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The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed most of San Francisco, so what you see today is all relatively 'new'. The climate is more like that of England than Southern California, but expect more sunshine!

Everyone's favourite, San Francisco has much to offer the tourist with world famous landmarks against a beautiful background of natural beauty.

Golden Gate Bridge
The world-famous bridge connects San Francisco to the southern tip of Marin County.

A triumph of engineering, the bridge is 90ft wide and 1.2 miles long, spanning 220ft above the sea. The twin towers are 500ft above the road surface and 80,000 miles of cable was used in construction the suspension cables. It was constructed between January 1933 and April 1937.

Fisherman's Wharf
Once just home to the fishing industry, the area has been developed into an area of shops & restaurants, although fishing is still represented. The Cannery at the western end of the wharf was once the largest peach cannery in the world, owned by Del Monte. It is now home to many shops and restaurants.

Alcatraz
Boat tours leave from the Eastern end of the wharf to the island prison of Alcatraz. However these get booked up well in advance especially during summer, so it pays to book ahead of your visit. It was a maximum security prison from 1934 to 1963. Now it is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation area and popular with the tourists.

Pier 39
Two blocks from Fisherman's Wharf is the closest you can get to Alcatraz without getting on a boat. Aside from its shops and restaurants there is a noisy sea lion colony in winter months on floating docks nearby.

F Line Streetcars
Of all things associated with San Francisco, the cable-car system is one of the best-known in the world. The F-line connects Fisherman's Wharf with Upper Market, carrying around 20,000 people per day.

Adult fares are a flat $3 each way.

Union Square
One of the top 4 US shopping areas by volume and served by the F-Line streetcars.

Tony works for Strathlorn Travel who specialise in travel for the independent traveller to the USA, Canada, Australia and other worldwide destinations.