown and Downtown), Interstate 805 (exiting into Kearny Mesa, Mission Valley and North Park), Interstate 15 (exiting into City Heights and South Park) and Interstate 5 (exiting Downtown). All of these freeways are intersected by Interstate 8, San Diego’s primary west-east connector (exiting Linda Vista and Mission Valley). The most popular single street in all of San Diego for craft brew enthusiasts is 30th Street, which spans from North Park to South Park and is highly-populated with craft beer venues. Other more remote beer outposts exist further south (reachable by continuing south on I-5 or I-805) and further east (reachable via I-8).

Getting there by other means: If you are staying in central San Diego County, cabs provide the easiest, most flexible option for reaching centralized inland locations. Buses and the San Diego Trolley provide excellent coverage of Central San Diego. As with North County, due to the considerable distances involved, beer tour companies justify their price-tag for such excursions.

Getting around: Many of San Diego’s beer-centric communities (particularly North and South Park) are so dense with craft beer venues that it’s easy to get around on foot or bike. Once you are there, transportation only becomes an issue when it comes time to return from where you arrived. San Diego bus routes 2, 6, 7, and 11 are very useful for this area, particularly Route 2, which runs the length of 30th Street.

North San Diego

Breweries
Venues

Getting there by car: North County is home to some of San Diego’s most renowned brewing operations and, therefore, worth a trip from San Diego’s centralized communities. North County can be reached most easily from its western- or eastern-most points. To enter from the west (Carlsbad, Oceanside), drive north on Interstate 5. To enter from the east (Poway, Carmel Mountain, Escondido), drive north on Interstate 15. State Route 78, a west-east highway, bridges the gap between I-5 and I-15.

Getting there by other means: While cabs are always an option, the cost can be considerable. Managed transit express lanes run north-south along Interstate 15 from San Diego’s southern regions to North County’s eastern-most community, Escondido, making buses the most cost-effective resources for reaching this region. If you would like to access the western-most portions of North County, buses and the Coaster train, a high-speed rail line running north-south along the coast from Oceanside to Downtown, are available.

The popularity of North County’s breweries was a major contributor to the establishment of a number of local beer tour companies. Such companies pick up groups of various sizes and transport them to a number of breweries, introducing them to brewing staff along the way and ensuring safe transport throughout the tour. They present the most viable option for visitors looking to take in as much of North County’s beer scene as possible at one time.

Getting around: The majority of North County’s breweries are situated along SR-78. Breeze Buses are a viable travel option, as is the Sprinter Rail Line, a high-speed rail route running parallel to the SR-78.

Coastal San Diego

Breweries
Venues

Getting there by car: San Diego’s coastal communities are all reachable via Interstate 5, a north-south freeway running parallel to the coast. Interstate 5 is accessible via major freeways such as Interstate 15 in the southern part of the county, Interstate 8 and State Route 52 in central San Diego and Interstate 805, State Routes 56 and State Route 78 in North County.

Getting there by other means: If you are traveling from central San Diego County (Downtown, Mission Valley, etc.), cabs are a fairly affordable and flexible option for most of San Diego’s coastal brewery options. Buses are another easy option. If you are headed to the coast from the East County (Santee, El Cajon, La Mesa), Central San Diego (Mission Valley, Downtown) or the South Bay (Chula Vista, San Ysidro), you can reach the coastal part of the county via the San Diego Trolley and then utilize a secondary form of transit to reach your specific destination. Beer tour companies are another acceptable, yet more expensive option.

Getting around: Because they are situated in a straight line formation and relatively close together, buses, bikes, and taxis are the best travel options for getting from one coastal brewery to another.

Additional Travel Tips

Consider traveling by bike! Get a bit of exercise and enjoy the fresh air. Use Ride The City’s San Diego bike maps to plan your route.

Travel in groups: Nothing brings people together like good beer. Splitting a cab ride between two, three, or four friends makes long trips much more affordable and enjoyable.

Do your recon ahead of time: Check out the hours of the places you’re visiting ahead of time and make sure they are compatible with the mode of transportation you’re employing for getting to and from your destination(s). And don’t forget to call those places ahead of time. Every now and then, a brewery will close for a day or weekend due to expansion or maintenance and there’s nothing worse than driving out to some craft beer outpost only to find the drawbridge is up.

Create a plan: Formulate your transportation plan ahead of time and live to drink another day. Use our San Diego trip planner to find the best route to and from your destination.

Transportation Resources

Brewery Tours
Public Transit
Bike
Cab Companies