San Francisco’s neighbourhoods

The largest Chinatown outside Asia, and the oldest in the USA, this roughly 24-block district is the beating heart of the city’s Asian immigrant communities. Home to some of the best eats the city has to offer at dim sum shops, fortune cookie ‘factories’, Chinese grocers and noodle joints.

A once gritty neighbourhood, Hayes Valley is now a haven for chic boutiques and galleries. In fact, the centrally-located hood is one of the city’s best shopping hubs. And thanks to residents’ fierce commitment to localism, chain shops aren’t allowed in. What you buy here is almost guaranteed home-grown.

Many of Nob Hill’s mansions, built by the city’s early tycoons, were destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, but this hilly hood is still one of SF’s prettiest (and wealthiest). Hop on a cable car to get here and stroll past its parks and cathedrals before dining at one of the city’s best restaurants.

This, the historic home of SF’s Italian immigrant community, charms with boho coffee shops, cafes, and bookstores, which are frequented by literary types and harken back to the area’s past as the favourite hangout of Beat Writers like Kerouac. (In case you’re wondering, there’s no beach here).

Pacific Heights is the neighbourhood that SF’s richest residents call home – the likes of the Gettys and Danielle Steel (whose manse spans an entire city block). Expect beautiful Victorian mansions, excellent dining, and some of the city’s best luxury shopping along Fillmore Street.

The area of downtown south of Market Street – called SOMA – is a trendy mix of refurbed warehouses and newly-built high-rises housing clubs, bars, restaurants, hotels, and the like. Its cultural identity is especially strong, thanks to the number of museums (including SFMOMA) and galleries found along its streets.

Telegraph Hill ascends 280-plus feet and is crowned by Coit Tower, a mural-covered Art Deco column. An ascent on foot to the hills’ top (via sidewalk and stairs) rewards with eye candy in many forms: gorgeous homes, gardens, and some of the best views from the observation deck at the tower’s top.

The Castro doesn’t have much by way of ‘attractions’, but that’s not the point. The historic and current heart of the city’s gay community, the district is one of SF’s most vibrant. Come here to commune with the colourful locals in the neighbourhood’s funky cafés, bars, shops, and restaurants.

The Mission is the stomping ground of SF’s Latino population – a sure bet for great Mexican and Latin American food. The neighbourhood also has a thriving arts community, and you’ll find 200-plus lovely murals along 24th Street (known as the Latino Cultural District – the heart of the Mission).

The commercial centre of San Francisco, this stretch of streets surrounding Union Square (a park-slash-plaza so named because of its history as the site of several pro-Union Civil War rallies) is full of luxury hotels, restaurants, and shops. A lovely neighbourhood that’s still worth a wander.