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Old Town San Diego

Old Town San Diego architecture dates back to the early 19th century, and mixes classic Old West wooden and brick buildings with iconic Spanish adobe structures.

View a diverse array of 1,700 bottles of tequila at the El Agave Restaurant and Tequileria. The tequila, some of which is over 100 years old, ranges from blanco (white) to anejo (dark) in variety and is stored in unique vessels. El Agave offers 500 different types of tequila for those who want to sample this quintessential Mexican liquor.

Hop onboard a trolley and explore Old Town without exhausting your feet, or take a tour of Old Town State Park, which houses historic museums. San Diego Avenue is Old Town’s main thoroughfare, and here you will find most of Old Town’s museums, including the Sheriff’s Museum and a historic 19th century burial ground. The Whaley House is a historic Greek Revival house and museum that has earned its reputation as the most haunted house in America. The Whaley House offers monthly late-night ghost hunting tours in accordance with the San Diego Ghost Hunters. Old Town also has several other historic houses, including restored Victorian homes, and the Old Adobe Chapel, the first church in San Diego after the secularization of the California missions in 1832.

Father Junipero Serra, founding father of the 21 California missions, built the first mission and presidio in 1869 on a hill overlooking Old Town San Diego. Mission San Diego de Alcala is the birthplace of Christianity in the far western United States, and is a shrine to the beginning of Catholicism and to California history.

Watch candy makers pull taffy the old-fashioned way at Cousin’s Candy, buy unique gifts at stores on San Diego Avenue, including the Old Town Marketplace and hand-painted Mexican tile at the Bazaar del Mundo, and craft your own candles at Toby’s Candle Shop.

By nature of its history and proximity to Mexico, San Diego has the best Mexican food in the world (outside of Mexico, of course), so don’t miss the authentic Mexican restaurants.