Sightseeing OverviewRegularly voted best city in the USA in national polls, San Francisco is a visual feast that offers something for every eye. Grand vistas of the Bay and the city are provided by the many hilltops and landmarks, such as the 55m-high (180ft)
Coit Tower, on Telegraph Hill. Works of art are on display in myriad museums. For the more contemporary tastes, the high-tech offerings of
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the
SBC Park, home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants, are yet another side to
the city.
But it is where mankind and nature meets that this implausibly diverse city comes into its own. A visit to the
Golden Gate Bridge, which used enough wire to go around the earth several times over and was hailed as impossible to build, is a must. Golden Gate Park covers 400 hectares (1,000 acres) and is the largest manmade park in the world, thanks to Scotsman John McClaren, the extraordinary gardener who tamed the sands of San Francisco and created the magnificent park. Then there is
Alcatraz, the stuff of legend,
Grant Street, the city’s oldest, running the length of
Chinatown,
Haight-
Ashbury, which rekindles memories of Flower Power and the Beat Generation, and
Fisherman’s Wharf, at the edge of the Bay, offering hundreds of resident sea lions, cheap souvenirs and, always, something to eat.
Tourist InformationSan Francisco Visitor Information Center Hallidie Plaza, Lower Level, Powell Street and Market Street
Tel: (415) 391 2000.
Website:
www.sfvisitor.org Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700, Sat and Sun 0900-1500.
PassesThe
San Francisco CityPass (website:
www.citypass.com) allows admission to eight attractions (the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Exploratorium, Asian Art Museum, Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise, De Young/Legion of Honor, California Academy of Science and Steinhart Aquarium) as well as a seven-day Muni Passport (see
Public Transport in
Getting Around), including cable cars and a Bay cruise. It is valid for nine days and can be purchased from the attractions on the day or online in advance.
Key Attractions:Golden Gate Bridge The beautiful
Golden Gate Bridge, which connects San Francisco to Marin County, is not gold, of course, but a vivid orange that stands out even through the frequent thick fogs. Spanning nearly 3km (2 miles), the bridge is one of the wonders of the modern world and one of five bridges that span the Bay. The best views of the Golden Gate Bridge are from Fort Point in the Presidio (Long Avenue and Marine Drive) and Visa Point, on the Marin side at the north end of the bridge. A walk or, at least, a drive across the bridge is essential (walking takes approximately half an hour and walkers should dress warmly). The two pivotal cables contain enough steel wire to encircle the equator three times, while the concrete alone would provide enough material for a pavement from San Francisco to New York.
Highway 101 (Lincoln Boulevard)
Tel: (415) 921 5858.
Website:
www.goldengatebridge.org Opening hours: Daily 24 hours (roadway and bicycle access); daily 0500-2100 (pedestrian sidewalk).
Free admission; southbound-only toll for cars.
Golden Gate Park The 411.5 hectares (1,017 acres) of
Golden Gate Park encompass meadows, lakes, myriad gardens, an open-air music concourse, a children’s playground and vintage carousel, a buffalo paddock and the tallest artificial waterfall in the West. The park fronts
Ocean Beach, which affords spectacular sunset views. Some 7,000 plant species flourish in the
Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, while the must-see
Japanese Tea Garden is an absolute haven. The
Conservatory of Flowers is a living museum of rare and tropical plants.
Founded in 1895, the
de Young Museum has moved twice due to earthquakes, but hopes its new sophisticated home will remain for many years to come. The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) include the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor. The new de Young, rebuilt and largely supported with private money, holds many surprises, not least the textured copper façade and spiralling tower rising like a beacon in Golden Gate Park. Galleries flow from one to the next, each an experience that touches the senses. Gaze at fifth century Peruvian artifacts and prized Maori sculptures from New Zealand, then wander through the Rockefeller Collection of American Paintings to dangling collages of modern art. Major exhibits, such as Hatshepsut’s treasures from ancient Egypt, arrive for a season.
Tel: (415) 831 2700.
Website:
www.parks.sfgov.org de Young Museum 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
Tel: (415) 863 3330.
Website:
www.deyoungmuseum.org Opening hours: Tue-Sun 0930-1700; Fri 0930-2045.
Admission charge.
Japanese Tea Garden One Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
Tel: (415) 752 1171.
Opening hours: Daily 0830-1700 (garden); daily 0900-1700 (tea house).
Admission charge.
Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way
Tel: (415) 661 1316.
Website:
www.strybing.org Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1630; Sat-Sun 1000-1700.
Free admission, donations welcome.
