Things to Do in San Francisco, California

Fisherman's Wharf offers restaurants, hotels, shopping and Hyde Street Pier, a collection of historic ships. Ride a cable car, visit the Golden Gate Bridge or shop in Chinatown. Take a cruise to Alcatraz Island, home to the famous prison. The Hearst Castle offers tours of William Randolph Hearst's 165-room estate. The San Francisco Zoo is home to everything from grizzly bears to tarantulas, while the Aquarium of the Bay has more than 20,000 marine animals.

Golden Gate Park has existed since the 1860s and contains the San Francisco Botanical Gardens and a Japanese Tea Garden. Candlestick Point, the state's first urban recreation area, provides a great view of San Francisco Bay and offers fishing, hiking and picnic areas.

From September to December, you can catch the NFL's San Francisco 49ers. For baseball, you can see the Giants or go across the bay for the Oakland A's.

San Francisco is home to a great variety of museums. The Asian Art Museum hosts one of the largest museums devoted to Asian art. The Aviation Library and Museum is located in the International Terminal of the San Francisco Airport and showcases the history of aviation in the Pacific. In Golden Gate Park, the California Academy of Sciences combines a natural history museum, an aquarium and a planetarium. For kids, the Exploratorium offers interactive exhibits for all ages. Zeum is a museum that uses technology to help kids explore their creativity. If you prefer a more whimsical approach to art, try the Cartoon Museum on Mission Street.

San Francisco has an opera company, a symphony and a ballet, all of which perform regularly. Touring productions of Broadway shows also visit the city, and the American Conservatory Theater has performances of classical and contemporary theater. For live music, visit The Fillmore, where bands such as The Grateful Dead, The Doors and Pink Floyd have performed.