The 16 km-long Point Loma peninsula divides San Diego Bay from the Pacific Ocean and provides a sheltered location for some of the city’s better-off residents, who inhabit pricey houses set along quiet, leafy lanes.

Point Loma’s visitor interest lies at its southern tip, where the Cabrillo National Monument remembers the 1542 landing of Juan Cabrillo, a Por­tuguese adventurer employed by Spain who became the first European to put ashore in California. The monument itself is unspectacular but the views – across San Diego and far beyond – are completely stunning.

A short walk from the monument, a visitor centre carries texts on Cabrillo’s arrival but devotes more energy to documenting the marine life which inhabits the tide pools found at the foot of Point Loma’s coastal bluffs. Also nearby, the interior of an 1891 lighthouse can be visited, but don’t expect it to hold your attention for more than the few minutes it takes to tour its few rooms and clamber up its short staircase.