It is surrounded on three sides by water and no visitor to the City will ever forget there first view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Many tourists take a ride on the cable car up to the top of the steep Russian Hill and those athletic enough, walk back down on foot to Lombard Street.

It is said by locals that San Francisco can experience up to four seasons in a single day. This is possible because of its unusual geographical position. The city occupies a seven mile long peninsula and to its west lies the Pacific Ocean.To the east is the world famous harbour more commonly known as San Francisco Bay.

Linking the two together is the 1.2 mile wide Golden Gate passage.

A low rugged range of mountains known as the Coastal Range, stretches from Santa Barbara County to Oregon. They run through San Francisco and the Bay Area and the city now spreads across these hills and valleys.

The famous steep streets of the city run up these hills and are always a favourite place for tourists to visit. The Sierra Nevada range lies to the east and helps prevent the cold continental air masses from reaching the coast. As a result the ocean breezes help moderate temperature extremes.

The city has the lowest average summer temperature of any American city outside of Alaska, yet due to its geographical make up, the city has seen no large snowfalls in over one hundred years. The summers are usually dry and cool and the winters mild and wet.

San Francisco has frequent earthquakes, as it sits on top of where the Pacific and North American plates meet. As these plates slide together deep underground at the earth's crust in a series of tectonic faults, they lead to earth quakes.

San Francisco is comprised of over eight hundred thousand people made up of many ethnic backgrounds. One third of them are foreign born and half of the rest are non native Californians. As a result the city reflects this multi cultural society and is more the richer place for it.

It is the main Pacific port in America and many immigrants have made their home in the city helping it to create a flamboyant and eccentric flavour. It has experienced many major earth quakes over the years, but each time the locals have rallied round and helped build it back up into a stronger and more united city.

It is even more remarkable that the city is famous for its Victorian architecture. Many are crowded together on narrow hillside lots and have been made famous by the numerous films that have been made in the area. Some say that it is an act of God that has prevented these magnificent buildings being destroyed by the earthquakes over the previous years.

Some of these beautiful houses are now rented out as holiday homes and tourists truly get a great feel of the local culture and cuisine when they stay in these holiday homes. They act as great bases for the tourists to fully explore this wonderful city and many tourists now come back year after year to experience this unique cultural experience.