Up and down seem to be the main directions in San Francisco. First time visitors may feel daunted by the steep, steep hills (Lombard Street on Russian Hill is a staggering 40? incline). However if you like heights and spectacular views then a $2 trip in a cable car is a great way to go sightseeing.

At the top of Telegraph Hill perches Coit Tower with breath-taking 360? views of the San Francisco Bay scenery. Built in 1933, the 180ft concrete tower is named after a wealthy local, Lillie Coit, who bequeathed some of her fortune to the city and to the firemen who had rescued her as a child.

Another tall city icon is the Transamerica building, constructed in 1972. Its distinctive narrow pyramid shape topped with an illuminated spire soars 260 metres (853 ft) and 48 storeys above the streets of San Francisco. The site it occupies has a historic pedigree having once been home to the Montgomery office block, which became a meeting place for some of the city's famous radical thinkers and bohemian artists as well some well-known writers including Mark Twain. They put up a parking lot here in the late 1950s long before the Transamerica building was planned.