Top things to do in The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers

San Franciscans have passionate perspectives on every subject, especially their signature landmark, though everyone agrees that it's a good thing that the Navy didn't get its way over the bridge's design – naval off…

The menu arrives in the form of a poem and then come the signature white chocolate spheres filled with a burst of apple cider. If this seems an unlikely start to a meal, just wait for the geoduck rice tart in a glas…

For a deliciously deep dive into the cuisine of the Japanese-Peruvian diaspora, head to Cow Hollow's most playful and inventive new restaurant, where the Pisco and whiskey cocktails are named for anime characters an…

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 forbidding maximum-security penitentiary and disputed territory betwe…

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 things you wish you learned in school. Combining science with a…

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. Naturally these unkempt squatters have become San Francisco’s favorite …

Gelato chef Patrizia Pasqualetti was well-known in Italy for her family's gelato shop, and here in SF she's re-creating those tried-and-true flavors, only with local fruit, dairy and nuts. The results are pure cream…

A flashback to penny arcades, the Musée Mécanique houses a mind-blowing collection of vintage mechanical amusements. Sinister, freckle-faced Laughing Sal has freaked out kids for over a century, but don't let this m…

Designed to stimulate discussion of philosophy and art, the Interval is a favorite spot in the Marina for cocktails and conversation. It's inside the Long Now Foundation, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, which con…

Career carnivores won't realize there's zero meat in the hearty black-bean chili, or in Greens' other flavor-packed vegetarian dishes, made using ingredients from a Zen farm in Marin. And, oh, what views! The Golden…