Which are good cities to live in California?

What are the best cities in California to live?

• My Fiance and I are planning on moving to California after we get married. I'm from Chicago and he's from New York City so we've both lived in preferably cold places. We would like to live in a much more warmer area. We have California and Florida in mind. But the thing is that it gets too hot in both of those places. But because we're city people we wanna be in a surrounded [ popular ] area in the US and since we're from large exciting cities we would like to keep it that way but warmer lol. So we're mainly looking at Cali. So what are the best cities and also the not-as-hot cities in Cali.

• Answer:

  San Diego is one of the nicest cities in the country. It's a major tourist destination and there are tons of things to do. It has the best weather in the country, even better than L.A. (it's cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter) It doesn't get very hot or cold here. The avg tempeature is 70 degrees. San Diego is located on the coastal hills while LA is very spread out, in a smog collecting basin, and the inland valleys are like living in a desert. It's a short drive to LA(2 hours) so it's close enough to get the benefits but far enough to avaoid the hassels. I moved here from NY years ago and never regretted a minute of it. Here are some reasons why: Mission and Pacific Beach are your best bet for fun in the sun. Belmont Park has a vintage wooden roller coaster (one of two remaining seaside coasters on the west coast) as well as other rides. There is a boardwalk that runs the entire 3 mile length of both beaches. It's a great place to rent a bike or skates. http://www.missionbeachonline.com/ http://www.belmontpark.com/ Some must see attractions are the world famous Zoo, Sea World, and Balboa Park. Balboa Park is the largest urban cultural park in the country. You can get a park passport which allows you entry to a dozen museums as well as the zoo. http://www.balboapark.org/info/passport.php http://www.sandiegozoo.org/zoo/index.php Other attractions in the park are the Air and Space Museum, Ruben H. Fleet Science Center, the Natural History Museum, the Automotive Museum, the Hall of Champions, the Model Railroad Museum, the Botanical Gardens, and the largest outdoor pipe organ in the world (free concerts on Sunday). North County San Diego is home to the Zoo's Wild Animal Park. There are multi acre enclosures where herds of wild animals roam plus lots of hiking trails. http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap/index.html The San Diego Botanical Gardens are in Encinitas http://www.sdbgarden.org/ La Jolla offers great views, great surfing, great food, and great shopping. Check out the surfers at historic Windansea Beach. At low tide you can walk out onto the tide pools. Walk along the Cove and check out the caves. Visit the Museum of Contemporary Art. Take a stroll on Prospect St and check out the shops, galleries, and have some authentic Mexican food at Alfonso's. Then head to the Birch Aquarium at The Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It has a spectacular view of the bluffs over the Pacific Ocean. http://www.dreamlajolla.com/ http://www.beachcalifornia.com/windn.html http://www.mcasd.org/ http://www.alfonsosoflajolla.com/ http://aquarium.ucsd.edu/ http://www.a-zsandiegobeaches.com/windansea.htm Take the trolley from Downtown to Old Town. There is a state park there that recreates life in the Mexican and early American periods of 1821 to 1872. There are also a lot of restaurants in the area. Pizza Bella has the best pizza in town as well as homemade Italian food. http://www.oldtownsandiegoguide.com/ http://www.yelp.com/biz/pizza-bella-san-diego The Old Point Loma Lighthouse at the Cabrillo National Monument offers great views of the downtown skyline, San Diego Harbor and the Pacific Ocean. On a clear day you can see all the way to Mexico. http://www.nps.gov/cabr/ The USS Midway is an aircraft carrier turned into a museum http://www.midway.org/ For a great dinner with the best view of the downtown skyline, go to Pehoe's in Coronado. You can take the water taxi across the harbor. http://www.peohes.com/ http://www.sdhe.com/san-diego-water-taxi.html For nightlife, the Gaslamp Quarter offers dining, drinking and dancing. It's also the home of Petco Park and the San Diego Padres major league baseball team. http://www.gaslamp.org/ Pacific Beach also has some great nightlife. http://www.pubclub.com/sandiego/pacificbeach.htm Check out these sites for other info http://www.sandiego.org/nav/Visitors http://thebestplacesinsandiego.com/ BTW the heat in Florida is opressive in the summer and the weather is hurricane plauged in the fall. Avoid it.