World City Guide

Sightseeing

Sightseeing Overview
Regularly voted best city in the USA in national polls, San Francisco is a visual feast that offers something for every eye. Grand vistas of the Bay and the city are provided by the many hilltops and landmarks, such as the 55m-high (180ft) Coit Tower, on Telegraph Hill. Works of art are on display in a myriad of museums. For the more contemporary tastes, the high-tech offerings of Yerba Buena, and the Pacific Bell Park, home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants, are yet another side to the city.

But it is where mankind and nature meets that this implausibly diverse city comes into its own. A visit to the Golden Gate Bridge, which used enough wire to go around the earth several times over and was hailed as impossible to build, is a must. Golden Gate Park covers 400 hectares (1,000 acres) and is the largest manmade park in the world, thanks to Scotsman John McClaren, the extraordinary gardener who tamed the sands of San Francisco and created the magnificent park. Then there is Alcatraz, the stuff of legend, Grant Street, the city’s oldest, running the length of Chinatown, Haight-Ashbury, which rekindles memories of Flower Power and the Beat Generation, and Fisherman’s Wharf, at the edge of the Bay, offering hundreds of resident sea lions, cheap souvenirs and, always, something to eat.

Tourist Information
San Francisco Visitor Information Center
Hallidie Plaza, Lower Level, Powell Street and Market Street
Tel: (415) 391 2000. Fax: (415) 362 7323.
E-mail: vicl@sfcvb.org
Website: www.sfvisitor.org
Opening hours: Mon-Fri 0900-1700, Sat and Sun 0900-1500.

Passes
The San Francisco CityPass (website: www.citypass.com) allows free admission to five attractions (the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Exploratorium, Asian Art Museum, California Academy of Science and Steinhart Aquarium) as well as a seven-day Muni Passport (see Public Transport in Getting Around), including cable cars and a Bay cruise. It costs US$38 (concessions are available), is valid for nine days and can be purchased from the attractions on the day or online in advance.