Hi there!
It’s possible to go to the big California cities by cruise ship!
As someone from a faraway land not from the west coast (I’m from the midwest ð), I think a California coastal cruise is a great way to get an introduction to California’s biggest cities!
Below I will tell you some of the best things to do in the big California cities and how to do it on your own. (aka: Things to do in California cruise ports on a budget!)
And even with just one day in a California city, you can find some worthy things to do!
California cruise ports have good public transportation so it’s easy to do things on your own.
Most cruises that go to California will go to 1 to 3 ports in California, depending on the type of cruise it is.
If it’s a dedicated California coastal cruise, you’ll probably go to 3 ports.
Or if it’s a repositioning cruise, you may only go to 1 port.
The biggest cruise ports in California are Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego. Less commonly, there are also cruises that go to Santa Barbara and Catalina Island (Avalon). Monterey is fighting hard to not have cruise ships arrive on their shores.
Most commonly, California coastal cruises can start in California itself with cruise ships that leave from Los Angeles. These round-trip cruises start in the fall and go through the winter months. There are also some California cruises that leave from San Diego.
You can also find cruises to California in the fall from Seattle and Vancouver at the end of the Alaska season. There are usually both one-way repositioning cruises and round-trip cruises.
You can look at the cruise lines of Princess and Holland America for the best cruises with California cruise ports.
That said, all the major cruise lines are in Alaska, so most of the cruise ships that are in Alaska for the summer do stop by California in the fall on repositioning cruises.
So you can check the cruise offerings of your favorite cruise line in September and October to see if they have repositioning cruises that go to California.
Similarly, you can check in April and May for the beginning of the Alaska season.
Finally, there are also cruises from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego that go to other destinations (like Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska) if you want to spend a few days on land in California before or after your cruise and make another destination your main goal!
Round trip cruises from a US city also need to stop in a foreign country as part of maritime law. For cruises along the California coast, this will be either in Mexico (Ensenada) or Canada (Victoria).
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My most recent cruise to California was a California coastal cruise in October, an 11-day round trip cruise from Seattle to the ports of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego. (California coastal cruises that leave from Los Angeles are usually 7-day cruises.)
I’ve also been on repositioning cruises that included California cruise ports. One made a stop in San Francisco and another started in San Diego.
Here is what to know about the cruise ports of the major California cities!
1. Golden Gate Bridge welcome center (San Francisco)
The most famous attraction of San Francisco is the Golden Gate Bridge.
So on my first cruise ship visit to San Francisco, I went to the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center.
You can walk around the welcome center to get views of the bridge… if it’s not foggy. ð
You’ve seen San Francisco in a way that it’s known for if you show up and can’t see the bridge! ðĪŠ
From the welcome center, I hiked part of the Batteries to Bluffs Trail and I felt like it was a great California coastal trail. You can also opt to go down to Marshall’s Beach to get a view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the beach.
It actually wasn’t very foggy when I arrived at the welcome center, but by the time I made it to Marshalls Beach, I could only see the legs of the bridge!
ð I hiked the Batteries to Bluffs Trail from the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center during a cruise ship visit.
Golden Gate Bridge welcome center without a car
It’s easy to go to the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center by bus from the cruise port or anywhere else in San Francisco.
Just use google maps to navigate and it makes it super easy!
It will tell you where the nearest bus stop is, and you can follow along on GPS to know when your bus stop is coming up.
When you do see your bus stop is next, you will push/pull the stop request so that the bus will stop! (Sample bus route.)
You can pay in cash with exact change, or you can prepare ahead of time by downloading San Francisco’s public transportation app called the Clipper app. Once you have the clipper app and set up a digital clipper card through the app, you will set up the clipper card with apple pay or google wallet. Then you’ll use your phone to pay for the bus as you get on!
For my most recent visit, I used the digital clipper card to take public transportation in San Francisco from the cruise port.
See the bus fare and more about the clipper card.
I have gotten dollar bills from guest services on the cruise ship.
