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San Diego
A Pacific port at California's southwest corner
San Diego occupies the southwestern corner of the continental United States, on a superb natural harbor just north of the Mexican border. The site of the first Spanish mission in California (1769), it grew around one of the finest deep-water bays on the Pacific coast, sheltered behind the long sand spit of Point Loma and Coronado. That harbor made it a major U.S. Navy base and the heart of the region's identity.
The land rises from the beaches and bay through coastal mesas cut by canyons toward the mountains and desert inland. A near-perfect mild, dry Mediterranean climate — among the most equable in the country — and the Pacific shore define daily life. The eighth-largest U.S. city, San Diego anchors a metro of more than three million right against the border with Tijuana.