The Best Outdoor Movies in San Diego This Summer

Grab a blanket, some popcorn, and someone to snuggle with. Some great films are showing at al fresco venues around town this summer.

Rooftop Cinema Club

The most luxurious (and expensive) outdoor movie experience takes place on the 4^th Floor patio of the Manchester Grand Hyatt in the Gaslamp District. Choose solo or snuggle-friendly deckchairs, strap on wireless headphones, and watch away. If the movie stinks, you’ve still got the view of the surrounding waterfront towers. And your deckchair companion. Tickets are $15.30 to $24.

Many movies are showing weekly all summer long; here are a few of our faves:

Moulin Rouge!, May 24, 8:30 p.m.

Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, May 25, 8:30 p.m.

Clueless, May 28, 8:30 p.m.

The Goonies, May 29, 8:30 p.m.

Bohemiam Rhapsody: Sing-a-Long, May 30, 8:30 p.m.

A Star is Born, May 31, 8:30 p.m.

La La Land, June 1, 8:30 p.m.

Grease: Sing-a-Long, June 3, 8:30 p.m.

Little Italy Summer Film Festival

Get cultured with a bit of Italian cinema (with English subtitles) showing every Saturday night from June through August at the Amici Park Amphitheater. Films start at 8 p.m.; $5.

Summer Movies in the Park

A handful of San Diego County parks are putting your tax dollars to work by showing free movies. Be sure to bring your own chairs, blankets, and other viewing paraphernalia. All showtimes are 15 minutes after sunset. Here’s the full summer schedule:

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, University City, June 7, Nobel Community Park

Guardians of the Galaxy, Carmel Valley, June 8, Pacific Highlands Ranch

Back to the Future, June 14, Carmel Valley Community Park

The Princess Bride, June 22, Waterfront Park

Star Wars, The Force Awakens, July 12, Carmel Valley, Ocean Air Community Park

Finding Nemo, Clairemont, July 20, North Clairemont Community Park

Movies on the Beach

Find your way to Del Beach, the Hotel Del Coronado’s private section of Coronado Beach, for bonfires, s’mores, and family-friendly flicks. Daybeds and sand chairs are first come, first served; $20 per chair. Movies start at 8 p.m.

Here’s the full schedule:

Hook, June 28

Top Gun, July 6

Mary Poppins Returns, July 13

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, July 20

The Goonies, July 27

The Incredibles 2, Aug. 3

Back to the Future, Aug. 10

Wizard of Oz, Aug. 31

Flicks on the Bricks

The patio of La Jolla’s Athenaeum Music & Arts Library turns to a 21-and-over wine tasting and film noir screening every Thursday in August. Individual screenings are $12 for members or $17 for nonmembers.

Underworld U.S.A., Aug. 15, 7:30 p.m.

Mirage, Aug. 22, 7:30 p.m.

Sudden Fear, Aug. 29, 7:30

Screen on the Green

The Botanical Lawn on the east side of Balboa Park’s Museum of Art plays host to free screenings every Thursday in August. All show times are 8 p.m.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Aug. 1

An American in Paris, Aug. 8

Spellbound, Aug. 15

Black Orpheus, Aug. 22

Dracula, Aug. 29

Liberty Station Outdoor Movies

Liberty Station’s grassy North Promenade (2848 Dewey Road) will host two free movie nights in August. Details to be determined

Aug. 2, check back here for details.

Aug. 17, check back here for details

Stone Brewing Liberty Station Outdoor Movies

No need to bring snacks to Stone Brewing’s movie courtyard (no outside food is allowed anyway), although you can bring your own chairs and blankets. Movies start 15 minutes after sunset; free.

Zoolander, June 4

Zombieland, June 11

Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, June 18

Reservoir Dogs, June 25

Major League, July 2

Anchorman, July 9

Spaceballs, July 16

The Three Amigos, July 23

Coming to America, July 30

The Goonies, August 6

Raiders of the Lost Ark, August 13

Bayside Summer Nights

Allow the San Diego Symphony to play the soundtrack live during these screenings at Embarcadero Marina Park South; all shows begin at 7:30 p.m., $24 and up.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, June 13-14

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Aug. 1-2

Singin’ in the Rain, Aug. 23

If you live in San Diego and you work out indoors, you’re doing something wrong. This week’s gloomy weather aside, there’s not a single reason to remain inside unless your job or Netflix addiction demand it. Whether you prefer the agony of interval training, the challenge of waterborne yoga, or the masochism of spinning, you can do it al fresco. In the sun. And the breeze. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it’ll get you active outside before sundown today.

