Adam Aspinall

San Francisco is beautiful city of boom and bust, triumph and disaster, and it is currently riding the crest of the biggest wave of investment since the

Gold Rush.

Home to countless tech millionaires with many more yet to come, it is the beating silicon heart of the modern world.

But you don’t need to be the founder of Uber to afford this exciting city – and you can get there with low-cost airline Norwegian, which has launched a very affordable route direct to San Francisco International Airport from Gatwick. a

TECHY Centre of hi-tech industry

There is no getting away from the reality that San Francisco is one of the world’s runaway boom towns thanks to the power of Silicon Valley.

The so-called valley itself lies some 40 minutes south of the city in the wider Bay area and is home to giants such as Apple, Google and Facebook.

In the past many employees would choose to live in nearby San Jose but in recent times many people have looked to San Francisco to set up home.

The city leads the US in job creation and is a global HQ for digital technology such as mobile apps and social media. The flourishing tech scene has brought big money into town, with restaurants, bars and nightclubs heaving most nights of the week.

And the city is bracing itself for a new round of millionaires to be created as San Francisco-based firms such as Uber, Airbnb and Pinterest are expected to go public.

San Francisco has always been one of the US’s leading artistic hubs with a fascinating and in-depth social history to match.

There is no shortage of galleries and museums to visit across its varied neighbourhoods, and one great way to get a feel for the city’s changing face is by taking one of the illuminating Wild SF Walking Tours.

I would recommend the Mission Murals and Graffiti Tour of the city’s Mission District which gives a captivating insight into the history of the much-maligned street art, but also how big tech is slowly and surely changing the character of the city one neighbourhood at a time.

But of all the fabulous art on show in the city, it is really difficult to see beyond the world-class Museum of Modern Art