Sunday Funday in San Diego: Where Locals Actually Go

Sunday Funday in San Diego means one thing to most people who live here: a slow, sunny, day-drinking loop through Pacific Beach, brunch first, beach bars after, and a sunset to cap it. After 25 years here we have run this routine more times than we can count, and the truth is the best version of it is not the loudest one. We still own a house in San Diego and come back often, and a good Sunday is the day we plan around when we do.

Below is how we actually do a Sunday Funday, from a boozy brunch to a beachfront bar to a Duffy boat on the bay, plus the low-key version for anyone who is not drinking. Every spot is named with its neighborhood so you know exactly where you are headed. A quick note before you go: brunch prices, bottomless-mimosa time limits, and seasonal day-party dates shift constantly, so confirm with the venue before you build your whole day around one detail.

The short answer: The center of Sunday Funday in San Diego is Pacific Beach, where the beach bars along Ocean Boulevard and Garnet Avenue have owned the day-drinking scene for years. Start with a bottomless-mimosa brunch (Garage Kitchen + Bar or Union Kitchen & Tap in the Gaslamp; TapRoom in North Park), hit a beachfront bar like PB Shore Club, or book the Pool House Sundays day party at the Pendry. For a mellower day, rent a Duffy boat on Mission Bay, catch the free 2pm Spreckels Organ concert in Balboa Park, or hit the Hillcrest Farmers Market. The single best local move: take a rideshare, not your car.

San Diego Sunday Funday spots at a glance

Spot	Neighborhood	What it’s for	Good to know
PB Shore Club	Pacific Beach	Beachfront day drinking	On the boardwalk at 4343 Ocean Blvd; best ocean view in PB
Mavericks Beach Club	Pacific Beach	Big multi-bar day party	Opens Sun 10am; ~5 bars, multi-level decks
Garage Kitchen + Bar	Gaslamp	Bottomless-mimosa brunch	$20, 90-min limit, with entree; brunch Fri–Sun 11am–3pm
Union Kitchen & Tap	Gaslamp	Bottomless-mimosa brunch	$25 classic mimosas; Sat & Sun 10am–2pm
TapRoom Beer Co.	North Park	Beer-garden brunch, dog-friendly	Build-your-own mimosa bottle; brunch until 1:30pm
Pool House Sundays (Pendry)	Gaslamp	Rooftop pool day party	Every Sun ~1pm, late Apr–Sep; reservations recommended
Duffy / electric boat	Mission Bay	BYOB on the water	No license; Seaforth ~$300/2hr, $500/3hr, up to 10
Bali Hai	Shelter Island	Bayfront tiki brunch	70-plus-year landmark; bay and skyline views
Spreckels Organ concert	Balboa Park	Free, non-drinker move	Every Sun 2pm year-round, ~1 hour

1. PB Shore Club (Pacific Beach)

PB Shore Club is the quintessential San Diego beach bar, and it is the heart of a Pacific Beach Sunday Funday. It sits right on the boardwalk at 4343 Ocean Boulevard, near Grand Avenue, with what is probably the best ocean view of any bar in PB. Inside you get two full bars, around 20 taps, and a wall of TVs for whatever game is on. It is loud, it is young, and on a sunny Sunday it is exactly what people come to PB for.

• Neighborhood: Pacific Beach, on the oceanfront boardwalk (Ocean Front Walk).
• Parking: Brutal on a sunny Sunday. Meters are free on Sundays but every spot fills, so rideshare in or park several blocks inland and walk.
• Best time to go: Early afternoon, once the marine layer burns off. Get there before the after-brunch crowd lands around 1 to 2pm.
• The local move: Grab a spot at the boardwalk-facing rail, not the interior. The point of this place is the view and the people-watching, so you want to be looking at the water. Note that despite what some lists say, this is a beachfront bar, not a rooftop.

2. Mavericks Beach Club (Pacific Beach)

Mavericks Beach Club is the engine of the PB Sunday Funday bar scene. At 860 Garnet Avenue, it is a roughly 15,000-square-foot complex with about five bars, multiple decks, games, and DJs, and it opens at 10am on Sundays, which makes it a genuine daytime spot rather than a club that only wakes up at night. If your Sunday is built around a Garnet Avenue crawl, this is the anchor.

• Neighborhood: Pacific Beach, on the main Garnet Avenue strip.
• Parking: Same PB reality. Sunday meters are free, but the strip is packed. Rideshare is the sane choice.
• Best time to go: Late morning to early afternoon, before the line builds.
• The local move: Garnet is a walkable crawl, so make Mavericks one stop, not the whole day. Society PB (1051 Garnet) for a game and a pool table, 710 Beach Club (710 Garnet) for live music, and Tavern at the Beach (1200 Garnet) for a brunch-and-mimosa start are all within a few blocks.