If you are doing a cruise to or from San Francisco, you WILL sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, so be sure to be out on the open deck at sailaway!
ð Leaving San Francisco on a cruise ship after sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge.
ð Sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge at night on a cruise ship. If you have a night time cruise ship departure, you might want to do a San Francisco Bay sailing tour so you can see the bridge up close from the water during the day!
2. Muir Woods National Monument (San Francisco)
Aside from the Golden Gate Bridge, another one of the top San Francisco attractions is Muir Woods. This is a national park site that is an easy walk to through the forest to see redwoods.
You can also make it a more difficult walk (hike) by doing more of the trails.
On my second cruise ship visit to San Francisco, I went to Muir Woods.
It basically turned into a Muir Woods day, with the redwoods being my main activity of the day.
ð Seeing the redwoods is one of the best things to do in California, and you can do so in San Francisco from a cruise ship! There are Muir Woods tours you can take, or you can go on your own. Doing Muir Woods on your own without a car does take time (waiting for the bus) and extra walking, though!
Muir Woods without a car
You can go from the cruise port and downtown San Francisco to Muir Woods on your own by taking the ferry to Sausalito and then the bus! Taking the ferry is also a fun way to see the San Francisco skyline. You can see the cruise ship against the backdrop of the city skyline too!
Along with Alcatraz Island, a Muir Woods + Sausalito combo tour is one of the most popular paid activities to do in San Francisco.
There is also a Muir Woods shuttle that you can take on limited days.
The Muir Woods shuttle wasn’t offered on the day I was in San Francisco, so I couldn’t even consider that.
I ended up going to Muir Woods by ferry and bus on my own and it worked out well.
It is a lot of extra walking and waiting around for the bus though.
The area of Muir Woods is in an area that public transportation is less frequent (but still there!) so it just requires extra patience… and walking.
I took the bus to north of Muir Woods. I got off at the bus stop in front of the Mountain Home Inn. (map) Then I found the trailhead, which on google maps is listed as “memorial hike.” From there, it was the Panoramic Trail to Canopy View Trail to Lost Trail to Fern Creek Trail, which connected to Muir Woods National Monument. The Muir Woods visitor center is your end goal! You can look at google maps to see these trails. Look for the Mountain Home Inn and then zoom in to see the trails I just mentioned!
From the visitor center (where you can get a national park passport stamp), I took the Dipsea Trail to the Panoramic Highway to catch the bus there. (map)
The bus was late, but google maps also has a feature where you can actually see exactly where the bus is so it also provides updates and tells you when to expect the delayed bus! While I didn’t get any phone/data service in Muir Woods National Monument, I did get service on the Panoramic Highway.
You can use the SF public transportation clipper card to take the ferry and bus. The ferry will be cheaper if you use a clipper card to pay.
ð You can take the ferry to Sausalito from downtown San Francisco. The ferry terminal is a 20 minute walk from the cruise port. You can make the Sausalito ferry your activity of the day and spend time walking around the small coastal town of Sausalito. Or, you can make it part of your trip on your way to Muir Woods!
ð On the way back from Sausalito, the ferry got pretty close to Alcatraz Island. Be sure you can see the island side of the boat so you don’t miss it! Going to Alcratraz Island is one of the most popular things to do in San Francisco. You can make it an Alcatraz only activity, or there are also Alcatraz Island combo tours.
ð Walking through Muir Woods National Monument and a redwoods forest in California.
3. Fishermans Wharf (San Francisco)
If you’re looking for something easy to do from the cruise ship or just in San Francisco in general, then you must go to Fisherman’s Wharf!
Fisherman’s Wharf is fun because you can see sea lions by going to pier 27. It’s a 15 to 20 minute walk from the cruise port. (map)
ð One of the best things to do in California is to see wild sea lions, and you can do so in San Francisco by walking from the cruise port!
My one day in San Francisco from a cruise ship
The cruise ship docked at Pier 27.
It arrived in the morning and had a departure time in the late afternoon.
On my first cruise ship visit to San Francisco, I first walked to Fisherman’s Wharf pier 39 from the cruise port to see the sea lions.
