San Diego or Vancouver
 

A friend and I are planning a week in May to either San Diego or Vancouver - neither of us has been to either of them. Any thoughts on which might be better?

What do you and your friend want to see? Slightly higher chance of rain in Vancouver but I really like the city.
What is your mode of travel?
Have you been to other Pacific coast cities such as LA, SF, Portland or Seattle?
A good way to get to Seattle is to take the Amtrak train or bus from Seattle. Hope you both have passports if you want to go to Vancouver, BC Canada.

I haven't been to San Diego, so can't compare the two. I was in Vancouver last August; a week would be a little long for me in the city, but Vancouver + Vancouver Island would be a great trip, I think. I went to Victoria for a weekend while I was there, but would have loved to see much more on the island. Depends on what your interests are, though.

Assuming you mean Vancouver, B.C.,here's an online guide for that city.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/vancouver-city-guide.htm

And for San Diego,
http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/s...city-guide.htm

In May, San Diego averages about 8-10 degrees warmer than Vancouver. Vancouver averages about 2.2 inches of rain versus 0.2 for San Diego. Ref: http://www.weatherbase.com/

The history and cultures of the two cities are quite different. You can check that out on Wikipedia. I have been to both cities, but mostly to San Diego.

good questions from tom.

Both are excellent places to spend a week.

In San Diego, you NEED a car for the week - in Vancouver you can get by without one (though you will want one for a day or two for day trips - which you SHOULD do with a full week).

San Diego has beaches - Vancouver has better food (IMO).

The landscapes are different though they each have excellent parks. They are very different from one another though each is great in its own way.

I think you'll need to do some research and then come back with some more specific questions:

http://www.fodors.com/world/north-am...nia/san-diego/

http://www.fodors.com/world/north-am...bia/vancouver/