Some of the best views in all of San Diego can be found on top of Mt. Soledad.  When visitors come to town, I like to take them up here to show off our beautiful city.  I recommend driving and taking the winding road to the top.  If you're really adventurous and in good shape,  you can bike to the top.  On any given day, you'll see dozens of the athletically inclined biking their way to the top and taking in the views.  

The Mount Soledad Cross (formerly known as the Mount Soledad Easter Cross) has a controversial history. The present structure was erected in 1954; it is the third Christian cross in that location, the first having been put up in 1913. Architect Donald Campbell designed the present cross in recessed concrete. It is 29 feet tall (43 feet tall including the base) with a 12-foot arm spread.

Beginning in 1989, almost ten years before the immediate area around the cross was turned into a war memorial, until 2015, the Mount Soledad Cross had been involved in a continuous litigation regarding its legal status. The cross's opponents won court decisions showing that it is illegal to display a religious symbol, such as a Christian cross, on public land, as it demonstrates preference to a specific religion and thus violates the separation of church and state under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the No Preference Clause of the California Constitution. Judges have sided with plaintiffs on multiple occasions and ruled that the cross is illegal and had to be removed or sold to the highest bidder. Defenders of the cross explored several options for preserving the cross.

In 1998 the City of San Diego sold the cross and the land it stands on to the nonprofit Mount Soledad Memorial Association, and the cross was transformed into being the centerpiece of a newly erected Korean War Memorial. The land under the cross was eventually transferred to the federal government. In 2011 a federal court found the cross unconstitutional, and in 2012 the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, returning the issue to federal court. In December 2013 a federal judge ordered the cross to be removed, but stayed the order pending appeal. In June 2014 the Supreme Court declined to review a case concerning the cross as the previous appeal had not been heard. In December 2014, Congress passed and President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015. Included in the bill is a provision that "authorizes the Secretary of Defense to convey (the cross) to the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Association, subject to certain conditions." On July 20, 2015 the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association bought the land under the cross from the Dept. of Defense for $1.4 million, ending its unconstitutionality.