Golden Gate Park & the Avenues

From bonsai, buffalo, and redwoods to Frisbees, free music, and free spirits, Golden Gate Park seems to contain just about everything San Franciscans love about their city. You could wander the park for a week and still not see it all, with myriad attractions including the de Young Museum, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Botanical Garden, Japanese Tea Garden, Conservatory of Flowers and Stow Lake.

Follow sculptor Andy Goldsworthy's artificial fault line in the sidewalk into Herzog & de Meuron's sleek, copper-clad building that's oxidizing green to blend into the park. Don't be fooled by the camouflaged exterior: shows here boldly broaden artistic horizons, from Oceanic ceremonial masks and trippy-hippie handmade fashion to James Turrell's domed Skyspace installation, built into a hill in the sculpture garden. Ticket includes free same-day entry to the Legion of Honor; $2 discount with Muni, BART or Caltrain ticket.

Architect Renzo Piano's 2008 landmark LEED-certified green building houses 40,000 animals in a four-story rainforest, split-level aquarium and planetarium, all under a 'living roof' of wildflowers. Inside, butterflies flit around in the glass Osher Rainforest Dome, penguins waddle in the African Hall, and Claude the albino alligator stalks the mezzanine swamp. Don't miss the new Giants of Land and Sea exhibit, where you can brave an earthquake simulation, virtually climb a redwood and get lost in a fog room.

Hit your stride on this 10.5-mile stretch, starting at Fort Funston, crossing 4 miles of sandy Ocean Beach and wrapping around the Presidio to the Golden Gate Bridge. Casual strollers can pick up the restored trail near Sutro Baths and head around the Lands End bluffs for end-of-the-world views and glimpses of shipwrecks at low tide.

The sun sets over the Pacific just beyond the fog at this blustery beach. Most days are too chilly for bikini-clad clambakes but fine for hardy beachcombers and hardcore surfers braving riptides (casual swimmers, beware). Ocean Beach allows bonfires in 16 artist-designed firepits until 9:30pm; no alcohol permitted. Stick to paths in the fragile southern dunes, where skittish snowy plover shorebirds shelter in winter.