Welcome to San Francisco
Grab your coat and a handful of glitter, and enter the land of fog and fabulousness. If there's a skateboard move yet to be busted, a technology still unimagined, a green scheme untested or quirk left uncelebrated, chances are it's about to happen here. So long, inhibitions; hello, San Francisco.
Downtown vistas from Alamo Square Park MARGARETHE WICHERT / GETTY IMAGES
San FranciscoTop Sights
Golden Gate Bridge
When afternoon fog rolls in, poof! San Francisco's iconic landmark disappears. Mornings the Golden Gate Bridge reappears, orange against blue skies a trick assisted by 25 daredevil painters, who apply 1000 gallons of paint weekly.
Golden Gate Bridge SOMCHAIJ / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
Alcatraz
No prisoner escaped this notorious island prison alive not officially, anyway but once the door clangs behind you in D-Block solitary, the 1.25-mile swim through riptides seems worth a shot. On the return ferry ride to San Francisco, freedom never felt so good.
Alcatraz JEWHYTEJ / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
Exploratorium
The Exploratorium isn't a museum it's a total trip, with experiential, psychedelic science exhibits. Enter a colorless world, grope through the pitch-black Tactile Dome, sip glowing cocktails in the Ultraviolet Room and emerge enlightened.
Exploratorium BARRY WINIKER / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
Golden Gate Park
San Franciscans have successfully preserved this 1.5-mile wild streak since 1866, ousting casinos, resorts and an igloo village. Today, everything San Francisco really needs is here: inspiration, nature and microbrewed beer at the Beach Chalet.
Golden Gate Park GERI LAVROV / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
de Young Museum
The copper-clad de Young is oxidizing green to match the park, but its eclectic, globe-trotting collection is a showstopper. Creative breakthroughs await at every turn: 1980s Keith Haring graffiti, 1960s Oscar de la Renta ball gowns, 1890s Oceanic masks.
de Young Museum RAFAEL RAMIREZ LEE / SHUTTERSTOCK
San Francisco Top Sights
Coit Tower & Filbert Street Steps
Wild parrots may mock your progress up Telegraph Hill's garden-lined Filbert staircase, but they can't keep these bay vistas to themselves. Panoramas and jaw-dropping 1930s murals reward climbs to Coit Tower.
Coit Tower & Filbert Street Steps LATITUDESTOCK-EMMA DURNFORD / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
California Academy of Sciences
Some 40,000 creatures greet your arrival at the Academy. Other museums have galleries this one has a four-story rainforest, planetarium, aquarium and 60 research scientists working on-site.
California Academy of Sciences KRIS DAVIDSON / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
Asian Art Museum
When San Francisco's Pacific Ocean panoramas are lost in fog, you can still see all the way across Asia in this 18,000-piece collection spanning 6000 years, from Pakistan to Japan.
Asian Art Museum RICK GERHARTER / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
Cable Cars
Leap onto the baseboard and grab a leather strap you're in for the ultimate urban carnival ride. When steep climbs yield sudden glimpses of the Golden Gate, public transit never seemed so poetic.
Cable Car LONELY PLANET / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
Ferry Building
The towering achievement here is the sensational, sustainable California bounty that overflows the halls. Award-winning chefs serve signature San Francisco dishes with sparkling bay views, and local producers supply constant culinary inspiration.
Ferry Building SAM VALTENBERGS / GETTY IMAGES
San Francisco Top Sights
Marine Life at Fisherman's Wharf
Sea lions are living the California dream at Pier 39: lolling on docks and feasting on seafood. On the other side of Pier 39, sharks circle at Aquarium of the Bay, separated from visitors by a glass tube.