Whoa!
The price of a ferry ticket from San Diego to Coronado has jumped from $5 to $7. That’s one way. So the round-trip price is now $14. That’s nearly a 50% increase.
What was once a cheap way to get across the bay to access Coronado Island (which is not really an island but it sounds better for PR and marketing purposes) to, take bike rides, visit the famous Hotel del Coronado, go eat and drink in its restaurants and bars or take your pooch to poop in the dog park is not so inexpensive anymore.
The last fare increase, which was in 2018, was just 25 cents. That raised the price to $5 from $4.75. That’s more like it. Two dollars each way is enough to make some (such as myself) reconsider a casual trip to Coronado.
And unless you take a bike (which is free at the moment and hopefully that won’t change) then it’s another $2.50 to take a city bus to the Hotel Del and the restaurant-heavy Ocean Ave.
There are two ferries from San Diego, a big one from the Broadway Pier that takes about 15 minutes. It’s a nice ride across the bay that gets pretty close to the USS Midway. It departs for Coronado at the top of the hour and returns at the bottom of the hour up until 9:30 weekdays and 10:30 on Fridays and Saturdays. It is also the most crowded ferry with tons of tourists lining up at the pier.
A smaller ferry departs from behind the convention center at the South Embarcadero next to Joe’s Crabshack and “billionaire’s row,” multi-million-dollar yachts which are often docked in the harbor. That ride takes just five minutes and is far less crowded than the one on Broadway. Because the journey is shorter it leaves every half hour at 10 and 40 past the hour.
Tickets are purchased from a ticket booth at the Broadway Pier and from a machine behind the Convention Center. You can pay by cash or credit card. And be sure and wear a mask while on board the boats.
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