San Francisco Tourist Attractions

Area Attractions Post Street Theatre The Exploratorium Botanical Gardens Alcatraz Cruises

Explore the stunning natural beauty and sophistication of San Francisco. Whether you take a walking tour around San Francisco or hop on a bike or trolley, San Francisco Bay Area attractions are many. Just walking around San Francisco is an adventure. Walk, bike or hike at top San Francisco tourist attractions like the historic Presidio and the sprawling Golden Gate Park, which counts the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and the de Young Museum of art among its landmarks. Take advantage of the many free attractions in San Francisco. Museums in San Francisco offer free admission to visitors one day a month.

San Francisco Area Attractions include

Pier 39.

Pier 39 is a multi-faceted entertainment, dining and shopping area and home to San Francisco’s famous sea lions. Take exciting water tours from Pier 39, the Blue & Gold Fleet docks here. Tour Angel Island or see Alcatraz Island from aboard one of their scheduled voyages. Pier 39 is also home to the Aquarium of the Bay and a stunning two-story carousel, the perfect San Francisco attraction for kids. To learn more about Pier 39, visit www.sanfrancisco.com/pier39.

The Presidio.

The Presidio is the home of the legendary San Francisco military base. Established in 1962 as a National Historic Landmark, the Presidio is no longer the site of active military operations for the United States Army. Today, the Presidio is part of the National Park Service and offers beaches, hiking and historic sites to enjoy. For more information about the main San Francisco attractions in The Presidio, visit www.Presidio.gov. [Top]

Post Street Theatre.

The Post Street Theatre offers all kinds of theatrical performances including concert, dance, Broadway hits and pre-Broadway shows still in production, regional productions and the work of new and cutting-edge playwrights. Housed in a stately 1924 Spanish-Gothic building, the historic theatre features a beautifully crafted maple stage and rare theatre pipe organ among its landmark architecture. For more details on the Post Street Theatre, visit www.poststreettheatre.com.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art or SFMOMA, as it is known, occupies a spectacular and starkly modern building designed by famed architect Mario Botta. SFMOMA is devoted to twentieth-century fine art in its many forms, including sculpture, photography, painting, architecture and design. In addition to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s permanent collection, special exhibits are also featured. To learn more about the top attractions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, go to www.sfmoma.org. [Top]

The Exploratorium.

The Exploratorium offers kids of all ages hundreds of fascinating interactive exhibits on science, art and human perception. The Exploratorium museum is housed in the landmark Palace of Fine Arts, which was constructed in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific International Exposition by Bernard R. Maybeck. For more information on the main attractions at this San Francisco’s museum, visit www.exploratorium.edu.

San Francisco Opera.

The San Francisco Opera performed for the first time at the newly constructed War Memorial Opera House with a production of Verdi’s Tosca on October 15, 1932. Today, the San Francisco Opera still plays in the landmark building in San Francisco’s Civic Center. The world-renowned San Francisco Opera is noted for both the diversity of opera it produces and its devotion to classic productions. For tickets and a schedule of upcoming operas, visit www.sfopera.com. [Top]

San Francisco Botanical Gardens.

San Francisco Botanical Gardens at Strybing Arboretum has more than 55 acres of gardens which it dedicates to preserving plants from around the world. The Mediterranean-like climate allows SF Botanical Gardens to successfully cultivate more than 7,500 varieties of plants. The SF Botanical Gardens offers numerous walking tours and living collections based native California plant species. To learn more about the San Francisco Botanical Gardens, visit www.sfbotanicalgardens.org.

Angel Island.

Angel Island State Park in California offers natural beauty, sweeping views and historic landmarks. Angel Island is San Francisco Bay’s largest island and the site of a National Historic Landmark, the Immigration Station. For more details and attractions, camping on Angel Island and ferry schedules, visit www.Angelisland.com. [Top]

Alcatraz Cruises.

If you only know one thing about taking a tour to Alcatraz Island know this: tours often book many weeks in advance because of the limited number of boat trips taking visitors to Alcatraz Island. When you do visit the legendary prison that held Al "Scarface" Capone and the "Birdman of Alcatraz" Robert Stroud, be sure to take the audio tour, “Doing Time: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour.” To learn more about one of San Francisco’s main attractions and to buy tickets, visit. www.Alcatrazcruises.com.

Asian Art Museum.

The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco ranks among the largest museums devoted to Asian art anywhere in the world. The permanent collection includes more than 15,000 objects from Asian countries including Japan, Korea, China and Cambodia that spans a whopping 6,000 years of Asian history and culture. To learn more about the San Francisco Asian Art Museum and its top attractions, visit www.asianart.org.

Legion of Honor.

The Palace of the Legion of Honor is an art museum and memorial landmark. Housed in a Beaux-arts masterpiece building erected in honor of the California soldiers who fought and died in World War I, the Legion of Honor museum has a permanent collection dedicated to European Decorative Arts and Painting, and Ancient Art. To learn more about the top attractions at San Francisco’s Palace of the Legion of Honor, check out www.famsf.org/legion. [Top]