Conservatory of Flowers 501 Stanyan Street
Tel: (415) 666 7001.
Website:
www.conservatoryofflowers.org Opening hours: Tue-Sun 0900-1630.
Admission charge.
Presidio Destined to become a self-sufficient national park in its own right, the land and buildings of Presidio surround the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was formerly one of the oldest military installations in the country and now houses a forest, a Civil War brick fortress and a museum.
Building 201, Fort Mason
Tel: (415) 561 4323.
Website:
www.nps.gov/prsf/home.htm Opening hours: Daily 0900-1700 (visitor center).
Free admission.
Alcatraz Looming menacingly in the Bay, near Fisherman’s Wharf,
Alcatraz (known simply as ‘The Rock’) was the site of the USA’s toughest maximum-security prison, from 1934 until 1963. Al Capone lodged there, as did birdman Robert Stroud, although his infamy is based more on Hollywood legend than fact – he never did keep birds here. Alcatraz, which imprisoned convicts as much with the Bay estuary’s lethal currents as with manmade bars, opened to a curious public in 1973. Now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, its on-island activities include trail walks, audio cassette tours narrated by former inmates and guards and ranger-led tours. An evening Alcatraz tour, which lets smaller groups experience the many moods of an evening visit to this infamous island, was voted ‘Best Tour of the Bay’ by
San Francisco Magazine in 2003. The frustration of being able to witness the natural beauty and bright lights of the Bay communities from just a mile away, which must have been felt by many an inmate, is palpable. Alcatraz Island was also the site of the first lighthouse built on the Pacific Coast. Visitors are advised to book early and wear warm clothes.
Alcatraz Island Tel: (415) 705 5555
or 1 800 426 8687 (advance tickets).
Website:
www.nps.gov/alcatraz Opening hours: Departures daily 0930-1830 (summer), 0930-1630 (all other seasons).
Admission charge, includes audiocassette rental.
Fisherman’s Wharf In the daytime, visitors throng the sidewalks and piers of
Fisherman’s Wharf – a center for tacky souvenirs, Bay-view restaurants, shops, attractions and the spectacle of some 500 resident sea lions crowded onto pontoons to sunbathe. The sea lions appeared soon after the 1989 earthquake and have made this area home, leaving only briefly during the spring to breed in the Channel Islands. But in the early hours of the morning, from dawn until 0900, the ambitious visitor can get quite another view – that of a busy fish distribution center sending out seafood both locally and further afield. Dylan Thomas once waxed lyrical to his wife, Caitlin, about the quality of the lobsters, clams and crabs here and small wonder – oysters, chowder, crab and shrimp cocktail are sold in disposable cartons on the wharf, for eating while strolling.
Pier 39 (website:
www.pier39.com), where Beach Street meets The Embarcadero, is actually one of 29 curiously numbered piers on the waterfront and is now the city’s biggest attraction. Not only is it home to the sea lions but also many other attractions, such as the impressive
Aquarium of the Bay, where moving sidewalks are surrounded on three sides by water. Sightseeing boats leave from Pier 39 and the neighboring Pier 41. The Bay views are sublime.
The Cannery houses 30 specialty shops, while
Ghirardelli Square, a former chocolate factory turned chic shopping center, close by at the west end of Fisherman’s Wharf, can also be approached from the wharf. Hyde Street Pier, which displays historic ships (including the
Eureka, an 1890 paddle wheeler, the schooner
CA Thayer, and number of others) and the Art Deco
Maritime Museum, show how life in the city, a century ago, was much more entwined with the marine industry.
The Embarcadero Tel: (415) 391 2000.
Website:
www.fishermanswharf.org Aquarium of the Bay Pier 39
Tel: (415) 623 5300
or 1 888 732 3483.
Website:
www.aquariumofthebay.com Opening hours: Daily 0900-2000 (summer); Mon-Fri 1000-1800, Sat-Sun 1000-1900 (winter). Admission charge.
Maritime Museum Beach Street and Polk Street
Tel: (415) 447 5000.
Website:
www.nps.gov/safr Opening hours: Daily 1000-1700.
Free admission.
