San Francisco

Perched atop a hilly peninsula, overlooking the blue waters of the bay is the great city of San Francisco, known for its characteristically charming and colorful people, architecture and culture. While the city is geographically small in size, San Francisco is the core city of the San Francisco Bay Area, which is a far larger area on the map stretching around the bay and including all of the surrounding bay cities like Oakland and San Jose. San Francisco can easily be dubbed as eccentric with its counter culture ways from the 60s still alive today. The arts scene reigns supreme in San Francisco and the city plays host to an outstanding array of art museums, galleries, critically acclaimed restaurants, and other artistic and cultural venues and events that keep the city lively for both its residents and visitors.

The seven-by-seven square mile city on the bay is made up of a patchwork of very distinct neighborhoods and districts, each with their own unique culture, look and feel. The iconic Golden Gate Bridge stretches across the bay to where it meets the city along the Presidio, which is a military compound turned national park. To the east is the popular Golden Gate district with its chic neighborhoods, historic fishing marinas and fantastic views of the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. Fisherman's Wharf is located at the northeastern tip of the peninsula and is where the tourists flock, and for good reason as many boat tours of the bay and to Alcatraz start here. Along the Wharf, there are plenty of kitschy souvenir shops in addition to San Francisco staples such as Pier 39 and Ghirardelli Square along the picturesque waterfront. Arching around the tip of the peninsula to the east along the San Francisco Bay are the vibrant communities of Chinatown and North Beach. Chinatown is famous as being the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and is a colorful neighborhood with crowds of immigrant residents, a plethora of authentic Chinese cuisine and a great place to feel transported to another world altogether. Right next door is North Beach, known as Little Italy for its similar immigrant community and characteristic Italian cuisine. Other notable neighborhoods throughout the city include the business center of Union Square, the Financial District, Haight-Ashbury known for its hippie roots, the Castro known for its largely GLTB residents and gay-friendly community, and SoMa (South of Market) features a lot of new construction, museums and AT&T park where the San Francisco Giants baseball team plays.

San Francisco also has a great network of outer lying cities and towns, all of which make for great getaways from the city. Wine country to the north is some of the best in the world with Sonoma, Napa and St. Helena to name a few. Just across the bridge is the scenic Mill Valley, chic Sausalito and nature-filled Mout Tamalpais and Muir Beach areas. Over the bay to the east are Oakland and Berkeley, while due south is the tech-crazed Silicon Valley with cities including Palo Alto (home to Stanford), Mountain View, Santa Clara and San Jose.