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Together with its San Diego County neighbors, Oceanside and Carlsbad, Vista, California, makes up San Diego's Tri-City area. The book, "50 Fabulous Places to Raise Your Family" lists Vista as the 7th best place in the US for family life, based on its highly-rated school system, weather, and business climate.

Vista is currently home to two city-supported theaters: the Moonlight Amphitheatre and the Avo Playhouse. The Moonlight Amphitheatre is an open-air theater that specializes in musical productions, performing several during the course of the summer, including one youth production per season. The Moonlight has a winter season at the Avo Playhouse, which, when not holding the Moonlight Winter Season, produces many different plays which are not run by a central Avo-based production crew.

Rancho Guajome Adobe and Rancho Buena Vista are two ranchos in and near Vista, built in the mid-nineteenth century. Both serve tours to schoolchildren and to ordinary patrons, detailing the history of the ranchos and talking about life during the time they were built.

There is a lot of open land in Vista, especially in the north, and much of it is dedicated city parks. The two most well-known within the city are Brengle Terrace Park and Guajome County Park. Brengle Terrace Park houses the Moonlight Amphitheatre, a baseball field, a senior center, a playground, and the city community center, where the main offices of the city's day camps are held. Guajome County Park has 557 acres (2.3 km˛) of land and is usually considered by the residents as being part of Vista, although it is actually located outside of the city lines. It features campsites, horse trails, and the Rancho Guajome Adobe, a National Historic Landmark. The city's Parks and Recreation Department also runs the Wave Waterpark, a small but well-equipped waterpark near the downtown area open from mid-spring to early fall. Vista also features the Antique Gas and Steam Engine Museum, an open-air museum featuring various pieces and demonstrations of agricultural equipment from the 19th and early 20th centuries.