From the miles of beaches to deep fried sushi, Andreina Cordani discovers the delights of Southern California.

These are your instructions upon arrival in San Diego. Step one, get out of the airport as fast as possible, head along the I5 and follow the signs for Pacific Beach. Step two: park car and remove shoes. Step three: just walk out onto the sand and take a deep breath.

There are mountains of things to do in San Diego; attractions, shops, museums and restaurants aplenty. But if you want to feel the essence of Southern Californian lifestyle, just head for the shore. What you see depends on what time of day you arrive – in the morning you see the locals jogging past, or struggling out of wetsuits and into business suits before work. As the day goes on,  children run around at low tide, chasing the seabirds and poking at the shellfish that cluster under the pier. Surf bums loll around the shower blocks as if they own the place. As the sun goes down, depending on the waves, a dwindling number of hardcore surfers will cling on until it’s too dark to catch a break.

It doesn’t have to be Pacific Beach – although that is the most central and easy to reach from town. But equally you could go to Black’s Beach, where students, surfers and nudists mingle.

Don’t get too excited about seeing the local talent stripped bare, though, unless you’re interested in leathery 80-year-old hippies. Or you could drive a little further up the coast to Bird Rock Beach, which is smaller (especially at high tide) but has a more natural feel to it. Further up La Jolla Shores is a huge beach, also good for surfing.

If riding the waves isn’t your thing, make your way to La Jolla Cove to watch the local resident seal colony bicker over rock-space, and even grab a snorkel and wetsuit to explore the rocky cove, encountering seals or the golden garibaldi fish in the tangled weed below the waves.

Oops… I seem to have written 300 words about beaches alone and there’s so much more to San Diego than that. Nestled between the Pacific coast and the Mexican border, San Diego has a more laid back feel than LA – nobody’s hungry to be a star here. It’s a small city and you can get to know it really well in the space of a week if you hire a car.

 Shop happy

There are a few boutiques in the historic Gaslamp District, but what they do best in America is malls, malls, malls. Good thing about mall shopping here is that mostly they’re outdoors, so you don’t feel like you’re wasting all that lovely sunshine. Downtown there’s the Westfield Horton Plaza – standard stuff here but very conveniently located. Designer label addicts will love Fashion Valley, which has anything from Abercrombie & Fitch to Tiffany. Then down by the Mexican border there’s Las Americas a huge retail outlet loaded with cut price bargains. Best buys when you’re in the US are jeans and trainers – don’t forget to add sales tax onto the price though as it’s not usually marked on the label.

Animal adventures

The two biggest attractions, apart from the beaches, are Seaworld – featuring monochrome megastar Shamu the killer whale – and San Diego Zoo. Both are pricey, and it depends on how you feel about animals in captivity – but the zoo is a great place for families with a strong emphasis on conservation. Their panda breeding programme has been successful and mother Bai Yun is definitely another black-and-white celebrity.

 Hungry?

California may be the spiritual home of health food, but being this close to the Mexican border has had a bad influence on San Diego. The local speciality dish is the fish taco and you can fill up on one from pretty much any Mexican cafe or burrito stand in town – try a few before you pick your favourite hangout (mine was Bahia Don Bravo Quality Mexican Grill in La Jolla – a glass hut with plastic chairs where you can dine like a queen for under $15). There’s great sushi to be had too – Mika Sushi in Pacific Beach does a mean deep fried California roll – the ultimate in Americanised Japanese food!

Nights Out

Much has been written about the nightlife in the Gaslamp district, but it’s also worth checking out  Hillcrest. Special mention goes to The Tractor Room there for their exhaustive cocktail menu and very happy happy hour. And for a truly American experience, you’ll need to find a dive bar with neon signs, a pool table and a row of bar stools – we discovered Aero Club on India Street, right by San Diego airport had the perfect atmosphere, plus a mind-boggling selection of spirits.

So fly out, chill out and remember to take off your shoes…