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Districts in San Diego


Districts in San Diego

Except for bureaucratic purposes, San Diego really doesn't have any clearly defined "districts"; instead, the city is defined by its many individual neighborhoods, which are too numerous to list here. This list of "districts" is by no means an official breakdown of the city, but one that is meant to make sense from the standpoint of a visitor, based on the number of attractions and/or amenities the average visitor will find in each area.
San Diego
San Diego
Downtown
Situated on the bay, downtown is a hub of business and nightlife and has many tourist attractions amongst its gleaming office and hotel towers.
Balboa Park-Hillcrest
Located in the heart of the city, Balboa is a massive urban parkland, home to many amazing museums and the renowned San Diego Zoo. Next door is Hillcrest, a trendy urban neighborhood.
Old Town-Mission Valley
The site of the first Spanish settlement in California, Old Town today is a historic district popular with tourists sitting at the foot of Mission Valley, a major commercial center.
Point Loma-Ocean Beach
Located on a scenic peninsula curving around the bay, this area offers gorgeous views of San Diego, beautiful coastline, and quiet, laid-back beach neighborhoods.
Mission Beach-Pacific Beach
Two extremely popular beach communities with plenty of shops, restaurants, and nightlife, alongside a man-made inlet known as Mission Bay that is home to Sea World.
La Jolla
An upscale beach community and the home of some of the most picturesque coastline and lovely beaches around, an exceptional aquarium, the University of California at San Diego (UCSD).
Mid-City
A set of neighborhoods in the heights east of Balboa Park. There isn't much in the way of tourist attractions out here, but one can find trendy districts with locally-oriented restaurants, shops, and theaters.
Northeastern
A large region of the city composed of many suburban neighborhoods stretching far inland to the hills of the north, with a few scattered tourist attractions including the popular Safari Park.
San Ysidro
Home to the world's busiest land border crossing, where one can travel between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico.

In addition, there are many communities and suburbs in the San Diego area that are not actually part of San Diego (such as Coronado). See the San Diego County article.

The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about San Diego


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San Diego Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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