San Diego calls itself ‘America’s Finest City’, and its breezy confidence and sunny countenance filter down to folks you encounter every day on the street. It feels like a collection of villages each with their own personality, but it’s the nation’s eighth-largest city and we’re hard-pressed to think of a more laid-back…

Big Sur is more a state of mind than a place to pinpoint on a map, and when the sun goes down, the moon and the stars are the area's natural streetlights. (That's if summer’s fog hasn’t extinguished them.) Raw beauty and an intense maritime energy characterize this land shoehorned between the Santa Lucia Range and the…

To see both sides of the Golden Gate bridge, hike or bike the 1.7-mile span. Muni bus 28 runs to the parking lot, and pedestrians and cyclists can cross the bridge on protected sidewalks. For drivers, bridge tolls are billed electronically to your vehicle's license plate. Tolls are collected only when you are…