The key really is where do you want to go for about 3 days. In my view, SD has LV beat in every way. I lived in SD for 4 years and have lived in Orange County for over 20 years. I have been to Las Vegas over 300 times for business. I've stayed in almost every major hotel and done most everything there is to do in Vegas. It would never be my destination of choice. Yeah....SD has a lot of suburbia but Las Vegas has just as much. I'll take the Gaslamp, Coronado, PB, MB, La Jolla, Del Mar etc...over anything LV has to offer.

If you stay in a casino hotel, LV is basically a crowded, trashy, overpriced life support system for smokers that like to gamble and go to shows. If you stay elsewhere it is just suburbia...Red Rocks is fun though if you like hiking and there is Hoover Dam. LV is really a destination for 18-30 year olds (clubbing and pools), gamblers, drunk convention goers, Canadians and Iowans who think it is some mystical place they need to go to once in their lifetimes.

The folks I know that live in LV avoid downtown/strip at all costs. If you don't like the outdoors, Las Vegas may be ok. If you like getting outside, SD wins hands down. I also prefer the restaurants, weather and people in SD. I know it is a matter of preference but I'll take SD any day.....plus I can drive.