San Francisco’s Chintatown is a wonderful lively maelstrom of sights and sound. It is densely populated and when you add in the tourists, shopping locals and other visitors it is not surprising that it has a lovely, buzzy vibe.

Lady making fortune cookies in Chinatown, San Francisco

It can be found in the area between California Street and Broadway, bounded approximately on each side by Powell Street and Montgomery Street. It is between Nob Hill and the Financial District so it is easy to incorporate into a downtown walking tour.

If you want some kind of plan, your best bet is to start at the Chinatown Gate where Grant Avenue and Bush Street intersect, and meander along Grant Avenue, being sure to explore some of the side streets, especially Stockton Street where the markets are. I like to just amble around and soak up the atmosphere in a disorganised fashion, but if you want to plan your sightseeing a little more, the sanfranciscochinatown website is great.

Aside from that my personal recommendations are

1) Eat something! There are all manner of eating options from stalls to restaurants as well as a good selection of Chinese bakeries.

2) Wander round the markets on Stockton Street and enjoy the variety of the produce for sale and the ambience.

3) Take in the temples and the decorated balconies at Waverley Place. The Tin How Temple is the oldest.

4) If you want some (relative) peace and quiet, head to Portsmouth Square. Activity here is normally restricted to t’ai chi, mah-jong and gossiping. Just along from here is the Chinese Cultural Center, which has an art gallery and craft shop.

5) Check out the outside of the Old Telephone Exchange on Washington Street.