3. Garage Kitchen + Bar (Gaslamp Quarter)

For a downtown bottomless-mimosa brunch, Garage Kitchen + Bar at 655 Fourth Avenue is a dependable pick. The bottomless mimosas run 20 dollars with a 90-minute limit and an entree purchase, and brunch is served Friday through Sunday from 11am to 3pm. The space is chef-driven food with wall-to-wall TVs, so it pulls a sports crowd and works well for a bigger group.

• Neighborhood: Gaslamp Quarter, downtown.
• Parking: Downtown garages are your friend on a Sunday and often cheaper than weekday rates. Skip the street hunt.
• Best time to go: Right at 11am if you want a table without a wait, or book ahead.
• The local move: Reservations are recommended but not required, so for a group of four or more, just book it. Order an entree you actually want, since you have to buy one to unlock the bottomless deal anyway.

4. Union Kitchen & Tap (Gaslamp Quarter)

Union Kitchen & Tap at 333 Fifth Avenue is the other reliable Gaslamp brunch for a lively Sunday. The classic bottomless mimosas are 25 dollars, and brunch runs Saturday and Sunday from 10am to 2pm. Its earlier opening than most makes it a good first stop if you want to start the day on the early side and still have the afternoon for the beach or a boat.

• Neighborhood: Gaslamp Quarter, downtown.
• Parking: Downtown garage, same as above.
• Best time to go: The 10am open is the move if you want to beat the crowd and pace the day.
• The local move: Reservations are encouraged through OpenTable. Start here, then walk a few blocks to the Pendry if you are doing the Pool House day party afterward (see below).

5. TapRoom Beer Co. (North Park)

If you would rather skip the tourist districts, North Park is where locals go, and TapRoom Beer Co. at 2000 El Cajon Boulevard is a great Sunday Funday base. The brunch leans beer-garden, the patio is dog-friendly, and instead of a flat bottomless deal it runs a build-your-own mimosa bottle service, so you control the pour. Weekend brunch goes until 1:30pm.

• Neighborhood: North Park (note there is a separate “SD TapRoom” in Pacific Beach, which is a different business).
• Parking: North Park street parking is far easier than PB or the Gaslamp on a Sunday, especially mid-morning.
• Best time to go: Mid-morning, then walk it off down 30th Street.
• The local move: Bring the dog. The patio welcomes them, and a North Park Sunday is built for a slow walk down 30th Street afterward for coffee. Our best coffee shops in San Diego guide has the North Park stops we actually use.

6. Pool House Sundays at the Pendry (Gaslamp Quarter)

For the upscale day-party version of Sunday Funday, Pool House Sundays on the third-floor rooftop pool deck at the Pendry San Diego (435 Fifth Avenue) is the one. It runs every Sunday from around 1pm during the warm season, roughly late April through the end of September, with headlining DJs and cabana and daybed bottle service. This is the polished, dressed-up counterpart to the PB beach-bar grind.

• Neighborhood: Gaslamp Quarter, downtown, rooftop.
• Parking: Valet at the hotel or a nearby garage. You are not street-parking this one.
• Best time to go: It kicks off around 1pm; arrive early in the season for the best weather and a daybed.
• The local move: Call ahead to confirm the specific Sunday date and reserve, since the dates are seasonal and not every Sunday is documented in advance. A cabana or daybed split among a group is the comfortable way to do it.

7. A Duffy boat on Mission Bay

The most relaxed Sunday Funday in San Diego happens on the water. Self-drive electric Duffy-style boats on Mission Bay are bring-your-own-beverage and require no boating license, so you can load a cooler, put on music, and putter around the bay at a few miles an hour. Seaforth Boat Rentals at 1641 Quivira Road rents a 21-foot electric boat that seats up to 10, for about 300 dollars for two hours or 500 dollars for three. San Diego Electric Boat Rentals (1548 Quivira Way) is another bring-your-own option.

• Neighborhood: Mission Bay, launching from the Quivira Basin near Mission Bay Drive.
• Parking: The marina lots in Quivira Basin are far calmer than the beach lots. This is one of the easier places to park on a Sunday.
• Best time to go: Late morning to mid-afternoon for the calmest water and the best light. Book ahead on summer weekends.
• The local move: Confirm the alcohol policy and the deposit hold when you reserve, and pick a sober driver to run the helm. Split four ways, a three-hour boat is one of the best-value Sunday Fundays going.

8. Bali Hai (Shelter Island)

Bali Hai is the bayfront classic, a Polynesian tiki landmark that has been on Shelter Island for more than 70 years, at 2230 Shelter Island Drive. Every table looks out over San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline, the Mai Tais are famous, and the Sunday champagne brunch is the move. This is the calmer, view-first way to do a Sunday, the opposite end of the spectrum from the PB boardwalk.

