5 Best Views San Francisco

Why it made the list: The classic: two hills right in the middle of the city, high enough to see the entire grid laid out below with both bridges at either end. It's the view every establishing shot of San Francisco uses, and at night it's genuinely spectacular.

Why it made the list: The hill gives you the bay, Alcatraz and the Bay Bridge; the tower gives you a 360 if you pay to go up. The Depression-era murals inside the base are free and genuinely worth seeing on their own, most visitors walk straight past them.

Why it made the list: A cliff path where the Golden Gate Bridge appears and disappears through cypress trees above a wild stretch of coast. It's the most cinematic view in the city and the least like a viewpoint, you have to walk for it, which is why it's never crowded in the same way.

Why it made the list: The view locals actually use. A grassy hilltop park with a 360-degree panorama that holds its own against Twin Peaks, minus the car park, the coaches and the wind. It's an easy walk up from a genuinely lovely neighbourhood.

Why it made the list: Across the bridge on the Marin side, looking back, the bridge towers below you with the whole city behind them. This is the photograph, and no view from the San Francisco side comes close to it.