Plaza del Pasado, Old Town State Historical Park Review

It s fine if you have time to spare, but not a must-do.

Some things do change. Old restaurants have been relocated. the parking was less than desirable. On the bright side, there was a stage for live music and that brought in many visitors. Also the park staff was very helpful.

We loved the park. Being people who appreciate history, it was phenomenal that so much from original old town was preserved. It was like walking into the past.

A step back in history with kitschy shops. Lots of souvenirs, if you are into that.
Historical buildings and the site gives a taste of old San Diego.

Nice place for authentic Mexican food and tourist shopping.

Awesome place to visit. Has several free museums that show how old San Diegans used to live in the 1800s. Love coming here, makes me feel like I'm transported back in time.

The food was Good. AT first they messed up my order but they made a new one in no time. The servers were very nice as well. The place was full of people but we didn't need a reservation and they brought our food fast.
Be careful if you have FOOD allergies. I asked for a VG and GF and they used cheese. I was able to notice it and they made me a new plate.

Good to visit in evening and night time..not good in day time

If you want to learn more about the history of San Diego you must go to old town its beautiful you will learn history very good restaurants you must go to the little coffee shop and buy some tea or coffee !! Its a must

Fun place to explore with kids, great places to eat and lots of little shops.

Family friendly. Historic. Easy walking. Great food.

Wonderful place to relive the SanDiego of the old. Lots of themed restaurants and shops. Feels like an eternal theme festival that keeps going on.

Pretty interesting place. Lots of parking. Lots of restaurants on surrounding streets. Several restaurants, entertainment and souvenir shops on site. Actually found a few good buys on site. Good variety of shops in park, lots of history. Worth a visit.

I loveeeeeeeee this place! So beautiful and definitely worth a 2nd or 3rd visit.

Quaint little town. I road the train and met my family to celebrate my brothers birthday. Cafe Coyote has amazing food. Freshly made flour tortilla with butter. Delicious enchiladas suizas and Chicken tortilla soup! Definitely don't leave without trying a margarita, the chicken tortilla soup and flour tortillas!

Very fun. Visiting for the Cinco de Mayo fest. Many musicians and dance groups on various stages. Lots of different Latin food and drinks. The Old Town history buildings and shop are great too.

A bit of the Old West sure to enlighten anyone's day. From , shopping, to eating to graveyards and ghost stories. Did I mention excellent Mexican restaurants too.

Great place to spends part of your day. Great restaurants, unique shops and live entertainment. The history of the area is preserved well and there are several historic buildings you can wander through. The coaster and Amtrak stop here. There are tons of restaurants and shops surrounding Old Town.

Fun place to walk around. Lots of shops and places to eat.

Old town is a historic spot,where a lot of people visit,don't forget you can also eat really good Mexican food.they have more than 3 Mexican restaurants,very close from eachother and I believe they all have fresh hand made tortillas.also visit the art shops.very good historic spot,to visit.

Scenic plenty of fun parking a little tough but overall great experience

Beautiful location with lots of history, cute shops, and restaurants with both indoor and lovely outdoor seating

Always enjoy walking around Old Town. Some new shops since my last visit...nice change.

Awesome place with a lot of history. Breathe in the old times and experience what it must have been like in the old days. Shops and restaurants are cozy and well-decorated. It is very crowded, though. So it is more for people who can handle a big crowd.

Well, this was fascinating. You can get a sense of how much smaller yet important it was, way back when. Old San Diego was a busy and bustling port, with lots of trade items, including food, tools and textiles coming in from all over the world. Currently it's much more of a tourist area and a box to check off so you can say you've been there. There is so much to see all over, so make sure you get around all over San Diego.

View Historical buildings while walking through Old Town.

A great place to see the birthplace of San Diego and learn about the local history. It is a great place to bring the family and enjoy the outdoors. Plenty of shops and restaurants to visit. During the summer months, you can interact with people recreating the pass.

Holy cow the food was good but the churro was amazing.

Old town is always a great place to visit. So much history there.

Beautiful sights, sounds and a lot of history to take in. Great place to go for a walk and appreciate the arts and outdoors. One of the gems of San Diego for sure.

Fun place to walk around for a quick something to do.

Love this place had great dinner and we come about once a year.

The best food and environment for a chill day. Always recommend

It is always fun to visit historic neighborhoods, Old Town SD has beautiful buildings from the first inhabitants of the city. The only drawback, it felt a little too tourist trappy. Cheap souvenirs, workers in colonial garb. Not knocking the history of the city, but don't feel I need to visit again on my next San Diego visit.

Beautiful place to chill, to walk around and to have some fantastic Mexican food.

Always a good place to visit. Parking can be a little hectic at times.

Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Old Town is a great place to spend. There are cool shops, great restaurants, outdoor live music, and historic sightseeing. Definitely worth your time.

Intresting to see Old Mexican shops and can have walk an around.

