Hike Bike Kayak San Diego

This was a great bike tour. We did it on memorial day so the starting point at mt soledad was decorated for an event they were having so that was an extra bonus. I’ll say, i assume these guides have done this tour countless times but their enthusiasm to make our experience great was impressive. Never felt like I was asking a dumb question every though they’ve probably heard them a million times. Anyway, the only reason they got a four is b/​c in my online booking, I requested an exceptional knock knock joke for my girlfriend and we never got one. Other than that, wonderful time.

Absolutely amazing experience this morning with the crew at HBK! Explored sea caves, talked about geology and native species, and very courteous crew. Highly recommended and very competitive pricing! We’ll be back for sure!

Awesome place for your kayaking needs. Very friendly and accommodating staff. We booked the kayak and snorkeling tour. Our tour guild Courtney was awesome. Very informative and gave us alot of history of the area. Fun times and great memories!

The staff was incredibly helpful and courteous when I called to make a reservation. When we arrived to pick up the paddle boards, Cory alerted us to the fact that the cove had rough conditions. He gave us a recommendation of where to go and even who to rent from! This was extremely appreciated considering our party had two children. When I return to La Jolla on a nicer day I’m definitely going to HBK!

The staff at HBK was very nice. I just wish that they would do a little more when it comes to getting kayakers out passed the shore breaking waves. For some people it’s very hard to keep the balance while being pounded by the surf, so I recommend a better system or effort by the staff to get their paying customers out to the calmer waters. No options or refunds are offered. With that being said, make sure ahead of time that the surf has a calm forecast. Aside from half of our group not able to make it passed the waves, the rest of us made it out and once out, we were told that we couldn’t go to the caves due to the strong surf. Total waist of money at that point. Definitely didn’t get what we paid for. Just a quick kayak into the open ocean full of sea weed and a few cool pelicans flying low. Lesson learned, I’ll definitely do my homework better next time.

Such an amazing afternoon!!! Matt, Cameron and Cory were awesome! The service was amazing and the weather couldn’t have been more perfect. We saw beautiful Sea Lions and many other wildlife species! The guys were knowledgeable and had some great stories and kooky jokes! Highly recommended! They were great getting me on a same day tour! Thanks guys!

We had a great time. We had 2 guides (1 in front and 1 in rear). We saw sea lions, went to cave and saw way to expensive homes. But we had a great time. Easy going. When we stopped guide let us do whatever we wanted and didn’t put pressure to rush. We ended walking down to beach. Went down the 140 steps to cave. Great time. And NO pressure to tip them at end like so many other tours.

I was digging the Spring weather today so I decided to go kayaking. If you go during high tide you won’t be able to explore the sea caves. This tour is okay for beginners because the tour guides will walk you through everything you need to know. The scariest part of kayaking is literally just taking off and coming back in, but again the tour guide will tell you exactly what you need to do. This is a great way to learn about some of San Diego’s wildlife and view La Jolla from the sea. For a more detailed review with tips read about it in «A Different Way To Sightsee» at

Awesome experience! I had called this place a few days before to book for kayaking to the sea caves and it was easy to make a reservation. On the actual day of our reservation the winds were wild so HBK called us to give us a notification of that before coming down.
Luckily, we were there for another day and were able to go the following day. After checking we were sent to La Jolla Kayak to join everyone else, which is owned by the same people. We got situated and suited up and were ready to go!
The waves were still pretty high when we got out but Nicki did an amazing job of getting us out there. We fell out once and she helped us board the kayak and we made it out to sea! Although we didn’t get to go to the sea caves because the raging waters, it was nice to know about geology of the land and see seals and dolphins swimming around us. Jazz and Nicki were awesome host. Very informative and passionate about what they do. This was such a thrill and I can’t wait to return.

