Why Work With San Diego Explorer
San Diego Explorer is an independent travel publication covering San Diego, Southern California, and Baja — for locals and for visitors actively planning their trip. Led by Maria Haase, an award-winning travel writer and photographer with 19+ years in digital publishing, our coverage is first-hand and photographed in person, not aggregated. That’s why readers trust our recommendations — and act on them.
We reach a hyper-local, high-intent audience: roughly 27,000 monthly pageviews and 8,000 monthly readers, of whom 96% are US-based, 60%+ are from Southern California, and 36% are from San Diego itself. Beyond the site, we reach ~14,000 combined followers on Instagram and Facebook and a ~2,000-subscriber newsletter with a 38% open rate — well above the travel-media norm.
For a hospitality, tourism, food-and-drink, or events brand that wants to reach people who are planning a San Diego trip right now, that’s a targeted, efficient audience.
We Drive Bookings — Not Just Impressions
Our readers arrive with intent and book their trips through our guides. Tracked affiliate performance since June 2022:
- 746 confirmed hotel bookings
- Nearly 1,600 hotel room-nights
In the past 12 months: 81 confirmed bookings and 160 room-nights, each tracked through Stay22 to the guide the reader was on when they booked.
Ways to Work Together
- Sponsored features & dedicated posts — AI-discoverable, evergreen coverage of your property, restaurant, or experience
- Social content — Reels and Stories, cross-posted to Instagram and Facebook at no extra cost
- Newsletter features — a dedicated placement to our engaged subscriber list
- Photography & video / UGC — original, licensable content shot in-house
- Brand ambassadorships & ongoing partnerships
- Hosted experiences & press visits — for the right editorial fit
- Speaking engagements
Every engagement is independent editorial with full FTC disclosure. Brand factual review is welcome; editorial control is retained.
Rates and full packages are in our media kit — request it here, and we’ll send it right over.
Recognition
- Silver — Society of American Travel Writers (Western Chapter)
- Bronze — San Diego Press Club, Excellence in Journalism Award (Website: Blog, Topic-Based)
- Maria’s work has also appeared on Redfin, Bored Panda, GoNomad, FoodieFlashpacker, and SpaceTourismGuide, among others.
Our Team
We’re Maria and Greg — San Diego locals who’ve spent 19+ years covering our city and beyond. Maria leads the editorial side as Editor-in-Chief, writer, and photographer; Greg runs the business and technical side. We combine on-the-ground local knowledge with a decade-plus of experience in SEO, social, and content marketing — so brand partners get both authentic storytelling and work that actually performs.
To work with us, email Editor@SanDiegoExplorer.com — we’d love to hear what you have in mind.
Please note: we do not accept solicitations for link-building schemes.