Spring break is back, and many of America's top marketers are once again attempting to cash in on college kids at play. But sponsors share one problem: They don't know where to go.

Marketing consultants say that no longer can any single American city anoint itself the nation's spring break capital. That makes the 1994 version of spring break perhaps the most scattered--if not baffling--that corporate sponsors have experienced.

Those who think spring break headquarters is Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., or Palm Springs are a decade behind the times. Those cities aren't even contenders anymore. Daytona Beach, Fla., is fast losing its spring break luster, marketers say. And while Panama City Beach, Fla., may attract the most student visitors, it is hardly a household name. MTV, meanwhile, is about to try to persuade students that San Diego is the new home to spring break madness.

Today, MTV plans to begin taping its spring break TV specials in San Diego's Mission Beach area. Joining MTV are 10 marketers--from MCI to MasterCard--that paid millions to get their products in the camera's eye.

Meanwhile, hundreds of companies will spend about $10 million over the next four weeks handing out freebies--from shampoo to T-shirts--at half a dozen spring break locations, from Panama City Beach to South Padre Island, Tex. But none of them seem to know for certain if they're in the right place.

"You can't listen to what the newspapers or TV shows say," said Richard Tarzian, president of Leonia, N.J.-based Intercollegiate Communications, which links up marketers such as Pepsi, Sprint and Geo with spring break venues. "You've got to go where the students go."

Tarzian estimates that about 530,000 students will flock to Panama City Beach over spring break and 250,000 will migrate to South Padre Island. Those are the spots he's recommending to marketers.

For eight consecutive years, MTV went to Daytona Beach to film spring break activities, which it broadcasts nationwide. So why switch to San Diego--a city few associate with spring break? MTV officials say they wanted a change of scenery to add some zing to the broadcast. But Daytona Beach city officials say they yanked the welcome mat because the city's image has suffered while MTV aired year-round programming that depicted it as a party capital.