We had so much fun on our 10AM bike tour with Matt. It was not an incredibly strenuous but it will definitely make you work up a sweat! I really feel like we got to see a lot of great spots in the area from the sea lions to the caves to some really nice La Jolla homes.
We arrived 30 minutes early and claimed our free water bottles. Once our group was situated, we hopped into the van and headed up to the top of Mount Solidad. The views up there were amazing. From there, we coasted down in the bike lane and began to tour of the area.

Had the WORST experience EVER with these people!
I have gone many times to la jolla kayak (their sister store) down the street and have been so pleased with the tour and just going out on the kayaks on our own. But last time we went, they were out, so they referred us to this crap hole!
The surf ended up to be too crazy for single kayakers. So I went to the shop to get my money back. The girl at the register had no idea what she was doing and didn’t do the refund correctly. Now 2 whole months later, and several calls to the store, talking to a different useless person each time, several calls with the OWNER (And a couple times of the actual owner not calling me back after saying she would) I FINALLY have my refund. These people are unorganized, not professional, some «managers» there were not polite, and they are not trained properly. Including the owner! I do not recommend you go to this horrible place! Rent your kayak or paddle board or schedule your tour at la jolla kayak!

Tour guide did not show up so they sent us across the street but we were able to use our Unilocal coupon!

We had Eddie as our tour guide for the
La Jolla Loop Bike Tour. We had a great time! He is very knowledgable of the area and answered any questions we had along the way. He gave us options (route wise) along the ride based off of our riding preferences. We saw La Jolla Cove & the Cave which was awesome, along with great scenery and some very cool local houses. … Or mansions I would say! Highly recommend this place, we saw a lot of La Jolla which is what we wanted and Eddie was great!

We did the cove snorkeling tour using the $ 75 for $ 100 Unilocal deal, so it came out to $ 75 for two people. The tour itself was about an hour, which to me sounded short, but trust me, you get pretty tired about 30 min in so an hour is perfect. The one hour does not factor in time to get your wet suits, snorkels, and fins, or the time it takes them to drive you to and from the beach (it’s like 5 min each way).
We went on a day when the visibility wasn’t as good but we were able to see plenty of garibaldi (apparently California’s state fish) since they were bright orange, as well as some reef and sea grass. At one point another snorkeler was feeding the garibaldi so a whole bunch of them swarmed beneath us, which was a cool sight! Also, we saw so many sea lions, which definitely were unfazed by people. In fact, there were two we got literally next to and they just minded their own business while we were right in front of them (like not even two feet away).
Nick was our tour guide, and he was very approachable. There were four people in our tour group and he definitely made sure each of us was doing okay during the tour and definitely knew what he was talking about. He seemed to really enjoy what he did, which just made the tour better.
Check out Hike Bike Kayak for snorkeling! It was the best deal I found in the area and I had a pretty good experience. The only downfall was that our tour was rescheduled from 11AM to 1PM due to bad weather, and when we tried to call them ahead of time (a couple calls between 9:30AM and 11:30AM), no one ever answered our calls, which was frustrating because we were driving down from Los Angeles that morning and wanted to make sure we wouldn’t drive down and find the 1PM tour cancelled as well.
Also keep in mind that you should be a decent swimmer and that you will be swimming in open water, occasionally getting tangled in kelp. I was really nervous in the beginning when the realization came that there was literally nothing to hold onto in the water and I got over it after a while and ended up having a really good time.

This place was great! We were checked in promptly, and the entire staff, even those just walking by, were very friendly.
This review is specifically for the caves tour. — The other people who were supposed to be on the same trip were late, so my friend and I ended up having our own private trip. Our guide, Max, was excellent. He made sure we understood how to maneuver our kayak in the ocean before setting us out into the water. All along the tour Max explained about the surrounding areas, the sea creatures, and the preserve. We actually ended up being able to go into the cave, which was pretty cool!
Thanks again HBK and Max for making our experience a great one!

The weather on the day we kayaked was absolutely perfect and so was our experience overall. We were in a group of 8 people, including our guide, Rob. Rob was absolutely wonderful and was helpful from beginning to end.
We had the chance of taking pictures near the sea lions and had good photo ops. I highly recommend this place.