Then, I took the bus to the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center.
After that, I took the Lombard Street that’s famous for being a super crooked street that goes back and forth. (map)
From there, I walked around a bit, and then walked back to the cruise port. (It was a somewhat long walk.)
I thought it was a perfect day in San Francisco and a perfect first time visit!
See more about my one day in San Francisco cruise port.
ð This Princess cruise ship is docked at pier 27 at the San Francisco cruise port.
4. San Pedro (Los Angeles)
My cruise ship docked at berth 50 of the Los Angeles cruise port, which is in the area of San Pedro of Los Angeles.
The only real thing to do walking from this outer harbor Los Angeles cruise port is walking around the Cabrillo Marina.
If you don’t mind walking more, you can walk to the Cabrillo Beach and beyond.
ð You can walk from the Los Angeles cruise port in San Pedro to the Cabrillo Marina.
ð Cruise ship docked in Los Angeles at berth 50 in San Pedro.
ð Walking path at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. It was a Saturday but it was relatively quiet.
ð It’s fun watching the shore birds!
ð On google maps, this is marked as the south side of Cabrillo Beach.
ð Cabrillo Beach was the closest beach that you could walk to from Los Angeles cruise port berth 50.
ð More California coastal views! I continued walking towards Point Fermin lighthouse.
Since the cruise ship was in port all day, it would have been possible to do some of the classic LA things.
Time is required since San Pedro is a bit further away from those classic things like downtown LA or Santa Monica (map). It’s possible to do them by bus, but it’s more about how much time in transit you are okay with if you want to do it on the cheap. (Santa Monica is like 3 hours one way by bus with transfers.)
Otherwise, there is uber. Going by car is a 40 minute drive from the Los Angeles cruise port, and you’ll want to add in extra time for traffic.
Uber is a good back-up plan for any of these California cities in case the bus timings make you uncomfortable about making it back to the ship on time at the end of the day.
Long Beach is closer, and in fact some cruise ships dock much closer to Long Beach than the berth 50 outer harbor that I was at, so it might be even closer for you.
Because I was planning on walking a lot the next day in San Diego, I was thinking that I would make Los Angeles a somewhat “easy” day. Well that did not happen as I ended up walking a lot anyway. ðĪĢð
So while San Pedro is not really well-known as a major tourist destination, I stayed in San Pedro for my cruise port visit. I did get plenty of classic California coastal views!
I took the bus at the end of the day to get back to the cruise port. The bus stop “near” berth 50 is like a 30 minute walk.
Google maps is all you need to navigate public transportation around Los Angeles!
I did set up a digital public transportation card for Los Angeles through the LA public transit app, which is called the TAP card.
For my most recent visit to Los Angeles, I used the digital tap card to take public transportation in the LA metro. (On a previous visit, I used cash when I took public transportation to/from the airport, Santa Monica, and Malibu.)
ð Views from the cruise ship docked at berth 50 at the Los Angeles cruise port.
ð Princess cruise ship docked in Los Angeles cruise port.
5. La Jolla Cove (San Diego)
It was fun to see the sea lions in San Francisco, but it was almost more fun in San Diego!
At the La Jolla Cove in San Diego, there are sea lions and seals.
You can be on the beach with the sea lions. You might be on the beach standing around and then suddenly a sea lion starts trotting across the beach in your direction. It was really quite entertaining. I think you could easily spend an hour just watching the sea lions.
ð Seeing the sea lions is one of the best things to do in California, and you can do so in San Diego!
ð You can walk the La Jolla coastal walking trail to get to the sea lions.
It seems like the sea lions in San Diego seem to be quite used to people.
People were even swimming in the water with sea lions not too far away!
Having been to Hawaii many times where there are clear barriers to how close people should get to Hawaiian monk seals and sea turtles on popular Hawaii beaches that both tourists and wild marine life frequent, San Diego was quite interesting to me to see how close some of the sea lions and people got to each other.
