First visit with kiddos- need inexpensive place to stay

My husband, myself, and our two kids, ages 2 and 8 are visiting San Diego for a few days in July before heading off on a road/camping trip with extended family. This will be our first trip to San Diego. We are so excited! :) We just want to relax, enjoy nature and swimming, maybe a trip to your renowned zoo. We will not have a car while we%26#39;re there, but can take cabs. We need recommendations for a cheap place to stay, as we spent most of our budget on airfare. We prefer ';mom %26amp; pop'; establishments,and a pool for the kids would be nice, but that%26#39;s not necessary. My only concern is that it be very clean. We are not fancy or picky! We just need a place to sleep! :)

First visit with kiddos- need inexpensive place to stay

I notice you have several hostels. What is your opinion on those?

First visit with kiddos- need inexpensive place to stay

I don%26#39;t know if our hostels have family rooms.They certainly don%26#39;t have pools.

Also many of our low end budget accommodations also don%26#39;t have pools. what exactly is the amount of money you are willing to spend. IF you had a car it might be easier to find inexpensive WITH pool.

WHEN in July are you thinking of coming.IF it%26#39;s any time around the week of July 24 don%26#39;t even bother to look for inexpensive rooms in easy access to public transportation as the giant Comicon convention is in town.

Hi, riffsmom!

Thanks for the reply!

We are coming in July 12, and will hang around there through the 15 or 16... Some places I have checked out are the Occidental, the Dolphin Motel, and the one hostel? that offers private rooms... I%26#39;m just beginning my research. I need to keep it below $100/night. (This is going to be a long vacation.) I always have luck with Priceline, but not in San Diego, so I have abandoned that pursuit. I guess ya%26#39;ll don%26#39;t need to give your rooms away. :) I have been researching the area today, and was thinking about Imperial Beach, as well. Anyway, any tips or advice are appreciated! I know where all the best funky beach motels in Texas are, so I presumed someone on TA%26#39;s San Diego forum could turn us on to similar lodging there. Thanks again for your help!

As far as I know the rooms at the Dolphin have only 1 bed in them. It is a great low cost place BUT no pool. WHICH hostel has the private room?

I am not aware of hotels in Imperial Beach as it is not a place where I encourage tourists to stay. It is south of all the activities ,except shopping at the outlet mall,Las Americas,at the border.It is just beginning to gentrify although the beach itself and its pier is very nice.

In summer there are no really cheat(under $100)beach motels that I know of. IF you find one please let me know.

Sorry, forgot to mention that the Occidental is also fine.Some rooms have shared bathrooms and also no pool.

I just put your dates into www.hotwire.com and they show a couple of motels in your price range BUT on that site you don%26#39;t know the name of the motel until you buy.It%26#39;s kind of like Priceline BUT you don%26#39;t bid.

In order to get an idea of which hotel you are getting use this site.

www.betterbidding.com/index.php鈥?/a>

Good luck and please tell me where you end up so perhaps I can better help others .

Wow! You are so helpful! Thanks for the great tips! I will resume my research tonight after work...

I have had good luck finding good rates by using Trip Advisor. Click on hotels on the top left and then put in your dates.

Orbitz also has been showing good rates. For your dates there is Super 8 on Hotel Circle for $86, I don%26#39;t think it has a pool tho.

Also Days Inn Mission Valley avg price $97 has a pool.

We last planned for San Diego in 2005. As we were driving and are campers.. we ended up camping for 2 nights at Campland on the Bay! Great place.

We are thinking about the H.I. Point Loma Hostel; they have private family rooms. There are also family rooms at the H.I.Downtown Hostel. What are your opinions on these locations? Should we maybe divide our stay between the two? Point Loma seems to be more kid friendly... And the staff I%26#39;ve talked to are really nice and helpful. Can we walk and take public transport, or do we really need to rent a car? Also, what is your opinion: Zoo or Sea World for our one big touristy activity. Otherwise, we just want to relax and swim at the beach. What is your favorite beach for kids to swim? Feel free to include favorite cheap eats (tacos, local favs, etc...) Thanks so much for your help! :)

The Point Loma location will be quieter BUT the one downtown will be easier to get around without a car.

The web site says they are right at a bus stop but taking buses everywhere can be time consuming. So I suppose you have to decide what is more important to you. I think downtown will have lots of partying young people since it%26#39;s in the midst of all the clubs ,restaurants etc.

I have had good luck using www.priceline.com to rent cars lately. So let us know if you decide to do that as getting to restaurants and attractions without one can be a pain.