Government Man's (perennially-updated) Guide to San Diego Hotels
NOTE: THIS THREAD IS FOR INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY! PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS WHERE YOU ARE STAYING IN 2009, AS YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO MIGHT READ THIS THREAD SOME DAY.
I decided to put this thread in "Other Entertainment" rather than the "General Board," as there will not be a Foster's panel in 2009.
The hardest part each year in making it to the San Diego Comic Con is getting a hotel room. The hotel specials announced each February get snapped up earlier and earlier each year, so as ludicrous as it may seem to prepare for a trip ten months in advance, now may be the best time to arrange your accommodations.
On this thread I will provide maps and prices (mostly from Expedia) to help would-be Con visitors to decide where to stay.
Part I: San Diego Neighborhoods
The San Diego Comic Con is held in the San Diego Convention Center, located "in the heart of Downtown San Diego" (see
map). All of
Downtown is within a mile of the Convention Center, so getting a hotel there means you can walk. The airport is northwest of Downtown. North of the airport is Old Town (3 miles from the Convention Center) and east of that is Mission Valley (4 miles from the Convention Center), where the vast majority of affordable hotels are.
San Diego has a trolley system to handle public transportation. See the orange, blue and green lines on the map for the routes; the plus symbols mark the stations the trolleys stop at. For those taking the train, the Amtrak station is located at the northern junction of the orange and blue lines (southwest of #19). The trolley runs through Old Town and Mission Valley, so I'll be posting about hotels there as well.