Outdoor Spinning

You no longer have to stare at the accumulating puddle of sweat produced by your neighbor in a cramped spin studio. Join this roving spin class that pops up on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6:45 a.m. and noon. Spin and Go plans to bring their outdoor classes to Balboa Park, Kate Sessions Park, and North County, but for now you can punish your quads at Liberty Station. Founders of this recently-launched company have trained NFL players. They will also come to your office with their bikes and make your boss suffer right there alongside you and everyone from accounting. Individual classes are $20.

Sunset and Full Moon Yoga

In San Diego, the world is your yoga studio. We’ve got outdoor yoga classes like some cities have subway stations. You could do worse than striking a tree post at sunset or under a full moon in Pacific Palisades Park in P.B. Bird Rock Yoga regularly offers these classes (beginning March 12 and March 31, respectively).

Boot Camp

You’ll find medicine balls and partner drills galore at the interval training-based workout classes offered by Wired Fitness. Their morning and after-work classes are available in various al fresco locations in Mission Bay, Carmel Valley, Solana Beach, and La Mesa. Find specific location information here. First class is free. San Diego Core Fitness also offers boot camp-style functional fitness at outdoor locations like Morley Field in Balboa Park.

SUP Yoga

When you can’t decide whether to go to yoga or for a paddle there’s always SUP yoga, the not-so-ancient discipline of holding yoga poses while balancing on a stand-up paddleboard made for the purpose. Bliss Paddle Yoga holds all-level classes in Mission Bay, $40.

Growing up in Carlsbad, I never quite understood why people vacationed there. What, so you want to check out the field where I have soccer practice? Pay my orthodontist a visit? Carlsbad just felt like a town by the beach, no better or worse than any other in the country. It took going to college out of state for me to actually understand just how rare a place like Carlsbad is.

Thanksgiving break my freshman year, my first time coming home after three months in the Midwest, my shoulders dropped. I rolled down the windows and drove to lifeguard tower 37—the hangout magnet for Carlsbad’s youths (and, in the summer, tourists)—and the smells of the ocean woke me right up like smelling salts do. I finally got it.

Carlsbad isn’t just a stopover town on your way to something better. It is the destination. Travel + Leisure named Carlsbad one of the top 50 places around the world to travel in 2026. From the whole globe, the travel magazine picked my home. Sure, we’ve got the Flower Fields and Legoland—but now it’s the smaller ships and indier dreams that are giving it street-level character.

It’s not just Carlsbad, either. People have talked about the “North County bubble” for decades—a force field that prevents its residents from traveling south of the 56. It’s often used derogatorily, and it’s a fairly accurate burn.

For decades, living up in North County meant giving up on culture, or at least culture within close proximity. But now, the main expansion of San Diego culture is happening up north. Central San Diego restaurants have started taking notice and are expanding into the area—spurred no doubt by Oceanside’s food boom and the Jeune et Jolie–Campfire–Wildland–Lilo constellation in Carlsbad. City Heights burger joint Key & Cleaver opened a new spot in Oceanside; the owners of Parc Bistro-Brasserie in Bankers Hill opened Parc Lounge in Rancho Santa Fe. Possibly the strongest market indicator is that Sam Fox—one of the most successful restaurateurs west of the Rockies—has started focusing on North County for his concepts. In 2025, he opened both The Henry in Carlsbad and Culinary Dropout in Del Mar.

For the ultimate insider guide, we found a handful of inspiring people who live and create and truly know six North County neighborhoods—San Marcos, Escondido, Oceanside, Leucadia, Rancho Santa Fe, and Vista—and asked them how they’d spend a dream day out and about in their town.

San Marcos

San Marcos is in full renaissance mode. The biggest story is that the grand North City vision is starting to peek through the scaffolding. It’s essentially the North County Downtown that’s been written in the tea leaves and discussed whenever someone gets stuck in traffic at the 5/805 merge: a 200-acre, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use face-changer that’s slated for 2,600 homes, 350,000 square feet of retail and restaurants, 250 hotel rooms, and about a million square feet of offices and labs. Its most recent manifestation is 222 North City—a 12-story residential tower with over 450 residences, rooftop garden, pool cabanas, art installations, and almost 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail (Necessity Coffee, Buona Forchetta, Draft Republic, Milonga Empanadas, and a grocery store anchor on its way).

Which means Restaurant Row is no longer burdened with being the primary caregiver for the hungry or the socially inclined. Patricia Prado-Olmos has watched the city morph during her nearly three-decade tenure at CSUSM, having spent the past six years as the school’s chief community engagement officer. She also just announced her forthcoming retirement at the end of the 2026–2027 school year, so she’ll have even more time to haunt local haunts.

