ADJENTURING

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Living in San Diego for a Month: A Digital Nomad Review

6–10 minutes

In August 2025, I started on a six-month digital nomad trip around the U.S. My goal is to live in different cities for a few weeks to a month to explore them more deeply than a typical vacation, and figure out where I might want to live long-term.

For the seventh stop on my trip, I went to San Diego, California – I’d heard incredible things about the weather and food, and was excited to explore San Diego as a place to live long-term.

Here are my takeaways and reflections from living in San Diego for a month.

San Diego Scorecard

  • Food: 3.5/5.
  • Cost of living: 3/5.
  • Walkability: 3.5/5.
  • Public transportation: 2/5.
  • Cleanliness & safety: 4/5.
  • Things to do in the city: 4/5.
  • Nature access: 3/5.
  • Drivability: 3/5.
  • Weather: 4/5.
  • People: 3/5.

Total score: 33/50.

My second highest score of the cities I’ve explored so far (after Denver).

What I Liked About San Diego

  • Fantastic ice cream. Almost every ice cream spot I went to (and I went to a lot) was incredible, and with creative flavors.
  • Great Mexican food and seafood – as expected.
  • Not as expensive as expected. Food and rental car prices were comparable to the rest of the U.S. Even gas prices were lower than expected for California.
  • Mostly great weather, even in the winter. The vast majority of days are sunny and temperate.
  • Decent walkability within residential neighborhoods.
  • Safe. I never felt like my safety was threatened, which is more than I can say for most major U.S. cities. It helped that I was staying in the suburbs.
  • Highly bikeable on certain streets.
  • Very solid hikes within 30 minutes, with good views.

What I Didn’t Like About San Diego

  • High cost of housing. For a short-term rental, any private spot with a kitchen cost over $3,500. Rentals near the beach cost at least $4,500.
  • Public transportation is poorly connected. As a result, I was never able to use it during my time in San Diego, and chose to bike everywhere instead.
  • Lots of dog poop on the sidewalk. People have a habit of not cleaning up after their dogs.
  • Limited “wow factor” for hikes within a few hours. The nearby hikes are nice, but they’re not super exciting or awe-inspiring, and the approach to the view is often boring.
  • The road system isn’t well-designed. Some of the highways have ridiculous merges, and drivers are not very nice.
  • Not built for rain. Roads and sidewalks flood for days when it rains.

Cost of Living in San Diego for One Month

The cost of living in San Diego was high – roughly on par with D.C. if you don’t consider taxes, but not prohibitive like Seattle or New York.

Here’s my cost of living in San Diego for one month:

  • Rent: $2,100
  • Rental car: $900
  • Gas: $170
  • Groceries: $380
  • Eating out: $900
  • Activities and souvenirs: $120

Total: $4,570. Some of the rent and car expenses were split with my partner, so my total cost came out to $3,420.

Rent

Short-term rentals in San Diego are very expensive. The place I rented was the cheapest private place I found. It was a studio cottage in my host’s backyard, in an inland residential neighborhood (neighborhoods near the beach are more expensive). It did not have a kitchen or a freezer (microwave, fridge, and toaster oven only) and did not have laundry facilities.

Rental Car

The rental car cost $900 for roughly three weeks. I redeemed points for an additional week, which saved me $250.

Groceries and Restaurants

Spend on groceries limited as I didn’t have a full kitchen, and spend on restaurants was high to compensate.

Gas

On the higher end for the U.S. ($4-5), but not as expensive as elsewhere in California ($6+).

Hiking Near San Diego

Iron Mountain

  • Distance: 5.7 mi
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Great views of the Poway mountains and the reserve. Exposed trail, somewhat boring approach.

Potato Chip Rock

  • Distance: 4.1 mi
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Iconic rock formation shaped like a potato chip. Went on a weekday afternoon and had the rock all to myself.
  • The trail up is very sunny and hot, extremely boring approach, and there have been reports of rattlesnakes close to dusk. Trail gets extremely crowded on weekends.

