Ocean Beach is a great place to stay, near enough to get to San Diego zoo (15 minutes' drive), Sea World (10 minutes' drive), Mission beach (10 minutes' drive) and the centre of town (15 minutes' drive) but with a great Glastonbury-on-sea vibe.
It's not intimidating at all for the family as some online descriptions have said (much less so than Newquay) - it's still pristine and polite and, if you stay in the Ocean Beach hotel, you can watch the surfers from your balcony.
We were there in Dec/Jan and, apparently, it gets a lot busier and louder in the peak seasons and at spring break but out of season it was fantastic.
Ocean Beach, San Diego, California
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