Chinatown/North Beach: San Francisco

Though Chinatown and North Beach border each other, these neighborhoods feel worlds apart. Located a quick jaunt from Downtown and Union Square, San Francisco's Chinatown—America's largest, in fact—beckons visitors with its intricate dragon gates, exotic groceries, acupuncturists, and delicious dim sum. Stockton Street and Grant Avenue are lined with all of the above, plus tons of knick-knack and art shops, ranging from the kitschy to the elegant. You can delve into over a century of local history on a guided walking tour via the Chinese Historical Center of America, which also offers traditional arts and crafts workshops such as brush painting. Be sure to satiate your sweet tooth with a side of sage wisdom at the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory.

North of Chinatown, North Beach offers visitors a peek into the city's Italian heritage and Beatnik past. While the area has Italian restaurants aplenty, we recommend sipping on a cappuccino at Caffe Trieste, grabbing an antipasto picnic or salami sandwich at Molinari's Delicatessen (to be enjoyed on the grass at Washington Square Park, of course), and indulging in fresh pastry at one of the area's Italian bakeries. When you're ready to burn off all those calories, stroll on Grant Avenue for great fashion and antique window-shopping and then trek up Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, where you can enjoy lovely city and bay views as well as an interior mural detailing scenes of California industries in the early 20th century. Lit lovers shouldn't miss the Beat Museum, City Lights Bookstore--where many of the Beat Poets' works were first published and performed at bongo- and wine-infused gatherings--and the adjacent Vesuvio, formerly Jack Kerouac's favorite watering hole and still a hotspot today. If you're up for more strolling, the city's famous Lombard Street and Fisherman's Wharf are within walking distance. © NileGuide