San Francisco is not only known for its summer fogs and cable cars.
There are so many attractions in San Francisco and we have decided to make a list of the 27 most popular ones.
San Francisco is a city that you should visit when in California.
It is a peninsula located between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, that boasts numerous hills, neighborhoods, and eye-catching streetscapes.
Alcatraz Island and Golden Gate Bridge are just some of the tourist attractions in San Francisco.
There are myriad museums, Victorian architecture, and magnificent waterfront areas.
We will mention all the places that no wonder make San Francisco one of the most visited cities in the USA.
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Ferry Building Marketplace
Ferry Building Marketplace is a popular part of San Francisco.
Being that this city is known as a ‘foodie’ city, stopping by the lively Ferry Building Marketplace on the Embarcadero has to be on your agenda once in San Francisco.
This place is located inside the Beaux-Arts building and offers fifty food vendors, local farmers, and small restaurants.
The Ferry Building Marketplace was opened in 2003, and it is a favorite market for the locals.
It includes various coffee shops, snack stands, and grocery stores as well as fresh produce and street food.
Angel Island State Park
Angel Island State Park is available from Pier 41 where visitors can get on a ferry to reach it.
Besides the stunning scenery and nature that the Angel Island State Park has to offer, there is a half-hour boat ride for visitors to enjoy marvelous sights over the bay, combined with hiking, biking, or rollerblading activities.
Nowadays, this is a protected park that once used to be a military base and projectile site as well as an immigration station and internment camp.
So, you will be able to explore some old forts and bunkers once there.
Exploratorium
Exploratorium is located alongside the Embarcadero.
This place is designed to provide a fun and fascinating look at how the world works to those interested in this.
So, it is popular with both adults and children, as this museum has over 600 interactive installations and hands-on exhibits.
The place was founded in 1969, but throughout all these years, it has expanded so much that it nowadays boasts galleries dedicated to light and sound to biology, engineering, and psychology.
Visitors can take part in activities, laboratories, and workshops related to the fields of science and technology.
Last, but not least, talks and cultural events are regularly held in the Exploratorium.
Presidio of San Francisco
Presidio of San Francisco is yet another military base that was transformed into a scenic park.
The Presidio is located on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula and it is a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Besides fantastic architecture, it has to offer outstanding outdoor activities and impressive views.
Once it was not available to the public, but now, it is full of tourists who come to see phenomenal views over Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean.
There are visitor centers that offer exhibits on its history and ecosystems.
Musee Mecanique
Musee Mecanique belongs to the most unique and unusual tourist attractions in San Francisco.
It is located on the iconic Fisherman’s Wharf and provides a huge collection of coin-operated arcade games.
Over 300 mechanical machines are available for visitors to play on.
This is an amazing museum where you can see antique slot machines and music boxes, not to mention fortune tellers, peep shows, and pinball machines.
Visitors like watching historic moving dioramas, as well as trying their luck at some classic carnival games.
Japanese Tea Garden
The Japanese Tea Garden is located within Golden Gate Park and it is home to pretty ponds, a traditional tea house, and a towering pagoda.
This is considered the first Japanese garden established in the States, in 1894.
Since then, a number of generations have enjoyed its scenery, fantastic flowers, and soothing water.
When walking along its paths, tourists come across stone lanterns and sculptures, as well as koi ponds, cherry blossoms, and a Zen garden.
de Young Museum
The de Young Museum is another interesting museum located in Golden Gate Park.
At the de Young Museum, visitors are able to see an incredible collection of artworks that come from all around the world.
There are paintings, sculptures, and photos that attract everyone’s attention, not to mention the building in which it is located, with its distinctive design and large observation tower.
The de Young Museum was established in 1895, and it features 27,000 anthropological artifacts and art pieces from Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
You should not miss galleries that display colorful textiles and costumes, European paintings, or American decorative art objects.
Legion of Honor Museum
The Legion of Honor Museum is located northwest of the peninsula.
People say that it is magnificent being that it is set within the beautiful neo-classical building.
The Legion of Honor Museum is in the middle of Lincoln Park and features a collection of artworks that cover the period of 6,000 years of art history.
There are such grand galleries that have everything – influential comics and soundscapes to masterpieces by Rembrandt, Rodin, and Monet.
The museum was established in 1924 and since then it has developed and expanded that today it possesses more than 90,000 works.
