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Yeah this comparison is stupid aswell. Obviously San Diego/SoCal is better than SoFla. The only thing SoFla could take is the nightlife and that's a maybe because opinions vary.
Highly disagree with you there.
Actually, the entire post is kind of off the mark.
And you're really reaching here by bringing up Tijuana. That's in an entirely different country. You have to cross an international border to get there, and back. Imagine partying in Tijuana and then asking your Uber driver to get your drunk ass back across the border to San Diego at 4AM.
Would you say Plattsburgh, NY, has good nightlife because you can hop in a car and drive across the border to Montreal? That makes no sense. LA and Tijuana are not part of the SD Metro. Fort Lauderdale on the other hand goes hand-in-hand with Miami. The entire region from Fort Lauderdale down to Miami is known for nightlife.
Though I don't usually include Tijuana as part of metro San Diego, its not wrong to do so.
I can walk three blocks from where I"m typing and board a light rail to the border at San Ysidro.
There's serious talk of extending this trolley route a mile into Tijuana.
San Ysidro is incorporated into San Diego, which means San Diego and Tijuana cities literally touch each other at the border.
To compare this to Plattsburgh/Montreal just shows....an inability to interpret maps at the most basic level.
An actual San Diego/Tijuana Olympic bid was submitted not long ago.
The number of drunk people who have called Uber's at 4 AM to get from TJ to SD is likely millions upon millions of people.
Though I don't usually include Tijuana as part of metro San Diego, its not wrong to do so.
I can walk three blocks from where I"m typing and board a light rail to the border at San Ysidro.
There's serious talk of extending this trolley route a mile into Tijuana.
San Ysidro is incorporated into San Diego, which means San Diego and Tijuana cities literally touch each other at the border.
To compare this to Plattsburgh/Montreal just shows....an inability to interpret maps at the most basic level.
An actual San Diego/Tijuana Olympic bid was submitted not long ago.
The number of drunk people who have called Uber's at 4 AM to get from TJ to SD is likely millions upon millions of people.
It's a different country. You need a passport to get there. A felon with certain types of charges can't go there. Most tourists from abroad visiting SD would need a visa to get there. Heck, you can't even legally go to there with a DUI conviction on your record!
And That's my point, and is why I brought up Plattsburgh/Montreal. One can be in Plattsburgh, but despite its proximity to Montreal, it doesn't mean they can go there. Two separate cities in two separate countries.
Ignore Plattsburgh/Montreal if you want. How about Detroit/Windsor? Windsor's more laid back laws and open casinos don't make Detroit's nightlife better than it is.
Tijuana was mentioned as a counter to Miami to Fort Lauderdale. It makes no sense, and yes, it is very nonsensical to try to include it in the SD metro.
Getting a passport isn't complicated. Quicker than going to DMV and easier than getting a driver's license. That said I know of people who go without a passport and always get back in. I know somebody with two DUIs who cruised to Mexico maybe a month ago lol. It isn't as watertight as you think.
Detroit-Windsor is separated by a wide river and at least a mile walk. There's hardly any pedestrians crossing that meanwhile it's pretty typical to cross San Diego-Tijuana on foot. I don't claim SD and TJ are a metro area but it's a unique region that's interconnected. Probably the most developed border urban area in the world and one of the busiest border crossings on earth. Tens of thousands commute daily.
Location: Miami (prev. NY, Atlanta, SF, OC and San Diego)
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The trolley from downtown San Diego takes 40 - 45 minutes (multiple stops along the way) to get to the border. Driving takes half that time (little longer if a peak weekend afternoon time). Add 5 (if trolley) to 10-15 minute walk from trolley drop off spot or parking lot to wind up at the taxi area in Tijuana that will drive you 5 minutes to the most popular areas. Figure on 35 - 55 minutes to arrive at your initial destination in Tijuana depending upon how you got there.
Returning, I sure hope one has a Sentri card or Global Entry (in addition to a passport).. If they do, getting back across the border is not an issue....if one does not, is not unrealistic for it to take an hour or more to get through Customs and back into the US especially during busy periods on weekends.
Tijuana does have some good restaurants, some go for cheap brothels, some go for cheap dentists (not something I would do), tourists go for an afternoon during the daytime/sunlight hours, I used to go to my friend's Cuban Cigar Lounge though I understand Mexico recently passed some strict indoor smoking bans that would prevent me from hanging out there these days. I might have gone down to Tijuana 2-3 times a year because of my friend's lounge when I lived there though it really wasn't necessary as he had a mule who was able to deliver cigars to my home.
Someone said Tijuana is sketchy--agree. It’s a non glamorous border city. It can also be very dangerous, with the US State Department having issued travel warnings at times in the past including as recently as last year.
The vast majority of bars in Ft Lauderdale from Las Olas to the beach don't stay open until 4am because it's a ghost town by then.
Nightlife in Miami is top tier but aside from that nowhere in Florida is any more impressive than San Diego.
It's not like we have to travel far for unhinged nightlife. Tijuana is on our doorstep and that's an experience a lot of people from even Miami wouldn't be able to handle.
