Attractions in San Francisco
Alcatraz
Alcatraz, looming in the bay near Fisherman’s Wharf, is also known simply as ‘The Rock’. Between 1934 and 1963 it was the strictest high-security prison in the USA and had inmates like Al Capone and the ‘Vogelmann’ Robert Stroud, whose bad reputation is not based on facts but rather on Hollywood legends because he kept no birds here. In Alcatraz, convicts were held not only by bars, barbed wire and high walls, but also by the highly dangerous currents at the mouth of the bay. The prison was opened to the curious public in 1973 and is now part of the Golden Gate local recreation area. You can explore the island yourself on nature trails or on a tour with a guide or get to know each other with audio commentaries recorded by former prisoners and guards. The first lighthouse on the Pacific coast was also built here. Visitors should book early and wear warm clothing.
Address: Alcatraz Island, San Francisco
Telephone: (415) 705 55 55 or (800) 426 86 87 (tickets in advance).
Website: http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz
Entry fee: With admission fee.
Disabled access: No
UNESCO: No
Cable cars
One of the main attractions in San Francisco is the network of over one hundred year old cable cars, the only moving landmarks in America. These started operating in 1873 when Andrew Hallidie drove the first car through Clay Street near Portsmouth Square to replace the horse-drawn trams. They were renovated in the 1980s. The best way to enjoy the ride (US $ 2.50) and the view is to stand on the outside of the running board, but be sure to hold on tight and watch the traffic. The cars travel on three routes: the Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason routes start at Market Street, corner of Powell Street and the California Street route runs from California Street, corner of Market Street and Van Ness Avenue. At the end of a route, the cars are turned by hand on a turntable – all of this is part of the driving experience. At the San Francisco Cable Car Museum, visitors can see the lathe that winds a 17 km steel cable at a steady speed of 15 km / h.
Powell Street, Market Street and California Street
Cable Car Museum
1201 Mason Street, corner of Washington Street, Nob Hill
Tel: (415) 474 18 87.
Internet: www.cablecarmuseum.org
Opening hours: Daily 10 am-6pm (April-Sept.); daily 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (October-March).
Free entry.
Address: Powell St, San Francisco
Phone: 311 (within San Francisco) or (415) 701 23 11
Hours: Travel times: Mon-Fri 6 a.m. to 1.30 a.m.
Website: http://www.sfmta.com
Entry fee: With admission fee.
Disabled access: No
UNESCO: No
Cartoon Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Two major museums not to be missed are the Cartoon Art Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The Cartoon Art Museum is the only one of its kind on the west coast and features temporary exhibitions on cartoons and comic books. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta, opened in 1995. Sculptures, paintings and photographs from the 20th century and video installations are shown here. Special highlights include works by Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock and Georgia O’Keeffe.
Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission Street, South of Market
Internet: www.cartoonart.org
Tel: (415) 227 86 66
.
With admission fee.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 Third Street, South of Market
Tel: (415) 357 40 00.
Internet: www.sfmoma.org
Opening hours: Mon, Tue, Fri-Sun 10 am-5.45pm; Thursday 10 a.m. – 8:45 p.m. (beginning of September-end of May from 11 a.m.)
With admission fee.
Address: 655 Mission St, San Francisco
Phone: (415) 227 86 66
Hours of Operation: Tue-Sun 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Website: http://www.cartoonart.org
Entry fee: With admission fee.
Disabled access: No
UNESCO: No
Fisherman’s Wharf
During the day, tourists are crowded on the footpaths and at the landing stages of Fisherman’s Wharf, where there are souvenir shops, restaurants with a view of the bay, shops, attractions and around 400 sea lions that have settled here and are crowded on rafts basking in the sun. In the early morning, from the first dawn until 9 a.m., the eager visitor can find a completely different picture here: then there is bustling activity at the fish market and seafood and fish are sold to far and wide. Writer Dylan Thomas already raved about the quality of the lobsters, mussels and crabs here for his wife Caitlin, and oysters, fish soup, crab and shrimp cocktails are freshly caught everywhere at the harbor.
Pier 39, on the corner of Embarcadero and Beach Street, is one of 29 oddly numbered jetties at the harbor and is now one of the city’s biggest attractions. Special attractions are the sea lions living here, the impressive Aquarium of the Bay with its movable pedestrian paths as well as some old ships and the National Maritime Museum.
On the sightseeing trips by boat, which depart from Pier 39 and the neighboring Pier 41, you have an overwhelming view of the bay. There are 30 specialty shops in the Cannery on Jefferson Street at the corner of Leavenworth Street. You can also reach Ghirardelli Square from the quay, a former chocolate factory that has been converted into a chic shopping center. At Hyde Street Pier you can meet the city’s maritime past and get an impression of what life might have been like a hundred years ago: here there are historic ships like the Eureka, a paddle steamer from 1890 and the schooner CA Thayer and that National Art Deco Maritime Museum, Beach Street, corner of Polk Street (Tel: (415) 556 30 02).
Aquarium of the Bay
Pier 39
Tel: (415) 623 53 00 or (888) 732 34 83.
Internet: www.aquariumofthebay.com
Opening times: Daily 9 am to 8 pm (summer); Mon-Thurs 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fri-Sun 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (winter).
With admission fee.
