Berkeley and Oakland are what most San Franciscans think of as the East Bay, though the area includes numerous other suburbs that swoop up from the bayside flats into exclusive enclaves in the hills. Many residents of the ‘West Bay’ would like to think they needn’t ever cross the Bay Bridge or take a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) train through an underwater tunnel.

Berkeley – the birthplace of the free-speech and disability-rights movements, and the home of the hallowed halls of the University of California, Berkeley (aka 'Cal') – is no bashful wallflower.

Though it may look like just another leafy suburb, Palo Alto is Silicon Valley's ritziest city. Here even a modest bungalow may cost over $2 million, while upscale boutiques, restaurants, beauty spas and bars crowd downtown streets.

Nestled under the redwoods at the base of Mt Tamalpais, tiny Mill Valley is one of the Bay Area’s most picturesque hamlets. Mill Valley was originally a logging town, its name stemming from an 1830s sawmill – the first in the Bay Area to provide lumber.

Windswept Point Reyes peninsula is a rough-hewn beauty that has always lured marine mammals and migratory birds as well as scores of shipwrecks. It was here in 1579 that Sir Francis Drake landed to repair his ship, the Golden Hind. During his five-week stay he mounted a brass plaque near the shore claiming this land for England.