The Top 27 Tourist Attractions in San Francisco

2013
visiting places in san francisco

San Francisco has been a popular destination for decades because of its amazing scenery and diverse neighborhoods. It’s home to Alcatraz Island, one of the most famous prisons in America; The Golden Gate Bridge which connects California with Marin county across San Fransisco Bay; as well various museums that showcase different facets of life both past and present within this historic city!

San Francisco is a wonderful city with so many things to offer, but visitors should be sure not only to pack their warm clothes. The famous quote “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” isn’t from Mark Twain after all – he lived here!

Top 27: Ferry Building Marketplace

Ferry Building Marketplace

For a true taste of San Francisco, stop by the Ferry Building Marketplace and enjoy some tasty treats from local vendors. You’ll be able to sample fresh bread as well as delicious dishes like pesto chicken linguine!

The market is a fantastic place for those who want an authentic taste of another country. You’ll find everything from coffee shops and snack stands that sell delicacies native only there, as well grocery stores selling artisan products made by local artisans in this one-of-a-kind marketplace!

Top 26: Angel Island State Park

Angel Island State Park

Visitors to Angel Island State Park can enjoy a half-hour boat ride from Pier 41 that will take them on an enchanting journey through the stunning scenery and nature. As you watch out over San Francisco Bay, your divine views are sure to remind yourself of why this island was once occupied by an immigration stations or internment campers!

Top 25: Exploratorium

Exploratorium

The Exploratorium is one of those museums that you can spend days playing around with. Located near the Embarcadero, it offers over 600 interactive installations and hands-on exhibits to keep any person entertained for hours on end!

The Exploratorium is a museum in San Francisco that explores science, technology, and the human imagination. It has huge galleries dedicated to everything from light and sound all the way through biology engineering psychology. Thanks to its activities laboratories workshops, it regularly hosts talks events culture making sure everyone can engage with these fields no matter what their interests might be!

Top 24: Presidio of San Francisco

Presidio of San Francisco

Located on the northern tip of San Francisco, Presidio is a must-see for any traveler. It has excellent outdoor activities like hiking and biking through picturesque landscapes to offer you an amazing view as well!

The visitor centers contain interesting exhibits about its history which also includes some military projects that were in operation earlier than they were supposed to – giving visitors even more reason to explore all it offers them (epic views included).

Top 23: Musee Mecanique

 Musee Mecanique

One of the most nostalgic tourist attractions on Fisherman’s Wharf is Musee Mecanique. Here you’ll find a huge collection of arcade games–Remarkably there are over 300 mechanical machines for you to play! Wishing upon this museum’s antique slot machine brings us back in time when fortune-telling was still relevant, as well as viewing historic moving dioramas and trying out classic carnival game booths like pinball or Carousel Ballon Derby (in case your luck needs some extra work).

Top 22: Japanese Tea Garden

Japanese Tea Garden

The Japanese Tea Garden, home to a traditional tea house and breathtaking scenery was established in 1894. With stone lanterns that line its paths visitors will come across pretty koi ponds with cherry blossoms or a Zen garden where you can find peace while walking through these natural wonders.

The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park is a must-see for any traveler. The lush landscape has been lovingly landscaped with traditional water features and pretty koi ponds, all set against the backdrop of an ancient pagoda that stands sentinel over it all like some sort of angelic guardian watching over this peaceful paradise on earth!

Top 21: de Young Museum

de Young Museum

The de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park is a treat to peruse the numerous artworks it contains from around the world. The building itself has an incredible design and features one of San Francisco’s most famous landmarks, which can be seen for miles around!

The de Young Museum is a treasure trove of ancient art and artifacts from all over the world. Visitors can enjoy some colorful textiles, but there are also European paintings or American decorative pieces on display as well! The museum always has exciting temporary exhibits that offer something new every time you go in – what will they have next?

Top 20: Legion of Honor Museum

Legion of Honor Museum

Nestled in the northwest corner of San Francisco is one of America’s most beautiful museums, The Legion of Honor Museum. This magnificent building was constructed over 100 years ago and it displays an eclectic range of artworks spanning 6 millennia worth dating back to ancient Greeks like Socrates or even more recent masters such as Diego Velázquez!

This museum is home to an array of beautiful artworks that are sure to make the visitor feel like they’re in another world. The building itself was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and contains over 90,000 pieces from centuries past until today’s modern artists! With spectacular views overlooking San Francisco as well as Golden Gate Bridge within reach from its grounds, you’ll be able to enjoy your time here thoroughly whether it’s for architecture or looking at some masterful paintings…or both!