Meet the Local: Patricia Prado-Olmos

Those in the know call the university “Cal State StairMaster” from the Sisyphean amount of stairs on the hillside campus. So, any day at or around CSUSM should start with a homestyle carbo-load (biscuits and gravy) from Mama Kat’s.

Rull, a Michelin-trained pastry chef who’s done stints on Netflix (Bake Squad) and Food Network (Super Mega Cakes, Halloween Wars), opened his patisserie last fall. The hype hasn’t cooled off yet: Get there early because the crowds do.

Just south of Lake Hodges near 4S Ranch and Poway, Rancho Bernardo is a suburban community that blends residential neighborhoods with industrial pockets, elevated by a decidedly diverse food scene.  

Over 60 years ago, this North County neighborhood was once part of a family ranch. Since that time, big tech companies have taken up residence here, including Amazon, Sony Electronics, Oura Ring, HP, Teradata, and ASML. Rancho Bernardo Inn serves as a community hub, with locals frequently meeting at the hotel’s restaurants, golf course, and spa.  

Whether it’s work or a round of golf that brings you to Rancho Bernardo, we’ve taken care of the agenda planning with our guide to the area’s best restaurants, activities, and shops.

Rancho Bernardo Restaurants, Bars, and Coffee Shops

Avant

Sample ingredients plucked straight from Rancho Bernardo Inn’s onsite garden and served at their signature restaurant Avant. One of the neighborhood’s most upscale dining options, they serve a French-inspired menu with nods to California, including many seafood options. Don’t miss their more casual sister restaurant Veranda for al fresco dining.

17550 Bernardo Oaks Drive

The Kitchen at Bernardo Winery

Wood-fired pizzas and handmade pastas are standouts at The Kitchen, Bernardo Winery’s counter-service restaurant specializing in Sicilian flavors. Charcuterie boards and bruschetta make for great starters or snacks while wine tasting.

13330 Paseo Del Verano Norte

Bushfire Kitchen

Fast-casual and family-owned eatery Bushfire Kitchen recently opened a location in Rancho Bernardo, serving sandwiches, bowls, salads, burgers, protein plates, and housemade empanadas. Bushfire prepares comfort food with healthy ingredients, and offers plenty of vegetarian and vegan options.

11962 Bernardo Plaza Drive, Suite 110

The Cork & Craft

Some might call The Cork & Craft an overachiever. This gastropub has an in-house craft brewery and winery: Abnormal Beer and Wine. The more, the merrier. Their sushi menu is definitely worth exploring, but don’t miss other specialties like garlic noodles, chicken wings, and pork belly.

16990 Via Tazon

Carvers Steaks & Chops

You don’t have to leave Rancho Bernardo to get a white tablecloth steakhouse experience. Carvers Steaks & Chops has prime rib (their best seller), filet, ribeye, porterhouse, New York strip, and other cuts, served alongside crab-stuffed mushrooms, wedge salad, French onion soup, potato skins, and other steakhouse specialties.

1940 Bernardo Plaza Drive

Burma Place

This no-frills Burmese restaurant is known for its traditional tea leaf salad that’s topped with sesame and sunflower seeds, garlic chips, peanuts, tomatoes, jalapeños, fried yellow beans, and fermented green tea leaf dressing. Tucked into a nondescript strip mall, Burma Place is a great takeout option when you want to eat garlic noodles, fried rice, chicken curry, and samosas from the comfort of your couch.

16719 Bernardo Center Drive, Suite A

Phở Ca Dao

Find authentic Vietnamese cuisine at Phở Ca Dao, including favorites like phở noodle soup, vermicelli noodles, broken rice dishes, and spring rolls. One of eight locations throughout San Diego, this family-owned chain uses robot servers for food delivery.

11808 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 100

The Kebab Shop

It’s all about the sauce at fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant The Kebab Shop. Smothering your chicken shawarma, gyro, or falafels in garlic yogurt, cilantro jalapeno, fire chili, and dill yogurt sauce is practically a rite of passage. The hardest part is deciding whether to order a wrap, bowl, or salad.

11980 Bernardo Plaza Drive

Casa Lahori

Get a taste of South Asian flavors at Casa Lahori, a Pakistani restaurant noted for its grilled meat kabobs. Other best-selling dishes include beef nihari, chicken biryani, and shahi paneer— best enjoyed with naan bread.

