10 Best Things to Do in San Francisco

Golden Gate Park

One of the best things to do in San Francisco is to visit Golden Gate Park. The best-known place inside the park is the Renzo Piano-designed Academy of Sciences, a vast space encompassing a three-story rainforest dome, a subterranean aquarium, a natural history wing, a planetarium, and a living roof with rolling hills and nearly two million plants. Just across the plaza stands the fine-arts-focused de Young Museum, which also offers a great view of Golden Gate Park and the surrounding city from its tower lookout.

America's oldest public Japanese garden, Golden Gate Park’s Japanese Tea Garden, is within walking distance of the Academy of Sciences, too. In the garden, you can roam five acres of plantings, paths, and bridges, then pause at the open-sided tea pavilion for traditional Japanese tea and snacks.

Golden Gate Park is also home to a carousel and a great playground complete with a multi-story cement slide for young daredevils. If you’re willing to explore the farthest reaches of the park, you can also find a herd of bison and historic windmills.

The Embarcadero

It’s easy to fall in love with San Francisco, especially if you spend the day following the views-and-attractions breadcrumb trail of the Embarcadero. Start at the Ferry Building Marketplace for breakfast, where you can sample fresh bites from local purveyors and feast in the shadow of the Bay Bridge.

Then spend the day wending your way along the waterfront Embarcadero, exploring sights that include the hands-on Exploratorium museum, Pier 39, Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Hyde Street Pier. Another fun thing to do is to hop a sightseeing cruise for an up-close-and-personal look at the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.

Take a detour up to Coit Tower for magnificent city views, or head to Crissy Field to lounge with locals on sunny days. Pause in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge to discover Fort Point, the 19th-century fort tucked into the arch of the bridge.

Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf

Chowder-filled sourdough bread bowls. San Francisco’s famous sea lions. A two-story carousel, street performers, and all the fresh local seafood you can eat. For many people, one of the best things to do in San Francisco is visiting the Fisherman’s Wharf neighborhood, home to Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square, and the Hyde Street Pier.

The hub of the action at Fisherman’s Wharf is Pier 39, a 45-acre, two-story wooden pier packed with shops, restaurants, and attractions. Pier 39 is also the home of San Francisco’s famous sea lions, which took over a series of docks on the Pier’s west side back in 1989 and have become a permanent fixture. Pier 39 is home-base for many Bay cruises, Alcatraz tours, and bicycle and Segway tours, and it's a popular stop on the hop-on-hop-off buses that cruise the city.

Ghirardelli Square was the original home of San Francisco’s Ghirardelli chocolate factory and now serves as an alfresco shopping center and a favorite stop for a hot fudge sundae. Nearby Hyde Street Pier, the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park, is the place to explore historic ships, including the Balclutha, a square-rigger built in 1886.

At Fisherman’s Wharf, you’ll also find Boudin’s flagship bakery, where you can watch bakers make the company’s signature sourdough bread; the Musee Mecanique, a wonderland of still-functional antique arcade games; and the SS Jeremiah O’Brien, a World War II Liberty ship that’s open to visitors.

San Francisco Neighborhoods

If you’re wondering what to do in San Francisco beyond the most famous sights, spend the day getting to know a neighborhood or two. Find vintage shops, beloved taquerias, and Michelin-starred restaurants in the Mission District. Explore Hayes Valley for boutiques and cafes.

Head to North Beach for its famous blend of Italian food, Beatnik history, and nudie bars. Or spend an afternoon in the welcoming, vibrant Castro neighborhood, known best as one of the country’s first gay neighborhoods.

Museums in San Francisco

One of the best things to do in San Francisco is visiting its museums. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) now has 170,000 square feet of gallery space, including nearly 45,000 square feet of art-filled free public spaces.  And when the beloved hands-on Exploratorium moved to its new digs at Pier 15 along the Embarcadero back in 2013, it used its 330,000 square feet of space to add more than 150 new science- and art-focused exhibits.

