San Francisco

San Franciscans have passionate perspectives on every subject, especially their signature landmark, though everyone agrees that it's a good thing that the Navy didn't get its way over the bridge's design – naval officials preferred a hulking concrete span, painted with caution-yellow stripes, over the soaring art-deco design of architects Gertrude and Irving Murrow and engineer Joseph B Strauss, which, luckily, won the day.

Alcatraz: for over 150 years, the name has given the innocent chills and the guilty cold sweats. Over the decades, it’s been a military prison, a forbidding maximum-security penitentiary and disputed territory between Native American activists and the FBI. No wonder that first step you take onto ‘the Rock’ seems to cue ominous music: dunh-dunh-dunnnnh!

From bonsai and buffalo to redwoods and protests, and from flowers, Frisbees and free music to free spirits, Golden Gate Park seems to contain just about everything San Franciscans love about their city. You could wander the park for a week and still not see it all, with myriad attractions including the de Young Museum, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Japanese Tea Garden, Conservatory of Flowers and Stow Lake.

America's first gay-history museum showcases a century of San Francisco LGBTQ+ ephemera – Harvey Milk's campaign literature, matchbooks from long-gone bathhouses, photographs of early marches – alongside insightful installations highlighting queer culture milestones and struggles for acceptance throughout history. Multimedia stories put civil rights efforts into personal perspective, and provide community introductions for queer folk and allies alike. The shop sells reproductions of '80s pink triangle tees,'70s pride pins, and Harvey Milk fridge magnets citing his words: 'You gotta give 'em hope.' Indeed.

Explore Fisherman's Wharf, a bustling waterfront area known for its seafood, souvenir shops, and views of Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.