I haven't done a count, but I'm not sure vast majority is correct unless we're talking about bars inclusive of restaurants with bars/alcohol service in which case that's definitely true. There are also going to be some bars that don't open late or open at all for some days of the week most likely at times within the Sun-Tues stretch. Ft. Lauderdale with 182K people in its 34 square miles of municipal borders is going to have fewer bars than San Diego with 1.3M people in 325 square miles, but Ft. Lauderdale is still going to have a dozen more bars open until 4 am than San Diego because there are no bars that can open until 4 am. And yea, the vast majority of the city will be a ghost town by 4 am and that's with pretty much any city, even Miami, even Bangkok, even Ibiza. For the most part, even when there is no last call, it's specific streets with a concentration of venues and then scattered venues here and there that will be going late into the night. The vast majority of any of these cities will not be packed at bars or clubs at 4 am. That's just generally not how that works.
I haven't been to any place in Florida outside of South Florida so far, but at least within South Florida, Ft. Lauderdale (and Miami Beach if going by municipal boundaries as it's actually not part of Miami proper) has more bustling night life than San Diego. I do hope to visit some friends in Gainesville and Orlando at some point, but I'm not sure if either of those have particularly notable nightlife.
Tijuana is a very good side option for San Diego that you can travel to. I think there's a reasonable case for it sort of being like how Miami is for Ft. Lauderdale, but with a very different nature. I do think there are some points scored for being pretty exotic in how different it is, but for either in the comparison, I think traveling for nightlife is maybe a peg down in how it should be factored versus what's nearby.
It's a different country. You need a passport to get there. A felon with certain types of charges can't go there. Most tourists from abroad visiting SD would need a visa to get there. Heck, you can't even legally go to there with a DUI conviction on your record!
And That's my point, and is why I brought up Plattsburgh/Montreal. One can be in Plattsburgh, but despite its proximity to Montreal, it doesn't mean they can go there. Two separate cities in two separate countries.
Ignore Plattsburgh/Montreal if you want. How about Detroit/Windsor? Windsor's more laid back laws and open casinos don't make Detroit's nightlife better than it is.
Tijuana was mentioned as a counter to Miami to Fort Lauderdale. It makes no sense, and yes, it is very nonsensical to try to include it in the SD metro.
I live in OC and I consider Tijuana a day trip. That being said, I'll give nightlife to Miami/FLD. Hard to beat. I also think FLD wins:
COL
Beaches
Beach weather, SD is often too cold for beach time.
It's a different country. You need a passport to get there. A felon with certain types of charges can't go there. Most tourists from abroad visiting SD would need a visa to get there. Heck, you can't even legally go to there with a DUI conviction on your record!
And That's my point, and is why I brought up Plattsburgh/Montreal. One can be in Plattsburgh, but despite its proximity to Montreal, it doesn't mean they can go there. Two separate cities in two separate countries.
Ignore Plattsburgh/Montreal if you want. How about Detroit/Windsor? Windsor's more laid back laws and open casinos don't make Detroit's nightlife better than it is.
Tijuana was mentioned as a counter to Miami to Fort Lauderdale. It makes no sense, and yes, it is very nonsensical to try to include it in the SD metro.
You really don’t though? If you drive across you’re waived through, and if you walk they may have you pay for $20 “emergency visa”. Coming back across it’s illegal to deny a U.S. citizen entry with or without a passport. Mine has been expired for years now, and I take people down all the time, namely to my dentist, that have no passport, and a few that didn’t even have their DL on them at the time. Never had an issue once.
We used to go down there when we were underage to drink back in the 90’s and I hadn’t been back as an adult at night in 20 some years. I’ve been down with some friends who go to the Tijuana Xolos soccer games (Liga MX blows the MLS out of the water, FYI) and I can’t believe what has become of the nightlife scene down there. While you still have the bars catering to underage college students and military (as well as the red light district), there’s a whole new scene of upscale craft cocktail bars. Same for the restaurant scene. You’d hear stories, but I was beyond impressed. And I was in the bar and restaurant business for years.
I disagree about Windsor not adding to Detroit’s nightlife. I remember when the Super Bowl was there 15 years ago or so and hearing all sorts of stories in the news about how well the strip clubs (full nudity with alcohol) were doing catering to all the tourists in town. I went to college in Southeast Michigan and we’d go to Windsor frequently for its 19 year old drinking laws, and casino. Detroit now has its own casinos so I don’t know if that’s still a draw, but Windsor 100% contributes to Detroit’s nightlife.
You really don’t though? If you drive across you’re waived through, and if you walk they may have you pay for $20 “emergency visa”. Coming back across it’s illegal to deny a U.S. citizen entry with or without a passport. Mine has been expired for years now, and I take people down all the time, namely to my dentist, that have no passport, and a few that didn’t even have their DL on them at the time. Never had an issue once.
Really?
This conflicts with information everywhere:
Anyway, I've never tried it, so I'll take your word for it. I don't live there. You do.
As for reentry however, while they can't deny you, what they can certainly do is hold you for lengthy periods of time for extra scrutiny. Certainly happened to me before after I lost my passport in Montreal while trying to drive back through the Champlain, NY border. I was eventually let through -- hours later. Crossing international borders without a passport -- whether somehow waived or not -- is definitely asking for it.
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