Pacific Heights is where San Francisco's old money lives, a ridge of elegant streets running along the high ground north of the city centre with views over the bay from its upper blocks. It survived the 1906 earthquake and fire largely intact, so its avenues are lined with some of the finest Victorian and Edwardian mansions in the country — block after block of immaculate painted woodwork, bay windows, and turrets, including the limestone Spreckels Mansion and the museum-piece Haas-Lilienthal House.
The neighbourhood's commercial heart is Fillmore Street, a polished strip of high-end boutiques, bakeries, and cafés with the feel of a prosperous small-town main street. For the views that make the wealth make sense, climb the Lyon Street Steps on the western edge — a grand staircase looking out over the Palace of Fine Arts, the Marina, and the Golden Gate Bridge — or rest on the terraces of Alta Plaza and Lafayette parks. It is a neighbourhood best enjoyed simply by walking and looking up.