Berkeley sits on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay, dominated by the University of California campus and by a political culture that has been left-of-centre for so long it has become a self-parody — but an endearing one. The university brings intellectual life, good bookshops, and excellent food. The hills behind the city offer some of the best bay views in the region.
Telegraph Avenue, running south from the campus, is the traditional heart of student life — vintage clothing stores, cafes, street vendors, and the ghost of 1960s counterculture. The Gourmet Ghetto, a stretch of Shattuck Avenue north of campus, has been a destination for serious eating since Alice Waters opened Chez Panisse in 1971. The Campanile — the 307-foot Sather Tower at the heart of campus — is one of the great views in the Bay Area, and the carillon bells ring across the city three times a day.
The UC Botanical Garden and the Lawrence Hall of Science (a hands-on science museum with panoramic bay views) are both worth an afternoon. The Berkeley Hills are laced with trails; Tilden Regional Park above the campus is the obvious starting point. For architecture, Bernard Maybeck's First Church of Christ, Scientist on Dwight Way is a National Historic Landmark that most visitors walk past without noticing. The BAMPFA combines a serious art museum with one of the best film archive programmes in the country.