America's finest city — where 70 miles of beaches run from the surf breaks of Ocean Beach to La Jolla's sea caves, Balboa Park holds 17 museums in Spanish Renaissance buildings, and the busiest land border crossing in the world connects the city to Tijuana 20 minutes south
San Diego (1.4 million; metro 3.3 million) is the eighth-largest city in the US and the southernmost major city in California — 20 miles from the Mexican border at Tijuana, making it the most binational major American city. Balboa Park (1,200 acres, established 1868) is the largest urban cultural park in the US and contains 17 museums (including the San Diego Museum of Art, the Natural History Museum, and the Air and Space Museum), multiple performance venues, the Japanese Friendship Garden, and the San Diego Zoo — consistently ranked among the world's best zoos, holding 3,700 animals across…
The bay of San Diego was the site of the first European landing on the Pacific Coast of the present-day United States — Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo arrived on 28 September 1542. The first permanent Spanish settlement in California was established at the Presidio of San Diego in 1769 by Franciscan friar Junípero Serra and military commander Gaspar de Portolà — Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá (moved to its current location 1774) was the first of the 21 California missions that Serra founded, stretching north to Sonoma. The city was transferred from Mexico to the United States following the Mex…