Top 19: San Francisco Botanical Garden

San Francisco Botanical Garden

The San Francisco Botanical Garden is an oasis of colors and textures, with different areas for everyone. Despite being one place it’s like walking through a living painting set! You can explore from colorful flower beds to cloud rainforest in just minutes on foot or bicycle as there are plenty of winding paths that will take you around all 9400 kinds plants found here.

Top 18: SFMOMA

SFMOMA

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a must-see for any visitor to the city. The building’s unique architecture and impressive exhibits make it an unforgettable experience, while its interior design with artworks everywhere can be equally satisfying on your own terms too!

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is home to a staggering 33,000 pieces of modern and contemporary art that span seven floors. The museum’s main focus lies with paintings as well as photos but it also contains digital works-in-progress by Henri Matisse among other famous artists like Andy Warhol or Jackson Pollock.

Top 17: Lands End

Lands End

Occupying the northwest corner of San Francisco is a windswept coastal cliff called Lands End. The views over Golden Gate Bridge and the Pacific Ocean are outstanding, but this park also has numerous hiking trails for those who want to get closer than just sightseeing from afar. The site where many shipwrecks were discovered after World War II can be found throughout its bleak shores with ruins that date back as far as Sutro Baths – which now houses an interactive art installation about them all! After exploring these delightfully devilish beaches coves, cliffs… visitors will undoubtedly enjoy coming here for coffee while watching sun set spectacularly over ocean.

Top 16: Coit Tower

Coit Tower

From the top of Coit Tower, you can enjoy breathtaking panoramas over San Francisco Bay and city sites like Alcatraz. The tall white tower is also an excellent place for sightseeing as it provides great views that stretch all the way to Marin County on a clear day!

Coit Tower, a 210-foot high landmark in San Francisco’s skyline is not only an architectural marvel but also houses some of the best frescoes to be found anywhere. The tower’s interior was designed with exquisite Art Deco architecture and colorful American Social Realism style paintings on its walls which provide for breathtaking views from all angles inside this world-class place!

Top 15: Cable Car Museum

Cable Car Museum

Cable Car Museum is a must-see attraction in San Francisco. One of the city’s most famous features, these charming old cable cars lend it such an eye-catching and unique look that visitors love! Not only are they able to take their time riding up or down its steep streets but at this magnificent museum you’ll learn all about how things work too; from what makes them go (engine) back when technology was new–to where those who were once employed by this system might be now.

The Cable Car Museum is a fascinating look into the history of San Francisco. The museum offers visitors an opportunity to see vintage streetcars that date back more than 100 years, as well as exhibit halls showcasing interesting historical displays and old photographs from around this city’s iconic landscape – all while learning how things work!

Top 14: Walt Disney Family Museum

Walt Disney Family Museum

The Walt Disney Family Museum is one of Presidio’s many attractions. It delves into the life and legacy of this famous filmmaker, with amazing memorabilia on a show like awards for film clips created in his films or even original storyboards from classic animated movies such as Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs!

The Walt Disney museum is a must-visit for any aficionado of the iconic creator’s work, from early childhood sketches and designs to his famous classic movies including “Fantasia”. Opened in 2009 with an extensive collection spanning three historic buildings – as it looks at everything this includes models used during construction on Disneyland Paris!

Top 13: California Academy of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences

One of the best museums in America, the California Academy of Sciences contains an impressive 46 million specimens with incredible artifacts and animals. Located right next to Golden Gate Park it has a whopping aquarium as well as a planetarium!

The California Academy of Sciences is a museum with an extensive collection that houses many treasures. The modern building in which they have their holdings was built to honor the natural world and its conservation needs through architecture. One such showcase for this cause can be found within—the Rainforest exhibit containing 1,600 live animals or plants from all over planet earth!

Top 12: Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks

The San Francisco Peaks offer a breathtaking view of the city. The Twin Peaks are near their geographic center, and they stand 925 feet high with spectacular views on clear days all around them! You can go up to these hills in just about any vehicle; but if you want an amazing hiking experience then take one of many trails that wind through nature conservation areas for some fantastic photos–especially when taken at sunset or sunrise because colors fill out those ascents quite beautifully.

Top 11: Oracle Park

Oracle Park

Home to Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants, the atmospheric Oracle Park can be found in the city’s South Beach neighborhood. While watching a game is an exciting and unforgettable affair, it’s also widely considered by many visitors as one of the best baseball stadiums with its picture-perfect setting- right on Ocean Avenue!

