A campus landmark at the east of the Main Quad, the 285ft-high Hoover Tower offers superb views. The tower houses a university library, offices and part of the conservative Hoover Institution on War, Revolution & Peace (where Donald Rumsfeld caused a university-wide stir by accepting a position after he resigned as Secretary of Defense).
Hoover Tower
The Peninsula
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Golden Gate Park
29.17 MILES
When Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York's Central Park, gazed in 1865 upon the plot of land San Francisco Mayor Frank McCoppin wanted to turn…
Haight Street
28.19 MILES
Was it the fall of 1966 or the winter of ’67? As the Haight saying goes, if you can remember the Summer of Love, you probably weren’t here. The fog was…
Chinatown Alleyways
28.57 MILES
If you look close today at the clinker-brick buildings lining these narrow backstreets, past the temple balconies jutting out over bakeries, acupuncture…
City Lights Books
28.71 MILES
No one could have predicted the cultural force City Lights would become when it first opened in 1953. Sure, it had a proletarian ethos suggested by its…
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
27.84 MILES
When the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expanded in 2016, it was a mind-boggling feat that nearly tripled the institution's size to accommodate a…
Coit Tower
28.99 MILES
If you want to really see San Francisco, head to Coit Tower, a 1933 art deco beaut designed by Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard that sits high up on…
Dolores Park
26.99 MILES
Welcome to San Francisco's sunny side, the land of street ball and Mayan-pyramid playgrounds, semiprofessional tanning and taco picnics. Although the…
Clarion Alley
26.99 MILES
The Mission District has a long history of street art and muralismo – an oft-political school of public art prevalent throughout South and Central America…
Nearby The Peninsula attractions
1. Main Quad
0.18 MILES
Auguste Rodin’s Burghers of Calais bronze sculpture marks the entrance to Stanford University's Main Quad, an open plaza where the original 12 campus…
2. Cantor Arts Center
0.42 MILES
The Cantor Center for Visual Arts is a beautiful large museum originally dating from 1894. Its collection spans works from ancient civilizations to…
3. SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
2.13 MILES
Nobel Prize–winning scientific discoveries have been made at this 2-mile-long linear accelerator – the world's longest – built in the mid-1960s…
4. Facebook Headquarters
4.08 MILES
Visitors aren't allowed inside the tech giant's offices but you can swing by for a quick selfie at the thumbs-up sign at 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park.
5. Googleplex
4.57 MILES
Though there are no official tours of the Googleplex, visitors can stroll the campus and gawk at the public art on the leafy grounds, where scads of…
6. Computer History Museum
5.01 MILES
Touted as the largest computer-history exhibition in the world, this museum has rotating exhibits drawn from its 100,000-item collection. Artifacts range…
7. Sam McDonald County Park
10.53 MILES
Stretch your legs in the redwoods in this park, 2 miles south of La Honda. It has several forested hiking trails and a secluded hike-to cabin available…
8. Apple Park Visitor Center
10.98 MILES
Definitely the most interesting tech visitor center in the area. You'll be met by an army of Geniuses in red shirts offering information from how to use…