Explore San Francisco

Pier 39 is a pier at the edge of Fisherman's Wharf, developed by Warren Simmons and opened in 1978, lined with wooden two-storey buildings holding shops, restaurants and a two-level carousel. Since 1989 California sea lions have hauled out on the floating docks of its marina, and the pier looks out to Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Palace of Fine Arts is a monumental structure in San Francisco's Marina District, designed by Bernard Maybeck for the 1915 Panama–Pacific International Exposition and rebuilt in durable materials between 1964 and 1974. Its domed open rotunda and curved colonnades stand beside a lagoon, and the hall behind them is used for events.

The California Academy of Sciences is a natural history museum and research institution in Golden Gate Park, founded in 1853. Its building by Renzo Piano, opened in 2008 under a planted living roof, houses the Steinhart Aquarium, the Morrison Planetarium, a four-storey rainforest dome and natural history halls.

The de Young Museum is a fine arts museum in Golden Gate Park, founded after the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 and named after the newspaper publisher M. H. de Young. Its copper-clad building by Herzog & de Meuron opened in 2005 with an observation tower, and it shows American art, textiles and art of Africa, Oceania and the Americas.

The Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park was created for the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894 and is the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States. Its three acres of paths and ponds lead past a five-storey pagoda, stone lanterns, a drum bridge and a teahouse, among pruned pines, maples and cherry trees.

The Walt Disney Family Museum tells the life story of Walt Disney and was founded by his daughter Diane Disney Miller; it opened in 2009 in a former army barracks building in the Presidio. Its galleries follow his life from childhood to the opening of Disneyland, with early drawings, animation artwork, film clips and a large model of Disneyland.

The Presidio of San Francisco is a park at the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, at the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Founded as a Spanish fort in 1776 and a U.S. Army post until 1994, it is now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, with trails, beaches, brick barracks and the Presidio Tunnel Tops park.

Golden Gate Park is a 412-hectare urban park on San Francisco's West Side, between the Richmond and Sunset districts and reaching to the Pacific Ocean. Laid out by William Hammond Hall on sand dunes and opened in 1870, it holds lakes, meadows and groves along with the Conservatory of Flowers, the Japanese Tea Garden and the de Young Museum.

Alcatraz Island lies in San Francisco Bay and served as a military fort, a military prison and, from 1934 to 1963, a federal penitentiary; Native American activists occupied it from 1969 to 1971. Visitors arrive by ferry from Pier 33 to walk through the cellhouse, the lighthouse grounds, the gardens and the seabird colonies.

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge across the Golden Gate strait, linking San Francisco with Marin County. Built under chief engineer Joseph Strauss and opened in 1937, it has a main span of 1,280 metres and towers rising 227 metres above the water. Pedestrians cross on the east sidewalk, facing the city.

The Legion of Honor is a fine arts museum in Lincoln Park, opened in 1924 as a gift of Alma and Adolph Spreckels and dedicated to Californians killed in the First World War. George Applegarth modelled the building on the Palais de la Légion d'honneur in Paris; it shows European art from antiquity to the 20th century, including sculpture by Rodin.

The San Francisco Zoo and Gardens covers about 100 acres in the southwest corner of the city, between Lake Merced and the Pacific Ocean. Founded as the Fleishhacker Zoo, with planning begun in 1929, it is owned by the city and keeps more than 1,500 animals, from giraffes and gorillas to penguins, among gardens near the ocean.

The USS Hornet Sea, Air & Space Museum occupies the aircraft carrier USS Hornet, moored at the former Naval Air Station Alameda, in Alameda across the bay from San Francisco. Commissioned in 1943, the ship fought in the Pacific in the Second World War and in 1969 recovered the Apollo 11 and 12 crews; visitors tour its decks, aircraft and Apollo exhibits.