We did the half bike/​kayak tour. Nick was our tour guide, and he is awesome. He was very informative and just made the day go by fast. I would definitely recommend HBK to my friends & family.
The reasons why I gave it 4 out of 5 stars are:
* Hard to find parking in the area
* Checking in early in the morning (8:45am) felt very unorganized. The older man at the counter looked grumpy. We also started our bike tour a little late.
— If you can, request Nick, and don’t forget to tip, the man knows his stuff!

Seeing the caves via kayak was recommended to us on our trip from
Seattle. We loved everything about our experience. Brian, our tour guide, was calm and patient and clearly well informed. He took us to the caves, where we could see sea lions basking in the sun and some really cool birds too. We even got the chance to kayak in and out of one of the caves. The weather was perfect and the water was clear. We had an awesome time and would definitely recommend this experience to others! Thanks to Brian for leading the charge!

We had a group of seven family members, ranging in age from 11 to 57. We chose the bike and kayak combo, and considered also adding the hike on the end but decided against it.
I called with questions and they called back promptly. They also informed me that I could save $ 10 by booking online, which I did. In addition, there are 10% discounts for AAA members. We claimed this by showing our card after the tours, and they refunded this amount onto our card.
They provide lockers to keep belongings during the tour, which is also helpful.
The bike ride started at the top of Mt Soledad, with beautiful views. We wound down the hill past lovely homes, then stopped at key sites, including Windansea surfing area, the childrens’ pool (now for seals), sea lion rock, and the Sunny Jim Sea Cave, which was dug by Chinese migrant workers and then used to smuggle alcohol during the Prohibition. Throughout, our guide, Drew, pointed out a bit of history, and kept our group moving while not rushing us. Toward the end, he proposed a shot for a family photo and did the honors, which was a much appreciated souvenir.
We got separated on the way back down the hill, but he sent someone back for us and all ended well. OUr 11 yr old was a bit borderline for this trip, since she is not super comfortable with a small adult bike, but she managed to make it through with complaining (they do recommend that bikers be a bit older and fit an adult bike).
We then had a break for lunch, and he suggested a few places on that street. We tried 3 of them (Mexican, sandwiches, and sushi), and they were all delicious.
Then it was time for the kayak trip. We were told that we would get wet to our waist (assuming no tipping over). The water was cold, but, surprisingly, even though we were wet after boarding our kayak, it felt warmer on the water than it had on the beach. Drew led us by the caves (couldn’t go in at low tide), then through the kelp forest and out to the canyon. We were looking for whales, and did not see any of those, but we were surrounded by a pod of dolphins for a long time. Most undulated up and down on the surface, and a few jumped playfully. We also saw many pelicans, cormorants, and a sea lion.
Very fun day!

I want to preface this review by saying our instructor, Jill, was extremely nice, fun, and knowledgable.
Beyond Jill, I’ll sum this place up with one made up word: Horawful (a combination of horrible and awful)
I bought my girlfriend and I tickets to kayak the caves on Valentine’s Day through Expedia, to find out on the day of Valentine’s Day, my spots had not been reserved because in the fine print it said to «confirm 72 hours earlier». Mind you we had drive to La Jolla in 3 hours of traffic from Orange County
LOL!!! What the hell was the point of buying tickets then?! I bought two tickets for two people on February 14^th at 12:30pm —
WHAT MORE CONFIRMATION DO YOU NEED?!?
After beckoning with the business owner, she stressed that it was my fault for not calling although I had bought the tickets two weeks in advance. She booked out our spots that we had already paid for which is the most ludicrous business practices I’ve ever witnessed.
Luckily, some guy named Dave let us go on a later trip, but the manager made it clear that it was a nuisance and that Dave was an idiot for letting us go. Shameful.
Overall it was a fun kayak trip, but not worth the hassle and the genuine disrespect. There are other kayak shops around that are probably better run.