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Mission Bay Park
a walking tour by Carol Mendel

Mission Bay is a 4600-acre playground with 27 miles of beaches -- a paradise for sailing, boating, waterskiing, fishing, and swimming. For sea-lovers who prefer the open ocean, sportfishing boats -- and, in season, whale-watching boats -- leave from Mission Bay for the Pacific Ocean. For landlubbers the park offers beach-side walks, bicycling, camping, picnicking, a golf course, restaurants, motels. And then, of course, there's Sea World, one of San Diego's main visitor attractions.

Mission Bay

The park offers many areas that are good for walking. This walk takes in one of the best -- the eastern shoreline.

Distance: Approximately two miles, one way. Time: It depends on how fast you like to walk, and how much of the walk you decide to take.

MAP of the walking tour

Terms of Use

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This is a walk that you can make as long or as short as you like, depending on your time and your mood. You can turn around at any point. If you plan to take the full walk, and have two cars, you can leave the second car in the parking lot where the walk ends, where it will be ready for you when you get there.

Leaving De Anza Cove

Begin at De Anza Cove, in the northeast corner of the park, and take the paved walkway that follows the eastern shoreline of Mission Bay.

Boat launching ramp and loading dock

As you walk along, you pass picnic areas, and come a boat launching ramp.

former Visitor Information Center

Passing a waterskiing area and some playgrounds, you come to a building that formerly housed a visitor information center. In the years before the internet, this was a popular place for visitors to make their hotel reservations and learn about the local attractions.

A popular spot to see migratory birds in winter

Beyond that you come to a bathing beach and an area popular with migratory birds.

Rental shop at Hilton San Diego Resort

Soon you arrive at the Hilton San Diego Resort.

Passing a group of palm trees

Leaving the Hilton behind, you can see the roller coaster and rides of Sea World on the other side of the bay.

Eventually you pass another playground and, after that, a grove of palm trees.

Playground at the end of the walk

The walk ends at the next playground, the one just before the path leads out to the road to cross a bridge.

You return the same way you came.

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Copyright © by Carol Mendel

Enjoy this walking tour? Check out the others in this series Balboa Park Cabrillo National Monument Downtown San Diego The Embarcadero La Jolla La Playa Mission Bay Park Mission Beach Old Town Shelter Island Sunset Cliffs

Enjoy full-color illustrated maps? Check out the ones below. Some can be purchased as laminated maps, some as folded maps, some as wooden trays, and some as all three. San Diego Los Angeles Palm Springs Santa Barbara San Francisco Bay Area Las Vegas Salt Lake City Oregon Washington DC

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