So my spring break from online uni is at the end of the month (Apri 25-May2) and I've decided to spend 5-7 days in "America's Finest City".

I'm looking at an ocean-front Pacific Beach hostel for the weekdays to meet people and such, followed by move to a nicer hostel Friday/Saturday/Sunday near the Gaslamp Quarter for dat prime nightlife experience.

Is this good strategy or nah?

Don't bother with gaslamp. Stay on the beach. You can drive into the city if you want to check it out but no reason to stay there when you're looking for fun/sloots and the beach towns are where they are in the highest concentration.

Just got back from a 4-5 day trip in SD


Stayed near gas lamp. It’s SUPER lively at night, but a lot of the restaurants and bars are still doing limited dining, 6 feet apart etc. Still extremely lively and fun. There were multiple bars and clubs around that area that were full on open. They apparently barely opened that weekend. The way I found them is just asking your server, usually if they’re cool/you get they’ll tell you which ones are breaking the rules and letting people in. They still might reach capacity though

Also went to PB for a bit and personally I liked it a lot better. Girls were gorgeous and seemed friendlier, beach vibe. Having a spot right there would be sick. A few bars were open like regular, you can just walk right in front the beach, although these closed earlier than the Gaslamp ones did

Also there are a couple places that legit didn’t close till like 4am lol but they were further out than PB. Overall your plan seems good, I would still check out pb during one of the weekend days if I were you

Great recs. Maybe I'll just stay at the beach bungalow hostel the whole trip and see if group wants to rideshare into Gaslamp district one night!

Edit: got you on R/C mang

or take the trolly from pb to gas lamp. But Pb is better for spring break.

If you party in gaslamp, you will have fun for a couple hours, then end up leaving and going back to PB to finish the night out anyway.

I know because this is what happened to me and my friends countless times. For god sakes do not waste prime weekend nights in Gaslamp instead of on the beach. And this is from someone who lived in Gaslamp.

If you must, I recommend:

Thursday night: Gaslamp
Friday/Saturday Night: PB

Should plan a beer/taco crawl in Pacific Beach, especially on Tuesday. Have a beer and taco or three at one place and walk to the next.

PB is where the trashy college kids are at and downtown is a little more classy from my experience. The bars/clubs are all pretty lame now anyways tbh. Pre-covid PB was fukin lit.