North of downtown and on the northwest edge of Balboa Park, Hillcrest is a lively and artsy area at the center of the city's gay community . Go there either for something to eat - there's a selection of interesting cafés and restaurants around University and Fifth streets - or simply to stroll around the fine gathering of Victorian homes.

Ocean Beach , six miles northwest of downtown and reached by bus #35, rivals Pacific Beach in its surfing and party atmosphere, although Ocean Beach has a more down-to-earth, bohemian feel, and is replete with excellent secondhand music shops. Despite being a former, notorious Hell's Angels hangout, this has become one of the most sought-after San Diego addresses, with Newport Street the prime spot where most young backpackers spend their time, among rows of cheap snack bars, surf and skate shops and T-shirt stalls.

The Cabrillo National Monument (daily 9am-5.15pm; 7-day pass $5 per car, pedestrians and cyclists $2), at the southern extremity of the hilly and very green peninsula of Point Loma , stretches south from Ocean Beach. It was at its southern extremity where Cabrillo and crew became the first Europeans to land in California. That's as far as the historical interest goes, for they quickly reboarded their vessel and sailed away again. The startling views from this high spot, however, across San Diego Bay to the downtown skyline and right along the coast to Mexico, easily repay the journey here. From the western cliffs of the park, a platform makes it easy to view the November-to-March winterwhale migration , when scores of gray whales pass by en route to their breeding grounds off Baja California, Mexico.

Hillcrest, Ocean Beach and Point Loma

• Hillcrest, Ocean Beach and Point Loma

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