Find more things to do at museums around San Francisco. In addition to the Exploratorium and Golden Gate Park’s California Academy of Sciences, there’s family-friendly fun at the Children’s Creativity Museum and the surprisingly little-known Walt Disney Family Museum, a museum dedicated to the life and work of Walt Disney.

Culture and history come alive at the California Historical Society, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and the Museum of African Diaspora. And art lovers can choose among the SFMOMA, the nearby Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Asian Art Museum, the Legion of Honor, the de Young Museum, the Museum of Craft & Design, and a number of smaller art museums and galleries.

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge isn’t just one of the world’s most spectacular man-made marvels—it's also one of the most walkable. And it's easily one of the best things to do in San Francisco. The 1.7-mile stroll along the iconic suspension bridge offers up views of the city and San Francisco Bay on one side and wild Pacific vistas on the other.

Sure, you could drive across the bridge, but on foot you can stop to marvel at the bridge's 746-foot towers and Art Deco touches, all done up in the bridge’s signature International Orange color. For most people, the walk takes just under an hour; pedestrians use the bridge’s east sidewalk while cyclists stick to the western path.

Bike rentals are popular among visitors; many choose to cycle from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge and down into Sausalito, then take the ferry back to San Francisco.

San Francisco Cable Cars

Hopping aboard the historic cable cars is one of visitors' favorite things to do in San Francisco. Grab a seat inside or choose an alfresco bench for a steep ride that’s bumpy, breezy, and downright glorious. And while most of your fellow riders will be out-of-towners, you can usually spot a few locals sprinkled in, using the cable cars to get around town. Satisfy your curiosity about the history and inner workings of these hill-climbing marvels at the Cable Car Museum, just a short walk from the California line of the cable car.

Many visitors don’t realize that there are three separate cable car routes, each with different views. Lines tend to be longest at the turnarounds at Powell and Market (near Union Square) and Beach and Hyde (close to Fisherman’s Wharf). You can also hop onboard at any cable-car stop along the way—though you may have trouble squeezing on, especially if you’re in a group.

Union Square

The neighborhood of Union Square centers around the one-block open-air plaza at the heart of San Francisco’s shopping district. And while there’s always something going on in Union Square—art shows, performances, and even ice skating in winter—you'll never have to ask what to do: It’s the shopping on the surrounding streets that most people are referring to when they say Union Square.

Upscale boutiques, large department stores, and familiar chains line the hilly streets as cable cars rumble by. Hotels also cluster in the neighborhood, and visitor information centers make it an easy area for first-timers to navigate. San Francisco’s Chinatown—the nation’s oldest and the largest outside of Asia—is steps away, as is the city’s main theater district.

Free Attractions in San Francisco

There are many popular free things to do in San Francisco. Explore more than 1,000 beautiful acres of Golden Gate Park, watch the sea lions at Pier 39 jockey for dock space, walk the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, and listen to the music of the waves at the Wave Organ.

Take the kids to the always-free Randall Museum, explore the workshops at the San Francisco Center for the Book, or unleash your inner child for a thrill ride down the hidden Seward Street slides. Everyone 18 and under is free at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Many museums have free days, too, and sites including FunCheapSF track free events by date. You can also find free walking tours of some of San Francisco’s favorite districts.

San Francisco Restaurants

San Francisco is a food lover’s paradise—a blend of local abundance, serious accolades, and authentic eats from around the world. There’s no one right way to do it, and the best way to soak up every last bit of local flavor is to mix it up.

What to do in San Francisco if you've come for the food? Book well in advance if there’s a restaurant you don’t want to miss. A food tour is a great introduction to a neighborhood’s unique eats, and can be tailored to all sorts of tastes, from cocktail-centric to ethnic eats or all sweets.

Get off the beaten tourist track and make your way into San Francisco’s neighborhoods, many of which once were or continue to be ethnic enclaves that support authentic eats from around the world. Hit up farmer’s markets and food-truck gatherings—or just head to the Ferry Building Marketplace—to graze as you go.

Try local favorites such as sourdough bread and dim sum, but know that San Francisco's reputation for food can never actually keep up with what you’ll find, so it pays to be curious and flexible in your pursuit of local fare.