• Neighborhood: Shelter Island, on San Diego Bay (bayfront, not oceanfront).
• Parking: Shelter Island has its own lots and is far less of a fight than the beaches.
• Best time to go: Sunday brunch, with a window seat for the bay view. Confirm current brunch hours before you drive over.
• The local move: Sit by the water and order a Mai Tai with brunch. The skyline-across-the-bay view is the whole reason to be here, so do not let them seat you inland.

9. Wonderland Ocean Pub (Ocean Beach)

Ocean Beach does Sunday Funday its own way, slower and saltier than PB, and Wonderland Ocean Pub at 5083 Santa Monica Avenue is the spot with the view. It sits up above the beach near the OB pier with panoramic Pacific views and a deep San Diego craft-beer list (AleSmith, Abnormal, and the like), plus a daily sunset toast. If your Sunday is a beer-and-a-sunset kind of day, this is it.

• Neighborhood: Ocean Beach, near the pier.
• Parking: OB street parking is tight but more forgiving than PB. Come a little early and you will find something within a few blocks.
• Best time to go: Late afternoon into sunset for the toast and the view.
• The local move: Make it the end of the day, then wander down Newport Avenue. Our full Ocean Beach neighborhood guide covers the rest of the strip.

10. Cannonball (Mission Beach)

Cannonball sits on top of Belmont Park in Mission Beach and bills itself as the largest oceanfront rooftop bar in San Diego, with sushi, fire pits, lounge seating, and ocean views. On a Sunday it is a great middle ground: rooftop day-drinking energy with the beach right there and the Belmont Park roller coaster and arcade below if you have kids or non-drinkers in the group.

• Neighborhood: Mission Beach, atop Belmont Park on Ocean Front Walk.
• Parking: The free Belmont Park lots fill before noon on sunny weekends, so arrive around 9am or rideshare. Lots a couple blocks east hold spots a little longer.
• Best time to go: Afternoon into the late-day “Acoustic Sunsets” if they are running.
• The local move: Park the family at Belmont Park’s rides and boardwalk while the group heads up to the rooftop. It is one of the few Sunday Funday spots that genuinely works for a mixed crowd.

11. The non-drinker’s Sunday Funday: Balboa Park, markets, and a brunch cruise

Sunday Funday does not have to involve a single mimosa. The best free move in the city is the Spreckels Organ concert in Balboa Park, which plays every Sunday at 2pm year-round on the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world, and runs about an hour. Pair it with a morning at the Hillcrest Farmers Market, open every Sunday 9am to 2pm (currently at a temporary spot on University Avenue between Herbert and Park while the Normal Street promenade is rebuilt), or the La Jolla Open Aire Market on Girard Avenue on Sunday mornings.

For a waterfront day, Liberty Public Market in Point Loma and Seaport Village downtown (open Sunday 10am to 9pm) are easy, food-focused, family-friendly stops. And if you want the brunch-cruise version, the Flagship Champagne Brunch Cruise departs Broadway Pier downtown on Saturdays and Sundays around 11am for a roughly two-hour bay cruise with a brunch buffet and a DJ (around 101 dollars adult, 70 dollars for kids, prices subject to change). If you want a longer eating tour to build a Sunday around, our guides to the best breakfast spots in San Diego and things to do in Little Italy cover the rest.

One useful correction: a lot of visitors assume Balboa Park’s museums are free on Sundays. They are not. The park’s resident free-museum days are Tuesdays (rotating by which museums each week), so on a Sunday the museums are full price. The gardens, the walking, and the organ concert are the free Sunday wins.

The recovery brunch: Kono’s and The Mission

If your Sunday Funday is really a Sunday recovery, two beach institutions are the cure. Kono’s Cafe at 704 Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach has been slinging huge, cheap breakfast burritos right by Crystal Pier since 1991, with an ocean-view deck and a weekend line that is worth the wait. The Mission at 3795 Mission Boulevard in Mission Beach has been the laid-back neighborhood brunch since 1997. Either one, plus a coffee and a slow boardwalk walk, resets the whole day.

The tourist trap to skip

The trap we steer people away from is treating the Gaslamp Quarter as the default Sunday Funday. It is convenient and there are good spots in it (the brunches above included), but a lot of the Gaslamp bars are overpriced and tourist-focused without much atmosphere, and the same goes for some of the quantity-over-quality drinking on the busiest stretch of Garnet in PB. If you want quality over volume, point yourself at North Park, which is walkable, less touristy, and full of better food and drink. The move is to use the Gaslamp for the brunch and the Pendry pool party, then get out of it for the rest of the day.

Whatever version you run, the one rule that makes a San Diego Sunday Funday actually fun is to leave the car at home. Rideshare between neighborhoods, drink at the pace of the day, and let the afternoon stretch out. To find more local bars, restaurants, and things to do, browse our San Diego business directory, the restaurants and food services listings, and the entertainment and recreation directory for boats, day parties, and more. For more day-drinking, our best happy hour in San Diego guide picks up right where Sunday Funday leaves off.