You’ll likely never see National City, California, in a travel guide, but it serves as one of San Diego’s most overlooked getaways. At first glance, the city can seem unassuming—marked by chain motels, a beachless waterfront, and a reputation that hasn’t always worked in its favor, but there’s more to the story.
Sure, everywhere has problems, but everywhere started somewhere, too. National City is roughly 10 minutes from downtown San Diego and even less from Chula Vista, where the region’s newest resort, Gaylord Pacific Resort & Convention Center, opened along the bayfront in 2025.
National City is sandwiched in between, offering an unexpected day trip away from the world-famous San Diego Zoo and incredible beaches tourists flock to year-round, including Coronado, where Marilyn Monroe famously filmed Some Like It Hot. If you squint, you can even see the famous Hotel del Coronado from National City’s shoreline.
Despite its low profile today, National City has a long connection to Hollywood’s golden era. In its heyday, it served as a common pit stop for Hollywood’s elite, including Bing Crosby and Clark Gable, along with Errol Flynn, who made Café La Maze, which opened in 1940, a popular stop on the way to Tijuana…