San Francisco Guide
Introduction to San Francisco
One of America's most beautiful cities, San Francisco sits poised on the 47-square-mile fingertip of a peninsula at the western edge of America. Indeed, the city has much to gloat about, not least the breathtaking natural beauty that surrounds it – from rugged coastline and tranquil Bay waters to rambling, fog-capped hills and dense, unspoiled woods. Along the steep streets of the city itself rest a cluster of distinct neighbourhoods – by turn quaint or hip, lined by rows of preserved Victorian houses or dotted with chic clubs in converted warehouses. Residents like to think of their home as the cultured Northern counterpart to sunny Los Angeles, mass entertainment capital of Southern California, and to an extent they're right – this was the place that gave birth to the United Nations and is forever associated in the public consciousness with the Beat literary, hippie cultural and gay rights movements. Still, San Francisco is undeniably Californian; after all, this is also the city where blue jeans, mountain biking, and topless waitressing first took off.