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That's true. You can argue that NYC offers overwhelming urbanity over any other city in the US and then has fairly decent though not the best outdoor recreation to boot.
You are forgetting Staten Island, New York, which has lots of green space, parks, beaches, and some lakes. It is urban, yet 15 minutes from Wall Street, via Ferry......which is free.....and let's not forget the beautiful city and country atmosphere of upstate New York, with gorgeous mountains, lakes, rivers, and Niagara Falls.....want more than that? With much of New York City, at your fingertips......not only the West has beauty.....!!!!!
I actually have some level of familiarity with everyone of these cities (including "Other" ) and I would have to say LA is the best of the best in this category. What always impressed me about LA is how close the urban areas are to the mountains and beaches. The Santa Monica Mountains, from Griffith Park to Pt Mugu are smack dab in the middle of the metro area. You often have to drive over the mountains to get from one part of the metro area to another. And then of course there are the miles of coastline. And to top it off, the San Bernadinos offer and alpine experience abutting the metro area. For sheer variety and volume, LA offers the best combination of urbanity and outdoor recreation. Along with weather that makes it accessible year round.
SD, Bay Area and Portland have similar proximity but at a lesser scale. Seattle and Vancouver are close to outdoor areas as well but with poorer weather. Denver has a great outdoor culture but is really a flatter, high plains city and it takes awhile to get to the mountains.
You are forgetting Staten Island, New York, which has lots of green space, parks, beaches, and some lakes. It is urban, yet 15 minutes from Wall Street, via Ferry......which is free.....and let's not forget the beautiful city and country atmosphere of upstate New York, with gorgeous mountains, lakes, rivers, and Niagara Falls.....want more than that? With much of New York City, at your fingertips......not only the West has beauty.....!!!!!
Staten Island? Not sure if you’re being serious. And upstate NY isn’t in the NYC metro. It’s upstate.
The beauty on the east coast is different than the west. Out west the outdoors become very rugged and isolated very quickly. Because of the mountains I guess. And the mountains near the pacific are much closer than back east. So close in fact that Malibu is currently being evacuated due to fires in nearby mountains.
Vancouver wins this. Within 18 miles of downtown you can go swimming in the ocean, skiing at a legitimate mountain, jet skiing in the ocean, play 18 holes of golf, hiking up a mountain, rock climbing, enjoy one of the finest urban parks in the world, alpine cycling among other activities. None of the other cities offer so much so close to the downtown area. Not to mention Vancouver has a high quality of life and offers great city life.
True. if Seattle had deserts, or beaches that draw many people from throughout the metro on a daily basis it would win in my book, but it doesn't at least within the metro.
Seattle does have beaches that draw people from throughout the metro. Not saying they compare at all to LA's beaches, but they're there (see below).
Also, worth noting that high-desert (East of the Cascades) is only about a 2 hour drive away from Downtown Seattle.
LA has everything. Beaches, mountains, everything. Not to mention it has multiple urban centers, downtown, Long Beach, West LA/Hollywood. Can't beat LA
Vancouver wins this. Within 18 miles of downtown you can go swimming in the ocean, skiing at a legitimate mountain, jet skiing in the ocean, play 18 holes of golf, hiking up a mountain, rock climbing, enjoy one of the finest urban parks in the world, alpine cycling among other activities. None of the other cities offer so much so close to the downtown area. Not to mention Vancouver has a high quality of life and offers great city life.
This is true (though do people really swim in the ocean in Vancouver?) though it's true of most of the cities on this list to some degree. However, Vancouver doesn't come close to LA in the availability and proximity of outdoor recreation and the weather to enjoy it.
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) and I would have to say LA is the best of the best in this category. What always impressed me about LA is how close the urban areas are to the mountains and beaches. The Santa Monica Mountains, from Griffith Park to Pt Mugu are smack dab in the middle of the metro area. You often have to drive over the mountains to get from one part of the metro area to another. And then of course there are the miles of coastline. And to top it off, the San Bernadinos offer and alpine experience abutting the metro area. For sheer variety and volume, LA offers the best combination of urbanity and outdoor recreation. Along with weather that makes it accessible year round. 