Furthermore, the museum offers spectacular views over the city’s skyline, and the Golden Gate Bridge, making it an even more attractive location.
San Francisco Botanical Garden
The San Francisco Botanical Garden can be found alongside both the Japanese Tea Garden and de Young Museum.
What makes the San Francisco Botanical Garden so interesting is its collection of colorful flowers, plants, and trees.
While walking along its paths, you get the opportunity to explore different areas and ecosystems.
The San Francisco Botanical Garden was founded in 1940, but it has expanded throughout these years that it now contains about 9,000 kinds of plants that come from all over the world.
Visitors find themselves among savanna and succulents and then, the next minute, they are surrounded by tropical trees and cloud rainforest.
SFMOMA
SFMOMA stands for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
It is located within a modern building, near Union Square and its unique architecture makes this place a well-visited site.
Plus, inside it, you will find impressive exhibits and artworks, as the SFMOMA boasts over 33,000 art pieces located on seven floors.
The main focus of all the exhibits is on modern and contemporary art and there are paintings and photos related to digital art, industrial designs, and interactive media.
You will be able to see the works of modern artists such as Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and Henri Matisse.
Lands End
Lands End can be found in the northwest corner of the peninsula.
It contains coastal cliffs which provide outstanding views over Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean.
This park is known for its numerous hiking trails and historic sights.
Some of these sites include various shipwrecks and the ruins of the Sutro Baths.
The Hidden Labyrinth art installation is one of the most famous features.
Visitors will be able to explore its beaches, caves, and cliffs, as well as enjoy a coffee at its café.
Coit Tower
The Coit Tower is yet another attraction in San Francisco worth mentioning.
The incredible Coit Tower, set atop Telegraph Hill boasts the best views in town.
Once you reach the top of the white tower, panoramas of the sites such as Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge will leave you breathless.
The Coit Tower was built in 1933, so there you will notice Art Deco architecture with colorful frescoes in the American Social Realism style.
This is the 210 foot-high tower which is considered a National Historic Landmark and it has been depicted in numerous films and TV shows.
Cable Car Museum
Cable Car is San Francisco’s most famous feature.
These cable cars do not just ride up and down its steep streets but offer the city a specific look.
At Cable Car Museum, visitors will be able to learn all about the history and technology that is behind the streetcar system.
It offers exhibits, old photos, and mechanical displays, as well as vintage streetcars from the 1870s.
Walt Disney Family Museum
The Walt Disney Family Museum is one of Presidio’s attractions.
The Walt Disney Family Museum offers visitors information about the life and legacy of the famous filmmaker, so you will be informed about Disney’s achievements through various film clips, and even awards.
This museum was opened in 2009, and it contains a large collection of early drawings, designs, and music clips.
It consists of three historic buildings in the center of the park and it covers every important event from his childhood to his successful career and the construction of Disneyland.
California Academy of Sciences
The California Academy of Sciences is definitely one of the biggest and best museums in the United States.
This is due t the fact that the California Academy of Sciences contains 46 million specimens which involve incredible artifacts, animals, and exhibits.
This place is located in Golden Gate Park and it is a natural history museum that involves an aquarium and planetarium, not to mention its indoor rainforest.
This magnificent tourist attraction was established in 1853 and nowadays it is located in a majestic modern building that boasts its own living green roof.
Inside this building, you can walk past shark lagoons and coral reefs, or take a look at a gallery full of fossils and minerals.
The must-see highlight of the California Academy of Sciences is the enormous rainforest exhibit with 1,600 live animals, plants, and amphibians.
Twin Peaks
Visitors are never fed up with stunning views of San Francisco, so they can also visit Twin Peaks to get yet more awe-inspiring vistas.
We consider it well worth visiting, as the two towering Twin Peaks are located near the center of the city and have to offer breathtaking panoramas.
Sunset is a particularly special time of day to visit.
The Twin Peaks are around 925 feet tall and they are protected as part of a park with lovely nature and wildlife.
Oracle Park
Sport is also very popular in San Francisco, and baseball lovers should not miss visiting Oracle Park which is home to Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants.
The Oracle Park is set in the city’s South Beach neighborhood and we believe that watching a game there is an exciting and unforgettable experience.
Plus, for those who are not so interested in baseball, the ballpark is considered to be one of the most beautiful in the States.
