Filming locations in San Francisco

Few cities have been mapped by a film as obsessively as San Francisco was by Vertigo. Hitchcock's 1958 spiral starts at Fort Point, the brick fortress tucked directly under the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, where Madeleine throws herself into the bay and Scottie hauls her out. Standing on that wind-blasted apron with the great span roaring overhead, you understand at once why the director chose it: there is nowhere in the city that feels more like the edge of something.

The film's other ghost lives ninety minutes south, at Mission San Juan Bautista, where the bell-tower climax plays out. The tower in the picture was a special effect, but the working Spanish mission and its hushed plaza are entirely real, and you can stand exactly where Scottie's vertigo overcame him. It makes a natural stop on the drive down towards Monterey, so the day rewards a car rather than a transit pass.

Back in town, a gentler kind of pilgrimage waits in Pacific Heights. The handsome townhouse at the centre of Mrs. Doubtfire still stands on its quiet street, and a generation that grew up with Robin Williams comes to find it. It is a private home, so the etiquette is simple: admire it from the public sidewalk, keep your voice down, and take your photo from across the road.

The Vertigo spots cluster either side of the bridge and the Doubtfire house sits a short walk from the Lyon Street steps, so a good plan is to base yourself near the waterfront or in the northern neighbourhoods. Both Fort Point and the San Juan Bautista plaza are free; only the mission interior asks a small fee. Bring a layer whatever the forecast says, because the fog and the wind off the Pacific are part of the script.

What makes San Francisco such a satisfying set-jetting city is how legible it stays. The hills, the bridge and the pastel terraces are unmistakable, so the screen geography lines up cleanly with the real one. You can trace Scottie's haunted loop in a single day and still have an evening left for the cable cars and a plate of crab on the wharf.