Cable Cars One of San Francisco’s principal attractions is its network of century-old cable cars, America’s only mobile National Historic Landmark. The system was opened in 1873, when Andrew Hallidie guided the first car down Clay Street, near Portsmouth Square, to replace horse-drawn streetcars. It was refurbished in the 1980s. The ride and the views can best be enjoyed standing on one of the outside platforms but travelers should hold on tight and watch out for traffic. The cars operate along three routes. The
Powell-
Hyde and
Powell-
Mason lines, beginning at Powell Street and Market Street, run roughly north-south between Fisherman’s Wharf and Union Square. The California Street line runs east-west from
California Street and Market Street, near the Embarcadero to Van Ness Avenue. The cars are turned by hand on turntables at the end of the line – all part of the experience. A visit to the
Cable Car Museum completes the experience. Here, located in the city’s only remaining cable car barn and powerhouse, visitors can view the cable-winding machinery as it reels 17km (11 miles) of steel at a steady pace of 15km (9.5 miles) per hour. The mechanism is much more interesting than one might think and a video, historical memorabilia and gift shop make the museum a compelling stop.
Powell Street, Market Street and California Street
Tel: (415) 673 6864.
Website:
www.sfcablecar.com or www.sfmuni.com/cablecar Operating hours: Mon-Fri 0600-0130.
Admission charge.
Cable Car Museum 1201 Mason Street, at Washington Street, Nob Hill
Tel: (415) 474 1887.
Website:
www.cablecarmuseum.com Opening hours: Daily 1000-1800 (Apr-Sep); daily 1000-1700 (Oct-Mar).
Free admission.
Cartoon Art Museum The
Cartoon Art Museum, the only one of its kind on the West Coast, displays rotating exhibitions of art, from underground cartoons to popular comic books and animation. An enormous permanent collection and a CD-Rom gallery explore every facet of cartoon art. Saturday afternoon cartooning classes are offered regularly.
655 Mission Street, South of Market
Tel: (415) 227 8666.
Website:
www.cartoonart.org Opening hours: Tues-Sun 1100-1700.
Admission charge.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) The
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, opened in 1995, to great acclaim. Its permanent collection is particularly strong in American 20th-century sculpture, painting, photography (including works by Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollack, and Georgia O’Keeffe) and multimedia installations.
151 Third Street, South of Market
Tel: (415) 357 4000.
Website:
www.sfmoma.org Opening hours: Fri-Tues 1100-1745; Thurs 1100-2045 (Labor Day to Memorial Day – Sep-Jun). Fri-Tues 1000-1745; Thurs 1000-2045 (Memorial Day to Labor Day – Jun-Sep).
Admission charge.
Further Distractions:The Mission The
Mission, once linked to
Mission Dolores (the city’s oldest building, built by its Franciscan fathers in 1791) is a district of San Francisco where Central America’s immigrants and bohemians rub shoulders with yuppies and dotcom workers. Here, better than anywhere, can the visitor get a feel of the city’s Spanish origins. Beautiful outdoor murals, often on social justice issues, signal the area as a vital hub of diversity and creative change. Valencia Street, a lesbian enclave, is a very desirable property area and boutiques and restaurants with a Latin flavor vie for cash with the drug dealers in neighboring Dolores Park.
Mission Dolores Dolores and 16th Street
Tel: (415) 621 8203.
Website:
www.missiondolores.org Opening hours: Daily 0830-1500.
Free admission, charge for the audio tour.
Japantown It may only be a few miles away but
Japantown (bounded by Laguna Street, Geary Street, Post Street and Fillmore Street) could not be more different to the Mission. The city’s growing Japanese population has a home here but the area also is a commercial center. Walking up Geary Street or Post Street from Union Square brings the five-tier
Peace Pagoda into view. The pagoda and the
Japan Center are the focal point of the community’s cultural and business life, as well as the site of several seasonal festivals. Visitors can partake in a Japanese communal bath or one of the many massages offered at the essential
Kabuki Springs and
Spa. Tuesdays are mixed gender and swimming suits are required.
Laguna Street, Geary Street, Post Street and Fillmore Street
Japan Center 1737 Post Street
Tel: (415) 922 6776.
Website:
www.sfjapantown.org Opening hours: Daily 1000-2400.
Free admission.
Kabuki Springs and Spa 1750 Geary Boulevard (at Fillmore)
Tel: (450) 922 6000.
Website:
www.kabukisprings.com Opening hours: Daily 1000-2145.
Admission charge.
Other Museums Two new museums opened in San Francisco late in 2005, complementing the re-opening of the
de Young Museum of Fine Art in its new location in Golden Gate Park (website:
www.deyoungmuseum.org). The
Museum of the African Diaspora opened on the ground level of the St Regis Hotel and Residences (website:
www.moadsf.org), and the
Contemporary Jewish Museum opened at 12 Steuart Street (website:
www.thecjm.org).
The Legion of Honor, in Lincoln Park, houses an impressive collection of 4000 years of ancient and European art (website:
www.thinker.org/legion).
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