San Diego Area

Introducing San Diego Area

While LA and Frisco duke it out for top-dog status, California’s third city kicks back and enjoys the show from extremely agreeable digs just up from the Mexico border. With 70 miles of coastline and America’s most enviable climate, San Diegans have nothing to prove; they’re too busy enjoying themselves. In an age when even relaxation comes prepackaged, the beaches of San Diego are among the last places in America where you can still experience ‘mellow’ in its natural habitat.

If you’re hungry for high culture, San Diego still can’t compete with LA or San Francisco, but you may be surprised by a new crackle in the city’s zeitgeist. Fueled by its cutting-edge biotech sector and a tremendous boom in real-estate values, San Diego’s red-hot economy is attracting new blood - and a new sense of style - to a population long dominated by retirees and military types.

Beyond sun and sand, San Diego County has something to distract all comers: two of the world’s great zoos, one of the country’s largest urban parks with a whole raft of fine museums and theaters, a New Orleans-style party scene, excellent food for all budgets, and scuba diving, hiking and hang gliding. North of the city, a series of seaside communities attracts equal numbers of gnarly surfers and game retirees. Inland from San Diego, desertlike valleys, fragrant with orange blossoms in spring, give way first to pine-covered mountains and then, almost instantly, to stark but beautiful deserts.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009