Best San Francisco attractions for tourists (and locals!)

The world’s most photographed bridge and its iconic 746-foot tall orange towers have stood sentinel over the San Francisco Bay since 1937. Even when shrouded in fog, the 4,200 foot bridge never fails to impress whether you get a glimpse from the city (try Crissy Field, Fort Point and Baker Beach for spectacular vistas), the Marin Headlands or passing over its span - bikes and cars are permitted access across the bridge 24-hours a day, walkers can cross using the east sidewalk between 5am-6:30pm (5am-9pm during Daylight Savings Time). Come prepared wearing extra layers; Karl the Fog doesn’t mess around when it comes to the Golden Gate.

Converted from a lighthouse station to a military prison in the 1870s, this formidable fortress in the middle of San Francisco Bay became notorious when it was upgraded to a maximum security prison in 1934 holding some of the most infamous criminals of the early 20th century including Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert “The Birdman” Stroud. Today you’ll only make it to “The Rock” via ferry from Pier 33. Once there, the self-guided audio cellhouse tour narrated by former inmates and guards will fill you in on harrowing escape attempts, prison riots and the 19-month long occupation of the site by Native Americans demanding reparation for broken treaties in 1969. To get more creepy bang for your buck, try a night tour. Plan to spend about three-hours round trip and bring a jacket to protect you from the island’s heavy year-round fog. 

Twenty percent larger than New York’s Central Park and just as iconic, Golden Gate Park is 1000+ acres of rolling hills, groves of trees, gardens and hidden treasures. Stretching from the “Panhandle”—the long, skinny section of the park that once served as an experimental planting area—to the edge of Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park contains a number of San Francisco’s best landmarks including the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers (a Victorian-era glass greenhouse) and the ultra-green, ultra-brainy Academy of Science. Recreational options in the park include hiking trails, a disk golf course and bocce ball courts. Kids will go crazy for the enchanting playground at Koret Children’s Quarter and its century-old carousel.

San Francisco boasts hundreds of “Painted Ladies,” colorful Victorian and Edwardian houses featuring three or more colors that enhance elements of their architecture; the most famous can be found in NoPa, the Lower Haight, Haight-Ashbury and Cole Valley neighborhoods. But there’s one row, in particular, so iconic that it’s simply referred to as “the Painted Ladies” (or sometimes “Postcard Row”): the houses of 710-720 Steiner street at the corner of Hayes St. These gals have appeared in an estimated 70 movies, ads and television shows including the 90s juggernaut Full House. You, unfortunately, can’t enter the Painted Ladies (real people live there) but you can get a great view and your own iconic photo from the east-facing hillside of Alamo Square across the street.

In the late 1800s, San Francisco’s cable cars ran 23 routes moving people around the city’s seven square miles. Today, most locals have switched to more efficient modes of public transportation to get around, but a ride on one of the three remaining cable car lines is still a classic San Francisco treat and a National Historic Landmark. Hop aboard for views of Nob Hill, Fisherman’s Wharf, Russian Hill and the SF Bay seen, if you’ve chosen your spot well, while hanging off the running boards Doris-Day–style. Make a stop-over at the Cable Car Museum at Mason and Washington streets to learn more about the cable cars’ history and get a glimpse of the giant wheels turning the underground cables that power the cars.

Yes, Fisherman’s Wharf caters almost entirely to the city’s visitors but there are good reasons for even the most hardened San Francisco resident to visit including the charming vintage arcade Musée Mécanique, the National Maritime Historical Park’s fleet of restored vintage sailing ships and the USS Pampanito submarine. At Pier 39, ride visit the raucous California Sea Lions at K Dock, shop or ride the merry-go-round. When you’ve had enough harbor excitement, grab a meal of local seafood and sourdough bread at Pier 45’s simple stalls and historic restaurants just feet from where commercial fishermen bring in their daily catch. Afterwards, indulge in a decadent dessert at Ghiradelli Square, home of the famed chocolatier.

Added to the San Francisco skyline in 1933, this monumental love letter to the city remains an iconic welcome for travelers westbound across the Bay Bridge. Named for Lillie Hitchcock Coit, a wealthy eccentric whose $118,000 bequest to the city resulted in the tower’s construction, the tapered, fluted tower stands 180 feet tall at the crest of Telegraph Hill. At the top is the tower’s observation deck with 360 degree views of San Francisco and the SF Bay. A rotunda at its base is covered in Depression-era WPA murals depicting not-so-subtle socialist images in scenes of California agriculture and industry painted by over two dozen artists, some of whom studied under famed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera.