San Francisco VS San Diego

I'll take san deigo's weather with san fransisco's culture and location.. sd's climate is perfect... san fransisco's location form casino's, ski resorts, the ocean is driving distance... the san fransisco culture has beened shaped by many different kinds of people and over alot of time (SF was the first major metropolitan area in the west)... another thing I don't like about SD is all the military people.. you always run into some jarhead at a bar who want to prove the marines are the baddest...

Time for a ranking update I think: As at March 13th: Sand Francisco is #60 (City Score of 60.85) in all of California - http://www.streetadvisor.com/california/san_francisco/overview San Diego is #34 (City Score of 71.93) in all of California - http://www.streetadvisor.com/california/san_diego/overview Perhaps weather plays a big part in this? I've never been to San Diego, so I don't know, but interested to see the gap widening in the rankings. Very interesting indeed!!! AJ

Hi there, I'm going to meet my company clients next week in San Diego and neither they nor I know the city. What would you recommend should we sightsee? I mustn't be controvertial etc (these is a business trip anyway and it's goning to be very official). Please, let me know if you can think of some proper destinations. Will be very grateful!

Hi priestess, The San Diego Zoo is an obvious choice. It's world famous and is one of the most visited attractions in San Diego. Being park of Balboa Park (which is very beautiful in itself), you can't go wrong here, especially if you havent been to San Diego. It's most people's first stop. You could also try the Gaslamp Quarter (south of the city), which is a historical district with heaps of restaurants and shops. The USS Midway Center is also great, especially if you are entertaining a lot of males. We like big boats and jets! AJ

Hi AJ, Thanks a lot. I think I'll make use of the boats which seem to be a great topic for a conversation and plan the rest with a map. Many thanks for your help!

I would take San Francisco for business reasons. There's just a lot more going on there. San Diego I would probably go to retire, but I have a problem with the large proportion of homeless people in both cities. It's a little frustrating to see so many homeless in such beautiful cities.

Culturally, I think NorCal and SoCal are really different. I must say that my initial reaction is to say that SF doesn't even compare with San Diego but that is probably just my SF bias. Other than go to the beach and hang out at the bars with the guys from Camp Pendleton, what is there to do in San Diego anyway?

I also don't agree about the weather. I understand that it is sunnier in San Diego, but the cooler, less predictable weather is what a lot of people like about SF.

As far as beaches go though, San Diego and the SoCal area got us beat. No way you'll be getting a tan at Stinson Beach. You definitely don't get much bikini weather up here.

@NightOwl: You are right on about the beaches. Huntington Beach is one of my favorites beaches in the world--and I've seen more than one.

Obviously weather is a strong factor for San Diego, which is probably SoCal's coolest large city (although, to be fair, its only true competitor is LA). Overall, San Francisco seems like it is culturally more exciting. It seems like it is almost a college town for grownups, with movies in Dolores Park, Stern Grove concerts, Bay to Breakers, the Big Wheels race...etc. There also seem to be quite a few East Coast transplants in the area. If you can stand the consistently cool weather, the microclimates, the fog, and the unpredictable factor, then SF is hands-down the place to be.