San Diego is also called America’s Finest City. The fact that the town earned this nickname is a guarantee that visiting you can’t really do wrong.
Being the second biggest city in the West Coast – and in California after LA – is also the 8 biggest in the US, meaning that you will never be by yourself, so there's no time to be bored.
The climate in San Diego is similar to the one in Los Angeles, having annual average temperatures between 12-22 °C.
Being on the far South side of California 25% of the population is Hispanic. Originally the city was only a military post. In the 1880s the population began to grow exceptionally fast: form 2,500 jumped to over 16,000 in less than 10 years.
San Diego realized that the tourism is a real income chance and over the past years was spending much to make the city more and more attractive for visitors. As a result the city is very popular especially among foreign tourists. Many popular attractions include the Seaworld – which is a marine mammal park -, the San Diego Zoo – which is a very interesting and important zoo, because is one of the largest zoos in the world with over 4,000 animals and because the first two giant pandas born in captivity in the US surviving into adulthood were born here -, also the San Diego Wild Animal Park – which is visited by more than 2 million people every year and houses 3,000 animals in free-range enclosures – or Legoland – which is a must if you visit the city not only because we were all fans of these magnificent brick, but there are more than a dozen scale replicas of famous buildings. The whole world is in San Diego, here in Legoland: the US Capitol Building, Golden Gate Bridge, Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty or the Taj Mahal. Also the building which is considered as a modern wonder of the world is built as a scale model – yes, it is the Sydney Opera House.
San Diego also has a whopping 26 museums. Here you will surely find what you are looking for, from maritime museum through photographic, aerospace and heritage museum all the way to railroad museum. There are also over a dozen parks that you may find interesting if you like culture or you will start to love it after visiting one of such parks. The most important is Balboa Park – which houses more museums -, but there are many more like Belmont Park – which is a historic themed park. You can find also a park inside a Spanish fort built in 1769 or even a pine reserve spreading on two thousand acres.
As you may expect San Diego has some beaches. Well some in this case means 16 to be precise. There are plenty styles to choose from: if you want to surf you may choose the Torrey Pines State Beach, if you want cliffs on one side and the ocean on the other than Black’s Beach is for you – which is the largest nude beach also -, if you want some shadow you may chose the La Jolla Beach which has palm trees and there is also a beach specially arranged for children if you’re with family.
For board sport fans San Diego is a real Mecca, because the city has always been a hotbed for these sports. Surfers, skateboarders and even snowboarders call it their home. Beside these it has its own baseball, football, rugby, basketball and soccer – both male and female – clubs. The city is also a popular location for motion pictures like Top Gun or Jurassic Park, both were filmed here.
As a Californian town San Diego has a growing network of bicycle routes. It was also rated number one city for cycling in the US by a specialty magazine. Because of the Ocean the town has a great number of restaurants serving fresh seafood. You also can find here you Mexican favorites. Having sister cities from all around the world there are continuously cultural feast during which you can learn something about many nations and their culture without even visiting them.
Definitely San Diego is one of the best choices to visit on the West Coast of US, because of its tourist oriented view and rich cultural life.
