Most of the museums in San Francisco revolve around art, such as the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (famsf.org), the Museum of Modern Art (sfmoma.org), the Asian Art Museum (asianart.org) and the Cartoon Art Museum (cartoonart.org). The first three museums revolve around traditional forms of art, but the cartoon museum revolves more around comic strip and animated cartoon artists. A visit to San Francisco for museum fans would not be complete without a trip to the Cable Car Museum (cablecarmuseum.org), which shows off historic photos of old cars and mechanical displays of how the cars worked.
San Francisco has plenty of green space and areas where you can stretch out and enjoy a nice day by the bay or ocean. Huntington Park (nobhillassociation.org) is a small park with statues and benches set amidst the old Nob Hill mansions and homes. Duboce Park, located on Duboce Avenue just across from the California Pacific Medical Center, is a small park area with trees to shade you from the California sunshine. Golden Gate National Park (parksconservancy.org) is a stretch of 140-mile coastline that includes several parks north and south of San Francisco. Alcatraz Island (nps.gov) lets you see the inside of the prison that closed in the early 1960s and is now home to daily tours.
Gourmets will enjoy dining in San Francisco. Several longtime establishments cater to families and diners wishing to have a good meal. Cliff House (cliffhouse.com), located along the Pacific Ocean, is split into two restaurants, Sutro's (cliffhouse.com/sutro) and The Bistro (cliffhouse.com/bistro). In downtown San Francisco, breakfast hotspot Sears (searsfinefood.com) offers Swedish pancakes as its specialty, and Alioto's (aliotos.com) is an Italian tradition along Fisherman's Wharf. There are other restaurants throughout San Francisco, both chain and non-chain, that delight all appetites with choices ranging from seafood to sushi.
Union Square (unionsquareshop.com), located in the area bordered by Powell, Post, Stockton and Geary Streets, is where chains like Neiman Marcus (neimanmarcus.com), Saks Fifth Avenue (saks.com), Nordstrom (nordstrom.com) and Macy's (macys.com) all have stores. Also in downtown is the Westfield San Francisco Centre (westfield.com), two blocks south of Union Square, that features 170 stores spanning nine floors. Pier 39 (pier39.com), located along the bay in the Fisherman's Wharf area, offers dining and shopping options in addition to attractions like the Aquarium by the Bay (aquariumbythebay.org) and Gray Line Bus Tours (sanfranciscosightseeing.com).
Sports fans have plenty to do in the San Francisco area. The San Francisco Giants (giants.mlb.com) won the 2010 World Series, and games routinely sell out at AT&T Park, which affords romantic views of San Francisco Bay. Candlestick Park, on the southern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, plays host to the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers (49ers.com). Venturing across the San Francisco Bay Bridge to the east puts you in Oakland, where the baseball's Athletics (athletics.mlb.com) and football's Raiders (raiders.com) play in Oakland/Alameda County Coliseum.
