Lombard Financial Center Mosaics
San Francisco
A couple years ago, blighted trees in front of this bank were cut down and a treasure hidden for almost half a century was revealed: mosaics by California…
Must-see attractions in Northern California
San Francisco
You're always in excellent company in the Castro, where sidewalk plaques honor LGBT+ heroes. The walk runs along Market St from Noe St to Casto St and…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Hippie communes and Victorian bordellos, jazz greats and opera stars, earthquakes and Church of Satan services: these genteel 'Painted Lady' Victorian…
San Francisco
Diego Rivera's 1931 The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City is a trompe l'oeil fresco within a fresco, showing the artist himself pausing to…
Napa Valley
The fabulous hillside tasting room, constructed of stone, redwood and teak, resembles a small cathedral – fitting, given the sacred status here bestowed…
Napa Valley
Art-lovers: don’t miss Hess Collection, whose galleries display mixed-media and large-canvas works, including pieces by Francis Bacon and Robert…
Napa Valley
Meandering paths wind through magical gardens and fruit-bearing orchards surrounding an 1884 barn and farmstead with cats and chickens. The vibe is casual…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
The breezy, grassland slopes of 475ft Bernal Hill are decidedly non-touristy, and hiking them on a clear day offers 360-degree city views, along with rare…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Can you see sound? The answer is always yes at this music-inspired art gallery, named for the anthem by SF soul supergroup Sly and the Family Stone…
Napa
West of downtown, scrap-metal sculptures dot Carneros vineyards at the 217-acre di Rosa Art and Nature Preserve, a stunning collection of Northern…
Napa
Showcasing all things culinary (produce stalls, kitchen shops and everywhere something to taste), Oxbow is foodie central with an emphasis on seasonal…
San Francisco
Crafty kids find ways to persuade parents to brave traffic and chilly fog to reach SF Zoo – but everyone ends up enjoying the well-kept habitats,…
Ed Z’berg Sugar Pine Point State Park
Lake Tahoe
The largest, and arguably most luxurious of the state parks at Lake Tahoe, Ed Z’Berg Sugar Pine State Park (formerly known as Sugar Pine State Park), sits…
South Lake Tahoe & Stateline
Three 1920s-era estates – Baldwin, Pope and Valhalla – sprawl across this 150-acre site on the southwest shore of Lake Tahoe. Free, self-guided tours wind…
San Francisco
The Legion of Honor, or more formally known as the “California Palace of the Legion of Honor”, is a part of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. It is…
Sausalito
Bohemia still thrives along the shoreline of Richardson Bay, where free spirits inhabit hundreds of quirky homes that bob in the waves among the seabirds…
Oakland
Every museum has an educational mission, and this one is dedicated to California. You'll find rotating exhibitions on artistic and scientific themes, and…
Redding & Around
Resembling a beached cruise ship, the shimmering-white 2004 Sundial Bridge spans the river and is one of Redding’s marquee attractions, providing an…
Sacramento
This modern museum is home to the California Hall of Fame and so the only place to simultaneously encounter César Chávez, Mark Zuckerberg and Amelia…
Yosemite National Park
Yosemite's most distinctive natural monument, Half Dome is 87 million years old and has a 93% vertical grade – the sheerest cliff in North America…
Yosemite National Park
At nearly 3600ft from base to summit, El Capitan ranks as one of the world’s largest granite monoliths. Its sheer face makes it a world-class destination…
Yosemite National Park
This ‘honey, hit the brakes!’ viewpoint, midway between the May Lake turnoff and Tenaya Lake, is a lunar landscape of glaciated granite with a stunning…
North Coast & Redwoods
Along Hwy 101, 53,000-acre Humboldt Redwoods State Park protects some of the world's oldest redwoods and has three-quarters of the world's tallest 100…
Mt Shasta Region
You'll come across views of Mt Shasta either peaking over a ridge or completely dominating the landscape, from the Oregon border and even into the east…
Sequoia National Park
A scenic subalpine valley at 7500ft, Mineral King is Sequoia’s backpacking mecca and a good place to find solitude. Gorgeous and gigantic, its glacially…
Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park
North Coast & Redwoods
The northernmost park, Jedediah Smith is 9 miles northeast of Crescent City (via Hwy 101 north to Hwy 199 east). The redwood stands are so thick that few…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
The city's oldest building and its namesake, whitewashed adobe Misión San Francisco de Asís was founded in 1776 and rebuilt from 1782. Today the modest…
San Francisco
'Homeward into the sunset/Still unwearied we go/Till the northern hills are misty/With the amber of afterglow.' Poet George Sterling's poem 'City by the…
North Coast & Redwoods
This park is the southernmost of a patchwork of state and federally administered lands under the umbrella of Redwood National & State Parks. After picking…
Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park
North Coast & Redwoods
Marked by steep canyons and dense woods north of Klamath, this park contains 15 miles of hiking trails and several old logging roads that are a mountain…
North Coast & Redwoods
The mouth of the Klamath River is a dramatic sight. Marine, riparian, forest and meadow ecological zones all converge and the birding is exceptional. For…
Yosemite National Park
At the southwestern end of the valley, Bridalveil Fall tumbles 620ft. The Ahwahneechee people call it Pohono (Spirit of the Puffing Wind), as gusts often…
San Francisco
You’ve seen the eight switchbacks of Lombard St's 900 block in a thousand photographs. The tourist board has dubbed it ‘the world’s crookedest street,’…
Sequoia National Park
This 3-sq-mile grove protects the park’s most gargantuan tree specimens. Among them is the world’s biggest, the General Sherman tree, rocketing 275ft into…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
This triple-decker, brick-walled US military fortress was completed in 1861, with 126 cannons, to protect the bay against certain invasion during the…
North Beach & Chinatown
There was no place to go but up in Chinatown in the 19th century, when laws restricted where Chinese San Franciscans could live and work. Atop barber…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
War is for the birds at Crissy Field, a military airstrip turned waterfront nature preserve with knockout Golden Gate views. Where military aircraft once…
Yosemite National Park
West of Yosemite Village, Yosemite Falls is considered the tallest waterfall in North America, dropping 2425ft (740m) in three tiers. A slick trail leads…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
The Bay Area hits the big time here, with gallery director Ed Gilbert continuing Anglim's 30-year legacy of launching art movements, from Beat assemblage…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Ever since gold-rush miners captured their newfound wealth with ferrotype portraits, San Francisco has staked claims to artistic fame with photography –…