Garnet Peak

  • Distance: 4.1 mi
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Fantastic views over the Anza-Borrego Desert. On a day with good visibility, you can see all the way to Salinas. Best in early morning.

Annie’s Canyon

  • Distance: 1 mi
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Fun and easy trail through a slot canyon close to San Diego.

Torrey Pines

  • Several trail options with iconic torrey pines and cliffs overlooking the ocean.

Exploring the City

San Diego Art Museum

  • Free days second Tuesdays, normally expensive to visit.
  • Small but solid collection, especially the Asian art collection.

Mingei Museum

  • Free days third Thursdays, normally expensive to visit.
  • Small and interesting, focused on California-inspired art and local artists.

Balboa Park

  • Beautiful open space with lots of Spanish colonial architecture, great place to walk around and explore.
  • The Spanish Village Arts Center houses many artist shops, products are expensive but fun to look through.

Ocean Beach

Sunset Cliffs

  • Long cliff shoreline from Ocean Beach to Sunset Cliffs Natural Reserve, nice spot for walking.
  • Sunset Cliffs Natural Reserve: Great spot for sunset, exploring, and watching surfers.

La Jolla

  • Children’s Pool: Great place for seeing harbor seals, sea lions, and pelicans.
  • La Jolla Downtown: Great food options, interesting art exhibits. Difficult parking.

Cabrillo National Monument

  • Southernmost point of Point Loma, with views of the San Diego skyline and Coronado Beach.
  • I enjoyed walking the historic lighthouse and coastal paths, and watching fighter jets taking off.
  • $20 entry fee unless you have an America the Beautiful Pass.

Solana Beach

Encinitas

  • Swami’s Beach: One of my favorite beaches near San Diego, at the bottom of a tall set of stairs, fantastic sunset spot. Secluded and quiet.
  • Moonlight Beach: Busier than Swami’s, nice place for sunset, free parking.
  • Self Realization Garden: Peaceful spot to walk around and explore, koi pond and gardens.

Del Mar

  • Torrey Pines: Series of cliffside trails overlooking the ocean surrounded by torrey pines.
  • Powerhouse Park: Nice beach with small gardens, nice sunset spot.

Coronado

  • Coronado Beach: Fun place to go house-spotting, gets busy on weekends.

Weekend Trips from San Diego

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Santa Barbara

  • Butterfly Beach: Long beach with views of distant cliffs.
  • Downtown: Historic architecture and interesting shops, very lively.
  • CAJE: Fantastic chicken pesto panini.

Channel Islands

Best Restaurants and Cafes in San Diego

Thai

  • Pinto Thai (Ramona, $$): Pad see ew, basil garlic rice.
  • White Elephant (Hillcrest, $$): Pad see ew, basil garlic rice.

Poke

Coffee & Cafe

  • Dark Horse (Multiple locations, $): Cold brew (skip the pastries).
  • Bica (Normal Heights, $): Cold brew, olive oil cake.
  • Ignite (Oceanside, $): Cold brew.
  • Mostra Coffee (North Park, $): Cold brew.
  • James Coffee (Multiple locations, $): Cold brew, iced americano.
  • Fuzz Coffee & Records (North Park, $): Cold brew.
  • Madi (Normal Heights, $$): Churro waffle sticks.

Dessert & Ice Cream

Pizza

Mexican

Conclusion

Overall, I really enjoyed my month in San Diego. The city is safe, sunny, and easy to live in, and the sunsets are unbeatable.

That said, I don’t think San Diego is the place for me. Housing costs are extremely high for what you get and the hiking (while solid) didn’t have the kind of dramatic scenery that makes me want to keep coming back.

What’s next?

I’m heading to Japan and Taiwan for a couple weeks before taking a short roadtrip across Arizona and Utah.

Read about my experiences digital nomading in other cities here:

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