Chula Vista is San Diego County's second-largest city, sitting just north of the Mexican border and spreading from the flat coastal plain up into the dry hills above Otay Lakes. It has a strongly Latino character — Chula Vista is Spanish for "beautiful view" — and a relaxed suburban pace that feels quite different from downtown San Diego.
The waterfront has been redeveloped around the Chula Vista Bayfront, with nature preserves and parks running along San Diego Bay, including the Sweetwater Marsh National Wildlife Refuge. Inland, the city is largely residential, but it draws visitors for one genuinely unusual attraction: the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, one of only three official year-round training facilities in the country, sits on a windy plateau above Otay Lakes and is open for public tours. The Living Coast Discovery Center, a zoo and aquarium inside the wildlife refuge, is one of the most distinctive nature attractions in San Diego County.