Los Angeles vs. San Diego (Visitor Appeal) (better, largest, compared)
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Based upon a previous thread in which San Diego is compared with Fort Lauderdale, a question of which of these is better for a visitor overall, because while San Diego isn't in the same league of cities as LA, I get the sense that many may actually find it more appealing, perhaps at least for a short term visit/long weekend.
LA is worth visiting, but I prefer San Diego. You can park yourself in the center of town and have a great time within walking distance. In LA you have to commute to things...easier with rail expansions but still a major consideration.
I honestly couldn't quite decide, hence why I wanted to foster the discussion. The obvious answer is to experience both as they are quite close to one another, but time doesn't always allow for that, and time is usually prioritized in one or the other.
Urban Form/Neighborhoods: I think that San Diego might win on quality here, with how compact it is and how many older/preserved buildings there are. That said, I think Los Angeles is absolutely underrated here, and is an absolute monster on size/scale/diversity/importance.
Arts/Culture: I think that Los Angeles has more and more esteemed cultural venues within the city, but I think that San Diego's might be better connected and compact. What Balboa Park offers is I think something that nowhere in Los Angeles does.
Attractions/Entertainment: I think LA is going to win this one overall with having so much to do there, but with that said, I think San Diego's compactness works to it's favor again here, and makes it much more competitive than one would think overall.
Safety/Comfort: I think that San Diego probably wins this one going away, and part of the reason that this is such a good match up between two cities that are otherwise so different in size and scale.
Traffic/Transit: Another area where I think that San Diego almost certainly wins. That said, public transit may be more of an advantage for LA here than I may know about, as I know very little about San Diego's transit infrastructure.
Location/Day Trips: I think that this one is just about even. San Diego has the appeal of being able to go to Mexico, the desert, or wine country. Los Angeles has more interesting cities surrounding, it, islands closer by, and mountains/more interesting scenery closer (San Diego area is relatively flat).;
Parks/Scenery: I think this is another where LA wins. San Diego does win on beaches, however, LA just is much more of a hikers city from my impression as the mountains, etc. are closer in.
Food/Drink: I think this is a split one. San Diego as the Craft Beer Capital of America will take the drink one, however, I think that Los Angeles would win food even though I'm guessing SD has a pretty good food scene too.
Overall Preference: So, this is my bias, but I love big, alpha sort of cities, and I don't feel like I've ever gotten to fully experience LA even though I've been a number of times. On the other hand, while I don't have that much experience with San Diego, I have had a bit more time there... I also think that getting to LA would be more readily available and cheaper than getting to SD by flights. For that reason, even though I'd almost certainly advise the average tourist to visit SD instead, I personally would opt for LA at this point in time.
It depends how “urban and adventurous” you are but LA is vastly more varied with potential destinations and fun than San Diego, just by virtue of its massive size as the 2nd largest city in the country. You do have to navigate that size with traffic, distance to other venues and more big city issues such as homelessness and scruffiness in dt areas, but it is a fantastic city if you roll up your sleeves and traverse it avoiding car travel if you can.
San Diego is a much easier and chill area to explore, harder to discover its intrinsic gems and qualities but it’s all there if you have a sense of digging into an area a bit more to discover it. Even if you don’t you have a beautiful, extremely safe city right on the ocean and bay with a compact dt and easily accessible surrounding areas ready for fun, just not as exciting and cool as LA
LA's traffic would put a damper on the living experience, and because it is so spread out, everything takes a long time to get to. I'll also add San Diego has cleaner beaches and a lower homeless population.
A friend of mine dubs San Diego "Des Moines" by the sea!
I don't know why no one refers to San Diego as the San Diego/Tijuana metro area (5-6 million) just like they say San Francisco/Oakland or Dallas/Ft. Worth. Without San Diego's biggest suburb across the Border I would never visit that city.
I prefer interesting cities to pretty cities like San Diego and San Francisco, so that puts me in L.A. with my $7 Tap card where you don't need a car to get around anymore. Can't wait for the Purple line to be finished, running down Wilshire, to UCLA!
Wow, not gonna lie, the tap card looks incredible, seems like a really great way to get around the city. Does the LA Metro feel pretty safe and comfortable? How does it feel, for instance compared to say, MARTA in Atlanta or DART in Dallas?
Also, tell me more about Tijuana. You must really love it, given that it's your signature. I know very little about it, other than what you generally hear in media reports. I know it's a big city, but if I was going over there from San Diego, what would I do?
I get the general sense about San Diego and your point about it being a "pretty city" in your words. But in fairness, don't San Diego and SF both have interesting neighborhoods off the radar in the same way LA does? Though I get your general sentiment in that SD and SF are more touristy and obvious appeals in their core.
If you want an urban experience and urban exploration, LA offers way more of that. Even without a car, you can stay downtown and take the rail to Hollywood, Koreatown, Santa Monica, etc.. If you want a more chill beach vacation, San Diego has better beaches and a nice compact downtown. But personally, I like the excitement of big cities and more walkable neighborhoods to explore, so I'd pick LA.
For a long weekend San Diego, for a week Los Angeles (and San Diego).
LA is just too spread out and I feel like you’d spend too much time driving (or on public transportation). Much of San Diego’s top draws and trendy neighborhoods are in close proximity to each other. This isn’t even factoring in the difference in traffic between the two. Traffic is light (or at least manageable) in San Diego on the weekends. LA you still get major traffic jams, even late at night with no signs of construction or accidents??
That’s not to say you can’t enjoy yourself in LA over a long weekend. We go up all the time for day/overnight trips, but we have a specific destination(s) and can just drive up. If I were taking a vacation from elsewhere in the country and only had Friday night through Monday afternoon I’d go with San Diego, or San Francisco for that matter.
Pains me to admit this, but you can do more cool stuff in Los Angeles is 3 hours than you could in a day in San Diego (if you factor in Tijuana this does change considerably).
Can't even count the number of times I've woken up in San Diego, made a last second decision to hop on the surfliner to L.A., and with no planning whatsoever gotten into all kinds of cool adventures. Of course, there is a ton of stuff to do in San Diego as well, its just all kind of predictable.
Predictably, L.A. is taking strikes in this poll because "spread out", "traffic", etc. This is yet another case of conventional wisdom defeating actual facts.
Having a heavy rail subway station right under Hollywood/Highland and Universal Studios alone put L.A. over the top as a visitor destination.
The excitement and wonder of getting out of the subway in Hollywood >>>>> excitement and wonder of getting off trolley in the Gaslamp.
Los Angeles metro rail can take you from the busiest part of downtown (increasingly a tourist draw in its own right) to ground zero of the most popular beach area in North America. San Diego doesn't have an answer to this.
Want to see pro sports on your vacation? 9 teams in metro L.A. vs. 1 in metro San Diego.
Haven't even gotten into how much easier and cheaper it is to fly into LAX vs SAN.
San Diego is only competitive in the Food/Drink category. IMO we have better asian food here than the Bay Area (lol at "fish tacos" thats so basic) and of course beer. L.A. is only just starting to get a serious beer scene...but this all assumes you even care about beer.
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