San Francisco

 
World's most rickety transport system, and still adored by millions.
It’s been hailed “a golden handcuff with the key thrown away” by John Steinbeck, “one of the great cultural plateaus” by Duke Ellington and “49 square miles surrounded by reality” by Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane.

H.L. Mencken called it an “escape from the United States” and Robert Kennedy promised, “if I’m elected, I will move the White House to San Francisco.” 

No place in the United States and few in the world have been as gushed about as the Bay City, home to those enchanting hills, spectacular bridges, bell-ringing cable cars, jocular Alcatraz ferries, Ferry Building foodies and recalcitrant sea lions at Pier 39.

Escaping the Fisherman’s Wharf and Marina District masses won’t be any easier this year, as San Francisco celebrates the Golden Gate Bridge’s 75th birthday with a Memorial Weekend waterfront bash, and gears up for hosting next year’s America’s Cup Finals with two lead-up 2012 World Series sailing events.  

Our advice: lose the crowds by heading somewhere that few of the city’s 16 million annual visitors will ever tread. Like the Land’s End Trail -- aka the city’s prettiest four-kilometer coastal trek, hiding on SF’s rustic northwestern edge between Point Lobos and Eagles’ Point.