The Oracle Park was opened in 2000, the stadium boasts seats that offer marvelous views out over the bay.
Some of its features are the giant glove sculpture and coca-cola bottle slide.
According to the majority of visitors, visiting Oracle Park is one of the most popular things to do once in San Francisco.
Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts is the building that remained from the 1915 World’s Fair.
It features a classical Roman rotunda located in an idyllic park that boasts a classical European-Style lagoon.
You can have a picnic there while watching the swans float.
The Palace of Fine Arts includes a theater where you can watch some shows, musical and cultural events.
San Francisco’s Chinatown
San Francisco’s Chinatown was established in the 1840s, and since then it is known as the oldest, the largest, and the most famous of all Chinatowns that are located outside of Asia.
This place was founded due to the fact that the Chinese who settled in this city were merchants or immigrant workers.
The tourist section of Chinatown is located along Grant Avenue, from Bush to Broadway.
Alamo Square
Alamo Square is both a residential neighborhood and park.
The place is known for the famous Painted Ladies row of Victorian houses that can be found on its east side along Steiner Street.
It can be seen on the majority of San Francisco postcards.
The park has a playground and a tennis court, and its visitors are the neighbors, tourists, as well as dog owners.
It offers the view of the Transamerica Pyramid building and the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge.
Transamerica Pyramid
The Transamerica Pyramid can be found in the heart of the Financial District.
The Transamerica Pyramid was designed by a famous architect, William L. Pereira and it is a symbol of San Francisco, besides Golden Gate Bridge.
A pyramid is an ideal shape for skyscrapers, as it lets more air and light into the streets below.
It was finished in 1972, and it boasts a height of 260 meters (853 feet).
This is nowadays the tallest building in the San Francisco skyline.
Lombard Street
Lombard Street is set between Hyde and Leavenworth streets.
What makes it so interesting is its nickname – the “most crooked street in the world”.
However, it is neither the most crooked street in San Francisco nor the steepest.
The most attractive part of Lombard Street contains eight hairpin turns that were created to decrease the hill’s natural steep slope, so the speed limit here is a mere 5 mph (8 km/h).
Golden Gate Park
The Golden Gate Park used to be an area of sand dunes, but it has been transformed into a huge park with windmills, bison, museums, lakes, and a carousel.
There are so many attractions within the 1,017 acres that this park has.
It is 20% larger than New York’s Central Park, and it requires that you plan in advance which area you want to visit, as it is difficult to walk it through.
The Japanese Tea Garden is located within this park and it is the most attractive and visited site, as it offers beautiful plants, ponds, bridges as well as a tea house.
Cable Cars
The Cable Cars in Sun Francisco are world-famous features of this city as they run on three lines in the steep streets.
They cover the distance between Market Street and Fisherman’s Wharf.
These cars offer a fun ride, and residents regularly use them.
The cable car is such an attraction on weekends, that you will wait longer in line to ride up Powell Street than you will need to walk this short distance.
Alcatraz
Alcatraz is also known as The Rock, and this is the small island that used to be a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a prison.
Throughout history, this island was home to some of the worst criminals such as Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly.
The island is surrounded by the freezing water of San Francisco Bay, and it was impossible to escape from there.
Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin made an attempt to escape from Alcatraz using an inflatable raft made from several stolen raincoats.
Nowadays, this is a popular San Francisco tourist attraction and a historic site that is under the control of the National Park Service and is available to tourists.
Fisherman’s Wharf
Fisherman’s Wharf definitely deserves the place on the top of our list as it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco and we can say in the whole USA.
Fisherman’s Wharf stretches all the way from Pier 39 through to Municipal Pier at the end of Aquatic Park.
Its historic waterfront was the popular hub of San Francisco’s fishing fleet so, nowadays, it boasts some of the best seafood restaurants in the city.
Besides fantastic restaurants, there are other tourist attractions at the wharf such as museums, souvenir stores, historical buildings, and the famous sea lions at Pier 39.
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge that extends from the strait between San Francisco and Marin County to the north.
The Golden Gate Bridge became so famous due to the fact that it was the longest suspension bridge in the world in 1937 and it took four years to be built.
Nowadays, it is an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California.
It is red-orange color, which was selected so as to make the bridge more easily visible when the thick fog surrounds it.