Address: San Francisco
Phone: (415) 674 75 03
Website: http://www.fishermanswharf.org
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Golden Gate Bridge
The beautiful Golden Gate Bridge connects “Frisco” with Marin County. However, it is not gold-colored, but bright orange and can therefore be seen even in the thickest fog. The 1,981m span bridge is one of the wonders of the modern world and is one of five bridges across the bay. The best view of the bridge is from Fort Point in the Presidio (Long Avenue, corner of Marine Drive) and from Visa Point on the Marin side at the north end of the bridge. You should definitely cross the bridge – or at least drive (it takes about 30 minutes on foot and you should dress warmly). With the steel wire of the two main cables, one could circle the earth at the equator three times, and with the amount of cement used for the bridge, one could create a footpath that extends from San Francisco to New York.
Address: US 101, San Francisco
Phone: (415) 921 58 58
Hours of Operation:
Open 24 hours a day (access for cars and bicycles); Footpath on the east side: 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. (summer time), 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. (winter time).
Website: http://www.goldengatebridge.org
Entrance Fee: Free entry; Toll for cars driving south.
Disabled access: No
UNESCO: No
Golden Gate Park
The 411.5 hectare Golden Gate Park includes meadows, lakes, rose gardens, a tree nursery, a rhododendron valley, an open-air area, a children’s playground, a buffalo paddock and the highest artificial waterfall in the West. The park borders on Ocean Beach, from where you can watch fantastic sunsets. Around 10,000 plant species thrive in the botanical gardens, and the Japanese tea garden is an oasis of calm. Countless rare and tropical plants thrive in the Conservatory of Flowers.
The De Young Museum, founded in 1895, has moved twice due to earthquakes, but has found a permanent home in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF). The new de Young Museum, which was rebuilt in 2005 and is almost entirely privately funded, is a feast for the senses. The copper façade and the spiral tower are already in tune with the organically merging exhibitions, from Peruvian objects from the fifth century to Marori sculptures from New Zealand to the Rockefeller collection of American paintings and collages of modern art.
The Presidio, which means the land and buildings surrounding the entrance to the Golden Gate Bridge, used to be one of the oldest military fortifications in the country. Now there is a forest, a brick fort from the civil war and a museum. Tel: (415) 750 71 45.
Japanese Tea Garden
Seven Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive
Tel: (415) 752 42 27.
Opening times: Daily 8.30am-5pm (garden); daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (tea house).
With admission fee.
San Francisco Botanical Garden
Ninth Avenue at Lincoln Way
Phone: (415) 661 13 16
Internet: www.sfbotanicalgarden.org
opening times: Mon-Fri 8:00 to 16:30, Sat-Sun 10:00 to 17:00. Free tours every day at 1.30 p.m.
Free entry, donations welcome.
Conservatory of Flowers
501 Stanyan Street
Tel: (415) 666 70 01.
Internet: www.conservatoryofflowers.org
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 9 am-4.30pm. Free tours every day at 1.30 p.m.
With admission fee.
Presidio Visitor Center
Presidio Officers’ Club, Building 50, Moraga Street
Tel: (415) 561 43 23.
Internet: www.nps.gov/prsf/home.htm
Opening hours: Daily 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Free entry.
Address: San Francisco
Phone: (415) 831 27 00
Website: http://www.parks.sfgov.org
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
Japantown
Japantown is only a few miles from Mission – between Laguna, Geary, Post and Phillimore streets – but the two neighborhoods couldn’t be more different. The city’s growing Japanese population lives and works here. If you walk along Geary or Post Street from Union Square, you come across a building with strange shapes – the Japan Center. It extends over two hectares and is the center of the cultural and business life of the Japanese community as well as a venue for several traditional festivals throughout the year. Tired tourists will benefit from a relaxing bath in the Japanese shared bath or a shiatsu massage at Kabuki Springs and Spa.
Laguna Street, Geary Street, Post Street and Fillmore Street
Japan Center
1737 Post Street
Tel: (415) 922 67 76.
Internet: www.sfjapantown.org
Opening times: Daily 10 a.m. – midnight.
Free entry.
Kabuki Springs and Spa
1750 Geary Boulevard (corner of Fillmore)
Tel: (415) 922 60 00.
Internet: www.kabukisprings.com
Opening times: Daily 10 a.m. – 9:45 p.m.
With admission fee.
Address: Laguna St, San Francisco
Phone: (415) 922 67 76
Website: http://www.sfjapantown.org
Disabled Access: No
UNESCO: No
mission
Mission is a neighborhood in San Francisco – named after Mission Dolores, the oldest building in the city built by Franciscan monks – where immigrants from Central America and Bohemia live side by side. Added to this is the constant influx of young promoters from the internet industry. This district, in which many houses are decorated with murals (sometimes with socially critical motifs), is a creative center and gives a feeling for its Spanish roots like no other area of the city. Houses on Valencia Street, a residential area popular with lesbians, are now in great demand, while boutiques and Latin American restaurants compete for income with drug dealers in neighboring Dolores Park. Mission Dolores is located on Dolores Street, corner of 16th Street,
Address: Mission Dolores, San Francisco
Phone: (415) 621 82 03
Hours: Daily 8.30am-3.00pm.
Website: http://www.missiondolores.org
Entrance Fee:
Free entry; Audio tour with entrance fee.
Disabled access: No
UNESCO: No
Tourist offices
San Francisco Visitor Information Center
Address: 900 Market Street, San Francisco
Phone: (415) 391 20 00
Hours:
Mon-Fri 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat and Sun 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Website: http://www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com
Visitor passes
With the San Francisco CityPass (Internet: www.citypass.com) you have free admission to five attractions – the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art , the Exploratorium or the Palace of the Legion of Honor , Aquarium of the Bay , the California Academy of Sci ence and the Steinhart Aquarium. At the same time you get a Muni Passport for seven days, with which you can also use the cable cars and take a tour of the bay. The CityPassis valid for nine days and can either be bought on the day of the visit directly at the attractions or in advance on the Internet.
