The beaches might be the biggest draw but the Southern Californian city’s
diverse ’hoods are equally alluring, with hippy hangouts, activist culture and
Mexican-inspired cuisine waiting to be discovered. Words: Julia BuckleySAN DIEGO
Neighbourhood
California’s southernmost city can be hard to pin down. It’s full of tourists who’ve
come to visit SeaWorld San Diego and let loose in the bar-illed Gaslamp Quarter
— and they skew irst impressions. So you need to dig a little deeper. Bordering
Mexico, this is a city of taco shops, high-class mole restaurants and mezcal bars
where Californian and Mexican sensibilities merge. Even inland, if you’re not in
liplops, you’re overdressed. Those liplops come in handy on the beaches
wedged between the city and the Paciic. Each has its own identity, from
upmarket Coronado and weed-scented Ocean Beach to sea lion-illed La Jolla
and Paciic Beach, where surfers dandle on their boards waiting for a wave.56 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel