The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
San Francisco grew from its docks, and this 10,000-sq-ft visitors center for the nearby maritime national historical park details how, with a permanent…
Must-see attractions in San Francisco
San Francisco Murals at Rincon Annex Post Office
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Only in San Francisco could a post office prove so controversial. This art-deco landmark is lined with vibrant Works Project Administration murals of SF…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
A grand light well illuminates SF's favorite subjects: poetry in the Robert Frost Collection, civil rights in the Hormel LGBTQIA Center, SF music zines in…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
When Timothy Pflueger’s radical design was revealed on Union Sq in 1948, SF society was shocked: San Francisco’s flagship clothing store appeared…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Sharks circle overhead, manta rays sweep by and seaweed sways all around at the Aquarium of the Bay, where you wander through glass tubes surrounded by…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Bet you didn't think anyone could capture Chuck Close's giant portraits, Robert Bechtle's hyper-realistic street scenes or Kiki Smith's painstaking wall…
Ruth Asawa's San Francisco Fountain
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Covered in local landmarks and colorful SF characters – burlesque icon Carol Doda, psychedelic rockers Jefferson Airplane, protesters declaring themselves…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Gold miners needed somewhere to stash and send cash, so Wells Fargo opened in this location in 1852. Today this storefront museum covers gold rush–era…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Cities are what you make of them, and urban-planning nonprofit SPUR invites you to reimagine San Francisco (and your own hometown) with gallery shows that…
Harvey Milk & Jane Warner Plazas
San Francisco
Somewhere over the rainbow is Harvey Milk Plaza, where a huge rainbow flag flaps. Rainbow-lit escalators lead toward Castro Muni station and a display…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
Inside this low-roofed, high-modernist church a blond-wood sanctuary welcomes all faiths. Kindly Reverend Joanne Tolosa will answer questions about…
North Beach & Chinatown
Take the high road from Fisherman's Wharf to North Beach via the urban trailhead between 150 and 155 Francisco St. Cross the courtyard, ascend to Grant…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
It's hard to believe that this 10,000-ton beauty was turned out by San Francisco’s shipbuilders in under eight weeks, and harder still to imagine how she…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Upgrade from kitten posters to frame-worthy original SF artworks hand-printed in this working printmakers' studio. Watch prints pulled from a vintage…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Get back to your creative roots at this arts nonprofit, which hosts curated shows on themes ranging from garden art to calligraphy made with human-hair…
North Beach & Chinatown
Sun Yat-sen once plotted the overthrow of China’s last dynasty here at number 36, and during Prohibition, this was the site of turf battles over local…
San Francisco
The crowning jewel of Nob Hill is this posh park – once the exclusive stomping ground of billionaires, now a park enjoyed by all, from gleeful toddlers at…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Artist Leo Villareal's installation of twinkling LED lights along the western span will make you swear the Bay Bridge is winking at you. In 2013,…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
No velvet ropes or hands-off signs here: kids rule, with high-tech displays double-daring them to make music videos, film claymation movies and construct…
San Francisco
With a 31.5% grade, the honor of steepest street in San Francisco is shared by Filbert St and 22nd St in the Castro. Filbert is shorter, but wins top…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Breathe a sigh of relief: you've found the lush green getaway in the concrete heart of SoMa, between Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Metreon…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Ramp up your art collection at Incline, a sloping gallery at the rear of an ex-mortuary where bodies were once transported for embalming. Today this is…
San Francisco
First planted in 1894, these 5 acres of gorgeous flower gardens are especially delightful in the spring, when the cherry blossoms pop, and also the fall…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Pity the collectors silently nibbling endive in austere Chelsea galleries – at 49 Geary, First Thursday art openings mean unexpected art, popcorn and…
North Beach & Chinatown
Chinatown's unofficial living room is named after John B Montgomery's sloop, which staked the US claim on San Francisco in 1846. SF's first city hall…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
True to its name, this hilltop park offers splendid vistas over the city to Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay. Founded in 1867, this is one of the oldest…
San Francisco
When the weather's behaving, pedal boats and rowboats are available daily at the magnificent 1946 boathouse on Stow Lake. Folks also tend to drop by for…
Compton’s Transgender Cultural District
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
The world's first legally recognized transgender district was created to commemorate historical sites and preserve existing non-profits, businesses and…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
This legendary intersection was the epicenter of the psychedelic '60s, and 'Hashbury' remains a counterculture magnet. On average Saturdays here, you can…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
A 26-story deco dental building fit for the gods, this 1929 Mayan-revival stone skyscraper has a lobby covered floor to ceiling with cast-bronze snakes…
North Beach & Chinatown
Each parking spot at this garage comes with fortune-cookie wisdom stenciled onto the asphalt: 'The time is right to make new friends' or 'Stop searching…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Art-fair buzz begins at this trippy gallery that's all black outside and stark white inside for maximum impact. While some artists are recognizable from…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
Detour to days of yore, when this neighborhood was a sleepy seaside village – before lumber barons arrived with bombastic Victorian fanfare. Serene…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
This 1904 stone building survived the 1906 earthquake and retains its original character, notwithstanding the Gap flagship downstairs. Upstairs,…
Excelsior
Mission Street is Excelsior's main commercial drag starting from around Silver Ave and continuing all the way to Daly City. This is one of the most…
Japantown, Fillmore & Pacific Heights
During drought years you'll have to imagine how they look with water flowing, but even without they're a sight to behold. Celebrated sculptor and former…
Downtown, Civic Center & SoMa
Get in on the ground floor of the next SF art movement at this public showcase for local talent, with past exhibits ranging from Susan O'Malley's silk…
San Francisco
Leave it to San Francisco to plant a dell that's totally punk rock, featuring spiky, in-your-face neon blooms cultivated by the city's many hardcore…
San Bruno Mountain State & County Park
Excelsior
Look at a driving map of the Bay Area and you may wonder at an odd island just south of San Francisco where roads are absent. This is San Bruno mountain,…
San Francisco
No first-time loop through the Castro would be complete without a peek at this window display featuring trans Barbies and Billy Doll, a gay alternative to…
