Second Date Ideas in San Diego

Ride the Giant Dipper, a wooden coaster built in 1925, at Belmont Park, an oceanfront amusement park in Mission Beach. Thrill rides and fair games with prizes to win give the two of you plenty to be playful about.

The park covers seven acres and has 17 places to eat. A Giant Dipper ride is $16 for two.

Watch a film on a Little Italy rooftop at Rooftop Cinema Club, where a craft bar serves cocktails, beer, seltzers, popcorn and snacks. Arrive early for lawn games as the sun sets over the bay, since doors open up to 60 minutes before the film.

Loveseats can be booked, and screenings continue through light rain. Bring photo ID: the cinema admits ages 16 and up for evening screenings, and the bar is 21+.

Wander 29 themed gardens and 4 miles of trails at San Diego Botanic Garden in Encinitas, a 37-acre garden with ocean views.

The garden is open from 9am to 5pm and closed Tuesdays. Reserve ahead, since showing up without a booking may not get you in. Admission is $18 each.

Take the ferry from the Convention Center landing across the bay to Coronado, a 15-minute ride. Boats leave every 30 minutes from about 9:10am to 10:55pm.

Time the ride for sunset and finish with dessert at Coronado Ferry Landing. The fare is $9 each way ($18 round trip), and a ticket works on any scheduled departure on the route you buy.

Share a blind flight of three pours served in test tubes at WetStone Wine Bar, a snug Banker's Hill spot set in the downstairs of an early-1900s house. Wines come from Chile, Slovenia and Georgia, and the lychee and melon white sangria is another option.

Cheese plates run $24 to $36 and come with bread, and there is a guava paste quesadilla too. WetStone is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 10pm and Sunday from 4pm to 9pm.

Spend an afternoon aboard the USS Midway Museum, an aircraft carrier on the Embarcadero waterfront. The museum recommends at least 4 or 5 hours aboard, and same-day re-entry is allowed.

It is open daily from 10am to 5pm except Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, with last admission at 4pm. Adult tickets are $39 online or $41 at the door.

Catch a movie from your own car at South Bay Drive-In in Nestor, which has been showing movies since 1958. Up to six films play across its three screens.

The theatres are closed Monday through Thursday. Tickets are $20 for two.

Walk the 12-acre Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park, where you pass koi ponds, bamboo groves, waterfalls and a Japanese-style bridge.

Hours are 10am to 6pm every day, and the last admission is at 5pm. Adult admission is $16.

Board the Star of India, HMS Surprise, the steam ferry Berkeley and a Soviet submarine at the Maritime Museum of San Diego on the Embarcadero. A single general admission ticket gets you onto all the historic ships and exhibits.

Doors are open from 10am to 5pm daily, and the last entry is at 4pm. Walk-up adult tickets are $28.

Hike the 2.3-mile beach trail loop at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve in La Jolla, with coastal bluff views and a walk on the beach afterward. Visit any day from 7:15am until sunset.

The trails are free, and parking is $15 to $25 per vehicle. A State Parks pass borrowed from the public library skips the parking fee.