The city was established in the mid 1700s by Spanish explorers, who sailed through the Golden Gate, eventually displacing the Ohlone Indian population who had lived here for hundreds of years. Originally a sleepy port town called Yerba Buena (‘good herb’), things really got spirited in the 1840s when gold was discovered in the foothills of California. The population swelled and the city, now San Francisco, became a veritable den of iniquity, teeming with disillusioned prospectors, wayward sailors and put-upon immigrants. This chapter in history can be relived by strolling the streets of Chinatown, along Grant Avenue or Stockton Street between Pine Street and Pacific Avenue. Stop in at the Chinese Culture Center (750 Kearny Street, CA 94108, +14159861822, www.c-c-c.org) for guided tours. Chinatown’s next-door neighbor is North Beach, where the Barbary Coast history can be traced along Columbus Avenue and great coffee and Italian food can be had at nearly any café or restaurant.

After being shaken (and burned) to the ground by the great earthquake of 1906, San Francisco began to take its modern shape. Many of its most functional additions have become its most popular attractions. The Golden Gate Bridge, at the northern edge of the Presidio, was completed in 1937 and is visited by some nine million people annually. East of the bridge in the middle of the Bay, and flanked by the Bay Bridge, is Alcatraz (Golden Gate National Recreation Area, CA 94123 +14157055555), the infamous prison for ‘incorrigibles’, now a major visitor draw and worth the quick boat trip from Fisherman’s Wharf to see it.

Beyond the honky-tonk charm of the major attractions, San Francisco’s cultural cadre has much to brag about. Among them are the Museum of Modern Art (151 Third, CA 94103, +14153574000) and the Palace of the Legion of Honor (100, 34th Ave and Clement St, CA 94122, +14158633330), which has a world-class collection and hosts top-notch exhibitions, and the Asian Art Museum (200 Larkin St, CA 94102, +14155813500), which has one of the largest collections of its kind in the Western world.