Hotel Pick-up and Drop-off for San Diego Tours

Meeting spot for San Diego Tours

The meeting spot for TourGuideTim Tours is outside the Santa Fe Train Depot at 1050 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego, CA 92101.
San Diego City Attractions and History Tour: Meet at 8:45AM
San Diego Coastal Tour to La Jolla and Torrey Pines: Meet at 11:45AM

About our Meeting Spot for San Diego Tours

The Santa Fe Depot is a convenient meeting spot because it is within a 15 minute walk of most downtown San Diego hotels and tourist attractions, is adjacent to parking lots, has easy access to taxis, and serves the San Diego transit system trolley, the regional San Diego Coaster train, and the national AMTRAK train service. Also, a number of hotels provide free shuttle service to the train station. To get a better sense of what is available, you can open our custom map of parking near the train station and custom map of nearby hotels, attractions, and transit services.

Hotel Drop-off for San Diego Tours

At the end of the tour, the driver can drive a loop through San Diego and drop off guests at or near the following hotels and tourist areas. Don’t worry about the long list because remember that we only serve about 20 guests per tour and many prefer to walk back to their hotel and enjoy the San Diego weather or have parked at the train station so it won’t take long to drop you off at:

  • Convention Center area hotels: Embassy Suites, Seaport Village, Manchester Hyatt, Marriott Marquis, Hilton Bayfront.
  • Gaslamp Quarter hotels: Hilton Gaslamp, Omni, Hard Rock, Marriott Gaslamp, Residence Inn, Solamar, Indigo, Lucky D, Horton Grand, Comfort Inn, Keating, Andaz, Ramada, Hostelling International, USA Hostel, Gaslamp Plaza Suites, Wyndham Harborlight, Palomar, Courtyard, U.S. Grant, Westgate, Westin Gaslamp, Horton Plaza, Bristol, and Sofia.
  • Cortez Hill area: Declan Suites, Holiday Inn Express, Days Inn, Red Roof Inn, Best Western Plus, Rodeway, and Wyndham Worldmark.
  • San Diego Harbor area near Pacific Highway: Wyndham Bayside, Hampton Inn, Pacific Inn, Residence Inn, Marina Inn
  • Little Italy area: Best Western Bayside, Porta Vista, La Pensione, Vantaggio, Harborview, Doubletree, Four Points, Motel 6.
  • Old Town Area & Hotel Circle: We’ll usually use the Old Town Transit Center, a central drop-off point next to the State Historic Park and direct access to Bus #88 for Hotel Circle Hotels, but we can drive you closer to the following hotels if needed: Best Western Hacienda, Courtyard Old Town, Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta Inn.
  • La Jolla, Pacific Beach, and Mission Bay areas: We can drop you off in these areas as we return towards downtown on our afternoon Coastal San Diego Tour to La Jolla and Torrey Pines, although many guests from these hotels either drive or take public transit so they can spend their evening enjoying dinner in downtown San Diego. We do not offer drop-off to these areas for our morning City Tour but there is public transportation available and guests find it is easy and nice to use.
  • Coronado: We can drop you off outside the Glorietta Bay Marina, which is near the Hotel Del Coronado and accessible to local bus transit to reach other Coronado hotels, before we return to downtown San Diego during our morning City Attractions and History Tour. We do not offer drop-off to Coronado after our afternoon Coastal Tour but public transportation is available and guests find it is easy and nice to use.
  • We are also happy to drop off guests at the W Hotel, Westin San Diego, Santa Fe Depot parking lots, and San Diego harbor tours even though they are within a 2 block walk of the train station.

Hotel Pick-up for San Diego Tours

Although most guests find their way to the tour meeting spot, here is an overview of what we can generally offer for hotel pick-up, especially for those who have difficulty walking. If you require or desire hotel pick-up please send us an email (preferred) at reservations@tourguidetim.com or call our guides on their cell phones at 1-231-Tim-Tour (846-8687) prior to your arrival in San Diego, and provide where you will be staying, how we can reach you when you are in San Diego, and if you have any difficulty walking. We will acknowledge receipt and let you know if there could be any problem with pick-up. Then, we will confirm a pick-up spot with you the evening before the tour. We will generally ask you to be ready for pick-up at 8:30 for the City Tour and 11:30 for the Coastal Tour. Out of respect for all guests, we will not wait for any late guests.

Downtown San Diego, Old Town, and Hotel Circle

We offer pick-up for guests who are staying at hotels in the following areas. We will also note how long of a walk it is, if you walk at a standard pace, from your hotel area to the train station to help you decide if you want to walk or desire pick-up. (To find the names of the hotels in each of these areas, read the descriptions used for the Hotel Drop-off section above.):

  • Convention Center area: The hotels in this area, with the exception of the Hilton Bayfront, are within a 15 minute walk of the train station. It’s about 25 minutes from the Hilton Bayfront
  • Gaslamp Quarter area: 10 to 20 minute walk from the train station
  • Cortez Hill area: 20 minute walk downhill to the train station
  • Little Italy area: Less than 15 minute walk
  • San Diego Harbor area near Pacific Highway: Less than a 15 minute walk
  • Old Town Transit area: Less than a 10 minute ride on the San Diego Transit Trolley to the Santa Fe Depot. The Old Town Transit Center is also within a 10 minute walk of Old Town hotels except for the Holiday Inn Express, which takes 20 minutes. The Old Town Transit Center also serves Bus #88, which does a loop through Hotel Circle every half hour.

Mission Valley

We generally do not pick-up or drop off from this area. However, the San Diego Transit Trolley goes right past the Doubletree in Mission Valley and the Fashion Valley Mall. It is a 15 minute ride on the Green Line from this area to the Santa Fe Depot. At the trolley stations, you can purchase a $2 Compass Card and load it with a $5 day pass.

Coronado

We can pick up a few guests outside the Glorietta Bay Marina at 1715 Strand Way, which is near the Hotel Del Coronado and accessible to local bus transit from other Coronado hotels, for our afternoon Coastal Tour. You would be picked up at approximately 10:50 when our morning City Tour makes a stop at that location near the end of that tour. We do not pick up on Coronado before the morning City Tour or drop off after the afternoon Coastal Tour but public transit, ferry, and taxi are all readily available to and from the Santa Fe Train Depot.

Shelter Island and Point Loma

We do not pick up and drop off at hotels in this area. However, we can offer to pick you up for the morning City Tour when we pass by that area shortly after the beginning of that tour. You would need to be ready by 9AM (although pick-up will usually be closer to 9:10) near the corner of Rosecrans and Talbot. After the tour, you would need to use public transit or taxi to return to this area.

Other locations

If your hotel area was not listed above but you would like to be picked up, let us know and we’ll see if we can figure out a way to accommodate you or at least provide you advice on the best way to meet us. We’ll try our best to make it easy to join our tour. reservations@tourguidetim.com or call our guides on their cell phones at 1-231-Tim-Tour (846-8687)

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