What a disappointment. I don't believe any original building is still there as all are replicas. I visited EVERY building to find history. There are some original wagons, saddles, and smaller items. One spot has a plexiglass panel to view an original foundation, which is clearly just a pile of stones thrown into a hole. An old foundation would be encrusted in dirt, mortar, something. So what this place really is seems to be a collection of merchants and crafts people selling their wares. No pictures allowed in many of the shops selling items from Mexico. My thought is this is because the items are imported illegally. The shops selling hand crafted jewellery or metals are very good though. Real handcrafted art. A few shops also sell art from local students which is pretty cool. Just be sure to understand old San Diego is not so much about history as it is about capitalism.

Love it out here everything old town everywhere food out here is amazing.

Fun and full of hispanic festives, a great place to relax and have a nice drink.

Pretty nice place for Education and Fun. Even if it's with family.

Always a terrific place to wonder around and enjoy on a nice day. The various food places are all amazing and the stores are a lot of fun to check out. Racing Laramie is a must stop for us whenever we visit. Great selection of cigars, pipe tobacco, and other various things. The guys working are friendly and knowledgeable too

This is a neat place. Parking is not easy though. There is alot to see in the area and some great restraunts as well. My family also went and looked at the Morman Batallion sight across the street after reading about it in the old wells fargo bank. The Batallion sight was out favorite sigh so interactive and alot of fun.

We love looking around the historic area. The restaurants are really good on the main street.

Lots of restaurants to get great authentic Mexican food and souvenir shopping.

This is a awesome place to eat with or with out the family its got so many restaurants and shop!

Very nice place. One "must" if you go to San Diego, we can say a kind of back to the future, and also great Mexican food

Lovely place and I love one of their great Mexican restaurant.

Just passed through to get some grub. It was clean enough for a joint with dirt roads.

The root beer floats we're really good definitely a bit of a tourist trap but they had good food lot of cool little stores was over all the great place to eat lunch. Would recommend that people at least stop by to see it.

Excellent food and great window shopping. Always a good place for unique gifts

Such a cool place. I could hang out here for hours. The shops are cool and the restaurants are great. It's a lot of fun staying until after dark and listening to the performers.

It's nice and plenty of places to eat, drink and shop

Had a great meal and excellent service. Chile relleno was huge and very, very good! Chips could have been a little better.

What's not to love about America's oldest city in the heart of San Diego? There is a blacksmith, housing with bedrooms and dining areas with furniture, a horse driven carriage museum and even the local cemetery complete with religious headstones. The area has authentic foliage and a few donkeys for the children to pet. There are plenty of themed shops which match the era and tons of boutique restaurants. Spend the day and enjoy California history.

Nice place to visit if you have time. You can find parking on the other side of the rail tracks and can walk to the old Town from the underpass. Just 10 mins walk and very easy. This place is a blend of cultural mix with some history as well. Place is well maintained and can be enjoyed with family as well. Most of the restaurants serve Mexican food. There are lot of shops that have hand crafted items which can prove good for house decorations. All in all, it was a nice afternoon spent.

This a a very nice place to spend the day. There are several shops to go in and various options for either snacks or meals. If you are in the general area, I highly recommend going here. I went a little late in the day and wasn't able to do/see a few ghings, but the overall area is very nice.
In terms of the shops, there are quite a bit of repeated products from store to store, however each one was still unique. I highly recommend going to Nibble Chocolate and getting a hot chocolate. It may sound simple, but both were very delicious.
I really enjoyed going here and I feel many others that enjoy or want to learn about the culture would enjoy as well!

Just love the old town. Visited this area 3 times in the past few years and always try to stop in
Always find a cool reminder of our trip.

Always clean and festival type things like twainfest are always great! Love all the small shops! The only thing I totally despise is PUBLIC SMOKING is either allowed or tolerated ;( always walking through someone s cloud.

Very pretty little traditional town depicting old Mexico from before the address was part of the USA.
There are many nice little shops (including wine tasting and cigar shop), cafes, restaurants, and a couple of museums. The main, big restaurant is always packed and generally has a Mariachi band playing.
Many small trinket stores, though, which do nothing for me.

Really had a great time with my family. We enjoyed the food, shops and even made our own candles.

Old Town San Diego has great preserved historic buildings and great restaurants and shops and picnic area!

Fun, old Spanish/Mexican village. Lots of shopping and Mexican food! Great time for the family.

A variety of things to see here. Great place to see some history or grab some Mexican food.

My first time. I loved it many things to see. I want to go back asap

A great place to spend the day. Great food, music, souvenirs, and history thrown in.

I love this area even though I m not a tourist. Old town is so colorful, so authentic place with mariachi life music, cheap yommy food on Taco Tuesdays, and different people around the world. On weekends there is a street fair, historical museums and wide choice of Margaritas.

Enjoyed dinner at Casa Guadalajara in Old Town San Diego. Kids are tired from full day at SDCC 2018. Sorry that I didn't order dish with handmade tortillas. Next time

It is pretty nice. You get to see what San Diego looked like back in the day. It is free which is also nice. A nice walk. Pretty flat too. Not too strenuous.

I love the atmosphere and the live music. All the shops are are a little pricey, but lots of cool items you can only find across the border and Olvera Street... L.A.

Good place to explore and find odds and ends.love the gem store

Fun food, drinks, music, and some actual history...

This was by far my favorite place to visit in San Diego. So beautiful and a lot to visit. Awesome!