No trip to San Francisco is complete without a trip to the famous Alcatraz Island. Alcatraz Island is located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles offshore from San Francisco. The facility was a federal prison until 1963 and housed very famous criminals like Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the birdman of Alcatraz), Machine Gun Kelly, Bumpy Johnson and Alvin “Creepy” Karpis who served more time at Alcatraz than any other prisoner. Now, the Island is managed by the National Park Service.
Category Archives: Local Attractions
Cable Cars
Cable cars run seven days a week with special schedules on weekends. The complete listing of all cable car stops and time tables can be found at sfmta.com.
Chinatown
San Francisco Chinatown is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia as well as the oldest Chinatown in North America. It is one of the top tourist attractions in San Francisco. The main shopping areas are along Grant Avenue and Stockton Street, where you can explore one of the largest Chinatowns in the U.S. Don’t be shy to adventure off the main drag and into the alleys lined with restaurants, colorful vegetable and fruit markets and shops.
Crissy Field
Crissy Field was transformed starting in 2001 from a former military airfield into a vibrant environmental showcase. Today, the restored Crissy Field is a stunning place to walk or bike on a flat, hard-packed promenade with iconic views of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridges. A beautiful, and much-loved trail winds through Crissy Field between Marina Green and Fort Point. Continue reading
Ferry Building
The San Francisco Ferry Building is an icon from the times when the city was a bustling seaport with many immigrants and travelers arriving. Now it houses one of the cities best collections of food and consumables, including weekly farmers markets and lots of delicious local fare. It is also a great place to stop for lunch and enjoy views of the Bay Bridge after a long walk down the embarcadero.
Free Events
San Francisco always has something going on, especially free events at the beginning of the month. Check out some of our suggestions listed here.
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park is a large urban pak, located in San Francisco, consisting of 1,017 acres of public grounds. It is 20% larger than Central Park in New York. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the third most visited park in the United States after Central Park in New York and Lincoln Park in Chicago. The park is free to visit during the day, but some popular attractions charge admission. The park is filled with gardens, museums, art, flowers, trees, lakes, birds and wildlife.
Haight Ashbury
The Haight-Ashbury district is noted for its role as a center of the 1960s hippie movement. Now the neighborhood remains a thriving center of independent local businesses. It is home to a number of independent restaurants and bars, as well as clothing boutiques, booksellers, and record stores including Amoeba Music. The cohabitation between throw-backs to the Fifties lounge scene, organic and spiritual New Age ambiance of the Sixties, punk-rock politics and computer culture is one of the neighborhood’s most interesting and endearing aspects socially and artistically.
Lombard Street (the crookedest street in the world)
Lombard Street is best known for the one-way section on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight short turns that have earned the street the distinction of being the crookedest (most winding) street in the world. The design was born out of necessity in order to reduce the hill’s natural 27% grade, which was too steep for most vehicles. The crooked part of the street, which is about ¼ of a mile long is reserved for one-way traffic traveling downhill and is paved with red bricks.