The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Few cities boast a structure so iconic as the Golden Gate Bridge, commemorated in everything from films like The Maltese Falcon to not one but two emojis…
Must-see attractions in The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Alcatraz: for over 150 years, the name has given the innocent chills and the guilty cold sweats. Over the decades, it’s been a military prison, a…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Is there a science to skateboarding? Do toilets really flush counterclockwise in Australia? At San Francisco's hands-on science museum, you'll find out…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Sea lions took over San Francisco’s most coveted waterfront real estate in 1989 and have been making a public display of themselves ever since. Some…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
A flashback to penny arcades, the Musée Mécanique houses a mind-blowing collection of vintage mechanical amusements. Sinister, freckle-faced Laughing Sal…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
This triple-decker, brick-walled US military fortress was completed in 1861, with 126 cannons, to protect the bay against certain invasion during the…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
War is for the birds at Crissy Field, a military airstrip turned waterfront nature preserve with knockout Golden Gate views. Where military aircraft once…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Picnic amid wind-sculpted pines, fish from craggy rocks or frolic nude at mile-long Baker Beach, with spectacular views of the Golden Gate. Crowds come…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
San Francisco takes subversive glee in turning military installations into venues for nature, fine dining and out-there experimental art. Evidence: Fort…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Slide, climb and feel your way – in total darkness – through the labyrinth of the Tactile Dome at the Exploratorium, the city's standout science museum…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Willy Wonka would tip his hat to Domingo Ghirardelli (gear-ar-deli), whose business became the West’s largest chocolate factory in 1893. After the company…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Fisherman's Wharf – the Embarcadero and Jefferson St waterfront running from Pier 29 to Van Ness Ave – includes Pier 39, the Musée Mécanique, the Maritime…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Like a fossilized party favor, this romantic, ersatz Greco-Roman ruin is the city's memento from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Explore that splotch of green on the map between Baker Beach and Crissy Field and you’ll find parade grounds, Yoda, a centuries-old adobe wall and some…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
The focal point of Fisherman's Wharf isn't the waning fishing fleet but the carousel, carnival-like attractions, shops and restaurants of Pier 39 – and,…
Maritime National Historical Park
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Five historic ships are floating museums at this maritime national park, Fisherman's Wharf’s most authentic attraction. Moored along Hyde St Pier, the…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
A project of the Exploratorium, the Wave Organ is a sound sculpture of PVC tubes and concrete pipes capped with found marble from San Francisco's old…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Founded on a grant from Bay Area cartoon legend Charles M Schultz of Peanuts fame, this bold museum isn't afraid of the dark, political or racy – cases in…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Radical ideals in the form of distinctive buildings make beloved SF landmarks; this standout 1894 example is the collaborative effort of 19th-century Bay…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
An 1890s military barracks in the Presidio houses 10 galleries that chronologically tell the exhaustively long story of Walt Disney's life. Opened in 2009…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
A monumental hint to sailors in need of a scrub, this restored, ship-shaped 1939 Streamline Moderne landmark is decked out with Works Progress…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
The Presidio's oldest building dates to the late 1700s, and was fully renovated in 2014, revealing gorgeous Spanish-Moorish adobe architecture. The free…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Everyone loves this easy-access cove at Van Ness Ave's northern end, flanked by the massive comma-shaped Municipal Pier, where fishermen cast their lines…
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…
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…
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 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,…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Your chariot awaits to whisk you and the kids past the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and other SF landmarks hand-painted on this Italian carousel twinkling…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Two blocks of Lyon St, between Broadway and Green St, are flanked by forests and glamorous mansions – including Senator Dianne Feinstein's – and offer jaw…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Explore a restored WWII submarine that survived six tours of duty while you listen to submariners' tales of stealth mode and sudden attacks in a riveting…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Meandering the Marina, you'll pass Mexican-inspired art deco buildings, Victorian mansions, generic bay-windowed boxes – and, hello, what's this? A…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Crafty architects are always trying to cut corners on clients, and architect William C McElroy has done so splendidly with this house. This is among the…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
You'd expect to see this rustic Arts and Crafts–style building on the slopes of Tahoe, not Pacific Heights, but this Episcopal church is full of surprises…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
A quiet alternative to adjacent Lyon St's social and fitness scene, Baker St's 200 steep, narrow steps between Broadway and Vallejo St are dense with…