IMPORTANT: You may see people getting what feels to be quite close to the sea lions. This might lead you to believe that sea lions are harmless. Sea lions are WILD! So, it’s really better to stay away. Don’t get too close. And especially don’t get close to a little one. The mothers can be quite protective and that’s one situation when attacks can happen.
La Jolla without a car
La Jolla is quite far from the San Diego cruise port, but I thought it was worth it.
You can go to La Jolla by train (MTS trolley) and bus. It will take over an hour to get from the cruise port and downtown San Diego to La Jolla. I got off at the bus stop near a spot that was called “Coastal Walk Trail” and then from there I walked toward the sea lions. (map)
Once again, google maps is all you need to navigate public transportation around San Diego!
And again, I set up the digital public transportation card for San Diego through the app, which is called the pronto card.
I very much recommend setting up these public transit cards ahead of time. It made it super easy to take public transportation in all the cities!
6. Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve (San Diego)
I wanted to go to Torrey Pines to go to a California state park!
Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve is a part of the California state park system in the La Jolla area of San Diego.
I thought it was crazy how different the cloud cover can be in different areas of San Diego and California in general!
When I left the cruise port, it was sunny in downtown San Diego. In La Jolla, and Torrey Pines, it was totally foggy/cloudy.
I’m sure the views are much better when it’s sunny out, but I still thought it was a good day hiking Torrey Pines even though it was cloudy.
The thing to do is hike to the coastline. It’s a mostly easy trail through the park, except there are stairs to get to the beach.
ð One of the best things to do in California is go for a beach walk, and you can do so in San Diego at Torrey Pines State Natural Preserve!
ð You can look for rocks on the beach.
ð There are stairs going down to the beach.
ð Beach Trail difficulty in Torrey Pines state park.
ð You can go hiking in San Diego during a cruise ship visit at Torrey Pines state park.
Torrey Pines state park without a car
Torrey Pines is beyond the La Jolla Cove when coming from downtown San Diego and the cruise port. So again, it will require time to get to.
I started hiking in Torrey Pines at the North Fork trailhead, and the bus stop is a 10 minute walk away. (map)
Then I followed the trail to the beach. On the return, I took the trail to the West parking lot for the bathroom. ðĪŠ From there, it’s about a 20 minute walk to the nearest bus stop. (map)
7. Balboa Park (San Diego)
I was looking for something that would be okay to do even if it’s dark out (San Diego at night), and Balboa Park seemed to be good for that.
I ended up doing a short evening stroll in Balboa Park before returning to the cruise ship.
By the time I arrived, it was past the official sunset time, but you could still see outside. I made it in time to see the desert garden and rose garden with a little bit of light.
Then I walked toward the Lily Pond, since that’s where you go for one of the most iconic pictures you see of Balboa Park.
And getting there was part of the fun! It was walking there that I saw the buildings with historical architecture.
ð Balboa Park’s desert garden in the evening.
ð Balboa Park at night.
Balboa Park without a car
The bus goes right through Balboa Park, so you can get to the park from downtown San Diego and the cruise port.
I got off at the bus stop near the desert garden. (map)
My one day in San Diego from a cruise ship
The cruise ship docked in downtown San Diego. It arrived in the morning and was in port until 10pm.
I got a bit of a late start because when I first looked outside it was foggy and that wasn’t very motivating. ðĪŠ
I walked off the cruise ship at around 11:30am.
From there, I took the train (public transit trolley) and bus to Torrey Pines State Park to go hiking to the beach.
Then, I took the bus to La Jolla to see the sea lions. I forgot that I also wanted to go to the tide pools in search of marine life in the water! (map)
After seeing sea lions, I then took a bus back to Balboa Park in downtown San Diego.
See more about my one day in San Diego cruise port.
California travel ideas:
More cruise ideas from the west coast:
- Things to do in Hawaii
- Best things to do in Honolulu
- Best things to do in Maui
- Things to do in Pago Pago American Samoa (transpacific cruise)
HAPPY TRAVELING THE CALIFORNIA COAST!
More travel planning tips!
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