11975 Bernardo Plaza Drive

Kangnam Korean BBQ

Grill your own meat on the tabletop at Kangnam Korean BBQ, an interactive, all-you-can-eat experience that’s well-suited for large groups. Marinated beef bulgogi, grilled galbi short ribs, and spicy pork are served alongside traditional banchan dishes like kimchi, japchae glass noodles, and flavorful stews. Weekday lunch specials provide a nice discount on these filling meals.

11828 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 117–119

Curry & More Indian Bistro

Dig in to your favorite curries and kebabs at Curry & More Indian Bistro. Most entrees are served with a choice of two side dishes, including basmati rice, potatoes with cumin, daal, naan, or mixed greens. Help offset the spice with one of their sweet mango or strawberry lassi drinks.

11808 Rancho Bernardo Road, Suite 123

Sushi Kami

When three nations and 16 cities come together to host the FIFA World Cup 2026, the scale stops feeling like a tournament and starts feeling like geography. A continent becomes the stage as borders soften into corridors. And Southern California—shaped by migration, sport, entertainment, and constant movement—sits inside that landscape with all eyes on it.

San Diego and Los Angeles have always felt connected. Hop on the Pacific Surfliner, and the trip unfolds in one continuous stretch of coastline, passing beach towns, neighborhoods, and city centers.

Traveling from San Diego, everything still feels slightly suspended as the Pacific Surfliner follows the coast north with ocean on one side and a slow suburban blur on the other. San Diego stays in exhale. Los Angeles is already building toward something louder.

This summer, Los Angeles will host eight matches of the FIFA World Cup at Los Angeles Stadium, including the US Men’s National Team opener on June 11, while the region stretches into 39 days of programming across stadiums, parks, transit hubs, beaches, and neighborhoods. Instead of one massive fan hub, Los Angeles is embracing a citywide celebration, with fan zones spread across its entirety.

But this pattern has been rehearsed here for decades. In 1994, Southern California became one of the defining stages of the World Cup, when matches at the Rose Bowl placed global attention on the region and turned local stadiums into international landmarks, confirming its ability to hold the world at scale.

What distinguishes Southern California is not just infrastructure, but cultural permeability. Fashion, music, film, art, and sport constantly overlap here, creating an environment where identity is flexible and always in motion. From the Venice boardwalk, where skate culture shaped modern street style, to global soccer stars rubbing shoulders with Hollywood celebs, to authentic Spanish cuisine moving up and down the I-5 corridor, everything circulates.

The World Cup is not introducing anything new here, it’s showing up for the summer and showing out, revealing what this city has always known about itself. What follows is a look at the fan zones and how Los Angeles turns itself into a city-wide stage for the tournament, one neighborhood at a time.

Los Angeles Union Station

As the heart of Los Angeles, Union Station is an official Fan Zone June 25-28 during the World Cup, but in practice it never really stops being one.

It is the city’s circulation point, its meeting ground, its pressure valve. Commuters, travelers, match-day crowds, and everyday Angelenos all move through the same space, and everything mixes, overlaps, and scales in real time. In a way, this is where the World Cup stops arriving in Los Angeles and starts moving through it.

The Pacific Surfliner from San Diego to Los Angeles makes that shift feel almost too easy. No stress or  gridlock anxiety, just a straight line up the coastline with ocean on one side and everything slowly becoming more built on the other. It’s one of the rare ways into LA that doesn’t feel like arrival as friction. You can sit with a laptop, watch the Pacific drift past, grab coffee from the café car, and let the city come to you in pieces.

That’s the beauty of arriving at Union Station. Instead of feeling like you’re on the edge of the city, you’re immediately surrounded by it. And, inside, the station already reads like a World Cup nerve center: banners, movement, multilingual energy, the sense that something global is about to funnel through this exact point. The Heart of the City Fan Zone only sharpens that feeling, with simultaneous match screens, DJ sets, meet and greets, and immersive activations built around marquee games like USA vs. Türkiye.

From there, the city splits outward.

ROW DTLA feels like the first exhale after arrival. A converted industrial campus turned creative district where restaurants, retail, and open-air courtyards form a self-contained ecosystem. If you’re looking for the perfect first meal in LA, make it lunch at Pizzeria Bianco. The thin-crust pizza is reason enough to go, but the space leaves just as much of an impression.

What I liked most about ROW DTLA is how quickly it resets you after the train. One minute you are stepping off at Union Station, and the next you are in a space that feels like its own version of LA, a city inside a city with some of the most curated shopping I’ve ever seen.

Bodega hides itself behind a convenience-store front, a sneaker and streetwear space disguised as something ordinary, like LA refusing to make anything feel too obvious. The whole campus moves like that, part retail, part gallery, part neighborhood you are only temporarily inside.