La Mesa
La Mesa is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, located nine miles east of downtown San Diego in Southern California.
La Mesa is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, located nine miles east of downtown San Diego in Southern California. The population was 61,121 at the 2020 census, up from 57,065 at the 2010 census. Its civic motto is "the Jewel of the Hills."
Adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Worth seeing in and around La Mesa
10 places within 25 km that the world writes about, in the order of how widely: the ones a visitor has heard of first, then the ones only a local would name.
- 01San Diego State University
San Diego State University is a public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University system.
4.6 km · public research university in San Diego, California, United States · Wikipedia - 02Snapdragon Stadium
Snapdragon Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in San Diego, California, located on the campus of San Diego State University. It is the home of the San Diego State Aztecs football team of the Pac-12 Conference, San Diego FC of Major League Soccer, and San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League.
9.5 km · stadium at San Diego State University · Wikipedia - 03Beth Sarim
Beth Sarim is a ten-bedroom mansion in San Diego, California, constructed in 1929 in anticipation of various resurrected Old Testament biblical patriarchs or prophets such as Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah and Samuel. It was maintained by the Watch Tower Society, the parent organization used by Jehovah's Witnesses, and was also used as a winter home and executive office for Watch Tower president Joseph Franklin Rutherford.
7.1 km · building in California, United States · Wikipedia - 04San Diego State Aztecs
The San Diego State Aztecs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent San Diego State University. The university fields 17 varsity teams in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, primarily as a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
4.7 km · intercollegiate sports teams of San Diego State University · Wikipedia - 05California Miramar University
California Miramar University is a private for-profit university in San Diego, California. The university offers degree programs through distance education and a combination of online and classroom delivery.
8.9 km · university · Wikipedia - 06Cowles Mountain
Cowles Mountain is a prominent mountain in San Carlos, San Diego, California. The 1,593-foot summit is the highest point of the city of San Diego.
4.7 km · mountain in United States of America · Wikipedia - 07Grossmont College
Grossmont College is a public community college in El Cajon, California. Its name originated with the silent film actor and producer William J. Gross, who was enticed by Ed Fletcher to invest in the purchase of land, part of which was called Grossmont.
5.2 km · public community college in El Cajon, California, United States · Wikipedia - 08Old Mission Dam
Old Mission Dam is a historic water impoundment structure in Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego, California. It was built in 1803 to impound the San Diego River to provide water for irrigation of the fields associated with Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first Spanish mission in what is now the US state of California.
7.8 km · dam in Mission Trails Regional Park, California, United States of America · Wikipedia - 09Cuyamaca College
Cuyamaca College is a public community college in Rancho San Diego, California. It is part of the Grossmont–Cuyamaca Community College District and the California Community Colleges system.
8.3 km · community college in Rancho San Diego, California, U.S. · Wikipedia - 10St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Cathedral
St. Peter Cathedral is a Chaldean Catholic cathedral located in El Cajon, California, United States.
9.4 km · church in California, United States · Wikipedia
Ranked by the number of language editions of Wikipedia with an article on each, from Wikidata; the sentences are the openings of those articles, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Getting to La Mesa
- Airports
- San Diego (SAN), 16 km · General Abelardo L. Rodriguez (TIJ), 26 km · Palm Springs (PSP), 127 km
- Stations
- Gillespie Field, 7.7 km · SDSU Transit Center, 4.5 km · Stadium station, 9.1 km · Fenton Parkway, 9.8 km · El Cajon Transit Center, 5 km
- Palm Springs → La Mesa126 km · quickest by road, 3h 11m · $16–22
- Santa Ana → La Mesa3476 km · quickest by air, 14h 58m · $780–1,170
- San Bernardino → La Mesa151 km · quickest by road, 2h 35m · $14–19
- Plan a tripFrom anywhereThe planner compares every way there from wherever you are.
Road and air are today’s quick answer; timetabled trains, buses and ferries load on the results page from the operators’ feeds.
No local-transport research exists yet for La Mesa
Our researched notes are written from a sourced entry: every shared taxi, boat and village bus with its operator, its rule, its fare and the year we saw it, and what could not be confirmed. Nobody has done that work for La Mesa. What is above is what we hold from open sources; nothing here pretends to be more.
- Get aroundIf you're more adventurous, you might be able to hire a Water Taxi to get to and from waterfront hotels, shopping centers, and restaurants along the bay in Downtown and Coronado.
- Go nextCoronado is a lovely little city that lies on a peninsula just across the bay, accessible from downtown by a ferry ride (departs from the Broadway Pier and the Convention Center) or by driving just a bit south of Downtown to get to the Bay Bridge.
From Wikivoyage: San Diego/Downtown, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us; that article was last edited 2026-09.
- 011,773 km
- 021,864 km
- 031,911 km
- 041,926 km
- 051,992 km
If you know how people move in La Mesa – the stand, the rule, the fare – tell us, and the note gets an entry.
Next door to La Mesa
La Mesa is 15 km from San Diego, the nearest large city, whose note carries the wider picture.
- Normal Heightsneighborhood of San Diego, California, United States9 km
- California's 53rd congressional districtAmerican political district8.5 km
- College Areahuman settlement in San Diego, California, United States of America4.3 km
- City Heightsneighborhood in San Diego, California, USA8 km
- Mission Trails Regional Parkopen space preserve within the city of San Diego, California6.8 km
- Tierrasantaneighborhood in San Diego, California, United States of America8.8 km