If you are looking to take a break from the hustle and bustles of downtown San Francisco, then head down I-280. You’ll find that Oracle Park has been designed with divine views over beautiful waterscapes which make it an excellent spot for watching sports games! There’s also plenty here worth seeing such as some famous features like giant glove sculpture or coca-cola bottle slide among other things. It really doesn’t matter what kind of sport is being played because they all have their own unique atmosphere in this stadium thanks largely due to its exhilarating environment so be sure not to miss your chance when visiting one day!”

Top 10: Palace of Fine Arts

Palace of Fine Arts

The Palace of Fine Arts was built to resemble the Italian Renaissance style with its classical rotunda and curved colonnades. It’s a great place for relaxing or taking part in cultural events like theater productions, concerts, art auctions—whatever your heart desires!

Top 9: San Francisco’s Chinatown

San Francisco's Chinatown

The oldest and most famous of all Chinatowns outside Asia, San Francisco has been a cultural center for over 150 years. The Chinese merchants who settled here during the Gold Rush worked on either construction or mining teams which helped build both North America’s first transcontinental railroad line as well as establishing many other important industries like textiles manufacturing – making this place an integral part of California history!

Top 8: Alamo Square

Alamo Square

The Alamo Square is a residential neighborhood and park that has been best known for its row of Victorian houses on the east side along Steiner Street. This is often seen in many San Francisco postcards, but there are also plenty of other pretty Victorians encircling this lovely space as well! On clear days you can see Transamerica Pyramid from center court, while when looking up north towards downtown Oakland or over westwards towards Marin County – all iconic landmarks will pop out against blue skies above them due to their tallness (and proximity).

Top 7: Transamerica Pyramid

 Transamerica Pyramid

The Transamerica Pyramid is a San Francisco landmark and one of the most famous buildings in America. The pyramid has been compared to Egypt’s pyramids by architects, who found that they were ideal for construction due to their shape which allows airflow while also being tall enough so light can penetrate below its capes at eye level (no need for dark shafts). Finished just forty years ago this year -1972- it’s still dwarfed only by New York City’s Rockefeller Center or Beijing’s GDP Tower when talking about the tallest structures on land anywhere!

Top 6: Lombard Street

Lombard Street

San Francisco’s Lombard Street is the most crooked street in a city known for its twisty roads. The one-block portion of this famous landmark contains eight hairpin turns and only has a speeds limit of 5 mph (8 km/h). It was created to reduce San Franciscans’ natural steep slope, but it also makes some very unique photographs!

Top 5: Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park

The Golden Gate Park is a small oasis of green in the middle of San Francisco. The park offers beautiful views and tranquil areas, perfect for relaxing or taking part in one of its many activities such as jogging/walking along Lakeland Trail which winds around some scenic ponds – a great place if you’re looking to get away from it all!

The iconic Golden Gate Park is a large urban park in San Francisco that features windmills, bison, museums, and lakes. The Japanese Tea Garden with beautiful plants ponds bridges Japanese-style structures including tea houses makes it a must-see attraction for any tourist visiting the city!

Top 4: Cable Cars

Cable Cars

The world-famous cable cars, which run on three lines in the steep streets of San Francisco between Market Street and Fisherman’s Wharf. These cars are a fun ride if you get to stand on the running board or impractical for everyday use though residents do take them every day – especially weekends when it takes longer to wait in line than walk short but sloping distance!

Top 3: Alcatraz

Alcatraz

Alcatraz was built to be inescapable and it served as an impenetrable fortress for some of the most notorious criminals during its time, such as Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly. The island itself is surrounded by freezing water so you know that if someone landed on these shores they would have been dead without any chance whatsoever!

The famous attempt to escape from Alcatraz Island started when Frank Morris, and brothers John and Clarence Anglin used an inflatable raft made out of several stolen raincoats. Today it is a popular San Francisco tourist attraction that offers tours for visitors who want more information on how they did what has been called “The Great Escape.”

Top 2: Fisherman’s Wharf

Fisherman's Wharf

Fisherman’s Wharf is one of the most popular tourist attractions in San Francisco and even the US- it has been nicknamed “the queen oyster” for good reason! The historic waterfront was once home to large numbers of fishing boats that would unload their catch at Fisherman’s Warf. Today you can find museums, souvenir stores historical buildings scenic vistas over the Bay as well as famous sea lions who hang out right next door from Pier 39 – so this place never gets old (or Chucky).

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Top 1: Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge is a symbol of San Francisco and California. The famous red-orange color was specifically chosen to make the bridge more easily visible through the thick fog that frequently shrouds it, but even without this special trait, there would be no mistaking one of these massive structures for anything else in their natural surroundings!