San Francisco, California

Who doesn’t love San Francisco? This hilly city on the tip of a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay used to be known for its year-round fog, iconic Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, colorful Victorian houses and Alcatraz Island. But now the tech giants hold the keys to the City.  Beautiful, cultural and buzzing with the energy of the many new residents flocking to the City for new startups, I like to drop in for a couple of days every so often for a dose of it (which is why I always took spontaneous trips form LA when I lived there). You can read the NY Times “36 hours in San Francisco” or just walk the City and enjoy the beautiful homes, the hills, the views, the restaurants, the parks, the art galleries, the markets….And for a treat, drop in to one of my favorite spas: Kabuki Springs

Stay:

Fairmont, Clift Hotel, Four Seasons, Hotel Drisco, The Battery, The Buchanan

See:

California Academy of Science, de Young museum, Haight Street, Pier,

Day trips: Muir Woods, Sausalito, Monterey, Napa and Sonoma wine country!

Eat:

1760, Aqcuellero, A16, Bar Tartine, Benu, Burma Superstar, Camina, Comal, Delfina, Kokkari….and don’t even get us started on Chinatown! Seriously. Check out Eater’s essential list.