The best part about this rental is the location. You are just a few minutes walk away from both the bay and the ocean. It is close to all major San Diego attractions. We never drove more than 15-20 minutes to reach our destinations. There is a "corner market" within a few minutes walk. I wouldn't do all my shopping there as the prices are high but nice if you forgot an item. Ralph's Grocery store (a subsidiary of Kroger) is a five minute drive and has decent prices even for California. There are a ton of restaurants and souvenir shops within easy walking distance along with Belmont park. The rental itself is spacious and has a nice deck. The unit does have some cons, though. The biggest being that it is in the direct flight path for planes taking off and landing. This means starting around 6 am planes roar over the top of unit every few minutes. There is usually a lull mid day, but then picks up again around 6pm and goes on until around 11 PM. I'm sure if you lived there year round you'd get used to it but definitely couldn't have the windows open and expect to sleep through the roar. Also made the deck less enjoyable. While the unit does have A/C, the thermostat is located in the living room. This means in order to keep the bedrooms cool and comfortable, you have to set the thermostat quite low making the living room frigid. Also best to sleep with bedroom doors open. I think if the thermostat was located in the hallway closer to the bedrooms and/or there were ceiling fans it would solve the problem. Cooking supplies are pretty basic--no baking pans or casserole dishes. No Tupperware or storage containers for leftovers. No toaster--just a toaster oven whose settings have pretty much worn off. Chairs, Boogie Boards, sand toys, and bikes are available but with the exception of the toys they are in serious need of updating--not sure the bikes are rideable, they looked pretty rusty. We used the chairs but they too are becoming rusty and quite worn. There was also a wagon to pull everything to the beach but one side was broken and it too looked like it had seen better days. It was nice not to have to park on the street but I wouldn't recommend bringing in a truck or full sized SUV. It's a narrow alleyway with posts, other cars, and trashcans. Thank goodness for a backup camera. While there is a washer and dryer in the unit, it is coin operated which was odd. All in all, besides paint and some furnishings, the place could use some updating and TLC. It's not rundown per say, just felt more like I was staying at Grandma's place--a bit stuck in the 80s. I've stayed at several vacation rental places where the kitchens were just as well stocked as your own personal kitchen, and
some nice personal touches such shampoos, several rolls of toilet paper, information and recommendations for the surrounding area, etc were provided. The hosts have stopped by or called to be sure everything was okay and were super friendly. The one time I had to call Al about our code, he seemed put out and frustrated. I guess a little more hospitality could have gone a long way. If you are wanting to see the major San Diego sites and spend time on the beach, the location is fantastic and the cons listed above wouldn't necessarily deter me from staying again. However if we were to return we might try to investigate a quieter area such as La Jolla.