San Diego’s North County offers a wide variety of activities

SAN DIEGO – Maybe you’ve always suspected that there was more to San Diego’s North County than beach towns, rolling hills, expat giraffes and a walled kingdom of brightly colored plastic. But frankly, they had me at beach towns.

Carlsbad hangouts

Feeling naughty? Grab a sugary bite at Boxd (430 Carlsbad Village Drive, Carlsbad), which serves waffle sandwiches out of a converted shipping container in the heart of town. Then jump in the ocean and see if you get cramps. (Despite what your mother told you, the evidence is thin.) After your dip, try lunch or a happy-hour dinner at Las Olas Restaurant (2939 Carlsbad Blvd., Carlsbad), an ultra-casual Mexican place with an older sibling restaurant farther south in Cardiff. If you’re roughing it (and you’ve booked well ahead), you can pitch your tent at South Carlsbad State Beach campground (7201 Carlsbad Blvd., Carlsbad), three miles south of town. If you’re splurging, family-style (or have a ton of Hilton HHonors points), head for the kid-friendly Hilton Carlsbad Oceanfront Resort (1 Ponto Road, Carlsbad), which opened in June. Yes, $349 may seem a lot to pay for a room on the inland side of the coast highway, but everything is new and shiny, most of the rooms have ocean views, there’s a spa and a big pool with a neighboring baby pool, and when the summer masses go home, those rates will ebb.

Surfin’ Swami’s

Swami’s Beach (1298 S. Coast Highway, Encinitas) is a great spot for surfing, strolling or running, reached by a staircase just south of the Self-Realization Fellowship’s temple grounds. (Hence the name Swami’s.) For dinner, there are plenty of options along the coast highway, but there’s only one Q’ero Peruvian Kitchen (564 S. Coast Highway, Encinitas), a very tasty spot.

Floral Encinitas

The San Diego Botanic Garden (230 Quail Gardens Drive, Encinitas) is a 37-acre wonderland of plants that has been open (under various names) since 1971. It includes flora from around the world, including a hilarious band of semi-topiary musicians in the Mexican garden and the terrific Hamilton Children’s Garden, whose “spell and smell” garden covers the alphabet from aloe to zebra grass. The kids’ area also includes a treehouse, chalk zone and mud play area. Then catch your breath and recaffeinate at the Leucadia end of Encinitas, where you’ll find Pannikin Coffee & Tea (510 N. Coast Highway, Encinitas). It’s a surfohemian (you know what I mean) coffeehouse in an 1888 train station, full of artwork, coffee beans and kitchen goods for sale. Pannikin, by the way, is a San Diego chain (three locations) that’s been pouring fancy coffee since 1968, when Starbuck was still best known as Ahab’s first mate in “Moby-Dick.”

Solana Beach by design

Who knew, back in the late 1940s, what the Bill Jack Scientific Instrument Co. was starting? That company, housed in a series of Quonset huts along Cedros Avenue, has receded into Solana Beach history. But those swooping rooflines remain, the space now occupied by shops and restaurants — and Cedros Avenue has been reborn as a design district. Browse its many design and antiques shops (( www.cedrosavenue.com ), such as the Leaping Lotus (240 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach), which sells jewelry, furniture and art (and, regrettably, Obama and Romney toilet paper at $5.99 a roll). Across the street, SoLo (309 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach) is more sophisticated, with design books, curios and strangely compelling reclaimed industrial objects. Elsewhere on the avenue, you’ll find succulents (Cedros Gardens, 330 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach) and surf photography (Aaron Chang Ocean Art Gallery, 415 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach). Also — attention, bored husbands — camping gear and carabiners await inspection at Adventure 16 (143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach), another Southern California brand with roots in San Diego. For a snack, try Lockwood Table Cafe (346B S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach). For dinner, Wild Notes Bistro (143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach) is a logical stop before a show at the Belly Up Tavern (143 S. Cedros Ave., Solana Beach), which has been booking live music (under a Quonset roof) since 1974.

Fletcher Cove swim

How to begin an ideal day: Rise early. Jump into the ocean at Solana Beach’s Fletcher Cove (111 S. Sierra Ave., Solana Beach), where a pleasant little green park meets the sea. Some locals call it the Pillbox because there was a gunnery installation here during World War II. On Thursdays in summer, the park often hosts community concerts. Whatever the day, you can load up on carbohydrates, including the excellent chocolate-chip pumpkin bread, at the nearby Naked Cafe (106 S. Sierra Ave., Solana Beach). Then back to the beach.

Leafy Rancho Santa Fe

In the fertile hills a few miles east of Solana Beach, you’ll find the roadside headquarters of Chino Farms (6123 Calzada del Bosque, Rancho Santa Fe), a Japanese American family operation that produces fruit and vegetables beloved by chefs such as Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck. The farm is 45 acres. The stand (officially known as the Vegetable Shop) has been in business since 1969, and whether it’s peppers, strawberries, carrots, onions or greens, the quality is startling and priced accordingly (cash only). If you want that low-key luxury feeling for a few hours or even overnight, continue a few miles up the road to Rancho Santa Fe, one of the wealthiest and quietest enclaves in Southern California. Now check out the hacienda-style Inn at Rancho Santa Fe (5951 Linea del Cielo, Rancho Santa Fe), which dates to the 1920s. Besides 87 rooms, it offers a dining room and veranda with a popular daily brunch. Some rooms rent for as little as $152 (but haven’t had their old TVs replaced yet by flat-screen models). Some of the suites have kitchens (the better to exploit your fresh produce).

Del Mar charms

Del Mar, with its many Tudoresque buildings, Olde English street names, stratospheric property values and well-fixed gentry, might remind you of Carmel. But Carmel has no horse racing (see below), and Del Mar has milder weather, busier beaches and bigger home lots. It’s the sort of place where a motel can charge $259 a night in summer and Ranch & Coast Plastic Surgery hangs its shingle along the main drag. So it’s a surprise to find the artsy little Les Artistes Inn (944 Camino del Mar, Del Mar), whose 12 rooms are named and decorated for a dozen painters. There’s no pool, but a lobby fireplace is lighted most nights, the beach is a few minutes away and you can often get in for less than $200. If you need a pool, consider the Hotel Indigo (710 Camino del Mar, Del Mar). The next morning, walk to breakfast at the Stratford Court Cafe (1307 Stratford Court, Del Mar), where flip-flops may outnumber proper shoes on the patio (that’s good). Or, for a quicker tempo, do breakfast at Americana (1454 Camino del Mar, Del Mar) at the busy corner of Camino del Mar and 15th Street. Then walk a few blocks to the beach, past Sea Grove and Powerhouse parks. On your way, be sure to admire the spectacular location of the boxy Vista Del Mar condo complex on 15th Street. Like a mole on the face of a supermodel, it makes you covet Del Mar more. Wind up your day with dinner at the Del Mar Rendezvous (1555 Camino del Mar, No. 102, Del Mar), where the menu is Chinese fusion.

The track and the fair

It was here at the county fairgrounds (2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar) in 1958 that a teenager named Raquel Tejada was named San Diego’s Fairest of the Fair and was launched on her way to becoming Raquel Welch. Like Raquel, the San Diego County Fair endures (it ran June 8-July 4), midway and all. But the bigger draw for celebrities and out-of-towners is the horse racing, which began in the ‘30s with marquee names such as Bing Crosby (a co-founder of the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club) and Seabiscuit (winner of a much-celebrated exhibition race in 1938). The racing takes place five days a week for most of the summer (the season ends Sept 5). Mondays and Tuesdays are usually dark.