20 Attractions to Explore Near City Lights Booksellers & Publishers

This is the oldest Chinatown in North America and the largest Chinese enclave outside Asia.

This is a 48-story futurist building and the second-tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline. It was the tallest building in San Francisco from its inception in 1972 until 2018.

This is one of the city's first parks established in 1847. It has been featured in many feature films. The park is bordered by sidewalk cafes and restaurants such as Mama's, Park Tavern restaurant and the Liguria Bakery as well as the Sts. Peter and Paul Church.

Coit Tower, is one of the city’s most interesting destinations. Located on top of Telegraph Hill, it provides 360-degree views of the entire city. The tower, in the city's Pioneer Park, was built between 1932 and 1933 using Lillie Hitchcock Coit's bequest to beautify the city of San Francisco. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

The San Francisco Cable Car Museum in the Nob Hill area offers exhibits that trace the history and workings of the iconic San Francisco cable cars. The museum is part of the complex that also houses the cable car power house, which drives the cables, and the car depot.

The Wells Fargo History Museum is a museum operated by Wells Fargo in its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California that features exhibits about the History of Wells Fargo. It includes original stagecoaches, photographs, gold nuggets and mining artifacts, the Pony Express, telegraphs and historic bank artifacts. The museum was initially known as the Wells Fargo History Room when it opened in 1927 in San Francisco. In 1935, a museum was opened for public tours.

The Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar is a restaurant and tiki bar in the Fairmont San Francisco hotel in San Francisco, California. Named after the South Pacific nation of Tonga, this dining and entertainment venue opened in 1945. The Tonga Room replaced the Terrace Plunge, an indoor swimming pool that was installed in the Fairmont in 1929. The pool was transformed into the Tonga Room's lagoon.

Angel Island is the largest natural island in the San Francisco Bay, offers some of the best views of the surrounding Bay Area. It has been used by humans for a variety of purposes, including seasonal hunting and gathering by indigenous peoples, water and timber supply for European ships, ranching by Mexicans, United States military installations, a United States Public Health Service Quarantine Station, and a U.S. Bureau of Immigration inspection and detention facility.

The Top of the Mark is a penthouse level bar located on the nineteenth floor of the Mark Hopkins Hotel on Nob Hill at California and Mason Streets in San Francisco, California. Located at the highest point of downtown San Francisco, on fog-free days the Top of the Mark has views of the financial district, Chinatown, North Beach, The San Francisco Bay, and of Grace Cathedral and Huntington Park.

Grace Cathedral is an Episcopal church in the heart of San Francisco. This is a house of prayer for all as we are a warm, diverse and an inviting congregat.The parish, which was founded in 1849, lost its previous church building in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The cathedral is famed for its mosaics by Jan Henryk De Rosen, a replica of Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise, two labyrinths, varied stained glass windows, Keith Haring AIDS Chapel altarpiece, and medieval and contemporary furnishings.

The Exploratorium is a museum of science, technology, and arts in San Francisco. A huge number of diverse exhibits, and many with hand-on learning experiences. This is the only place in San Francisco where visitors can touch, tinker and play with more than 650 hands-on exhibits.

Union Square is a 2.6-acre public plaza bordered by Geary, Powell, Post and Stockton Streets in downtown San Francisco, California. "Union Square" also refers to the central shopping, hotel, and theater district that surrounds the plaza for several blocks. The area got its name because it was once used for Thomas Starr King rallies and support for the Union Army during the American Civil War, earning its designation as a California Historical Landmark.

The San Francisco Ferry Building is a terminal for ferries that travel across the San Francisco Bay, a food hall[3] and an office building. It is located on The Embarcadero in San Francisco, California and is served by Golden Gate Ferry and San Francisco Bay Ferry routes.On top of the building is a 245-foot-tall clock tower with four clock dials, each 22 feet in diameter, which can be seen from Market Street, a main thoroughfare of the city.

California's first certified farmers market operated by the nonprofit Foodwise. The market is widely acclaimed for both the quality and diversity of its fresh farm products, and artisan and prepared foods. The market provides a forum for people to learn about food and agriculture. Each week nearly 40,000 shoppers visit the farmers market.

Aquarium of the Bay is a public aquarium located at The Embarcadero and Beach Street. Ithas focused its mission on enabling ocean conservation and climate action both locally and globally. It is one of seven institutions under parent company Bay Ecotarium, the largest watershed conservation organization in the Bay Area. It contains over 750,000 gallons of salt water that over 24,000 animals from 200+ species call home. It is the only Smithsonian-affiliated aquarium in the state of California.

PIER 39—the most visited destination in San Francisco offers two levels of dining, entertainment, shopping and attractions, all surrounded by unbeatable views of the city and the Bay. A two-story carousel is one of the pier's more dominant features, although it is not directly visible from the street and sits towards the end of the pier. The family-oriented entertainment and presence of marine mammals make this a popular tourist location for families with kids.

California Historical Society inspires and empowers Californians to make the past a meaningful part of their contemporary lives. The Society maintains a collection of historical documents, photographs, art and other research materials, awards the annual California Historical Society Book Prize, and publishes California History, an academic journal, in association with the University of California Press.

The Contemporary Jewish Museum is a non-collecting museum at 736 Mission Street at Yerba Buena Lane in the South of Market. The museum's mission is to make the diversity of the Jewish experience relevant for a twenty-first century audience through exhibitions and educational programs. The museum has no permanent collection. It curates and hosts a broad array of exhibitions each year in collaboration with other institutions.

The Museum of the African Diaspora occupies 20,000 Sq. Ft. on portions of three floors of the St. Regis Hotel and Residences designed by SOM. It holds exhibitions and presents artists exclusively of the African diaspora, one of only a few museums of its kind in the United States. It does not have a permanent collection and instead works directly with artists or independent curators when developing exhibitions.

Madame Tussauds San Francisco is a wax museum located in Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco in California. The attraction opened on June 26, 2014 and became the 17th Madame Tussauds museum to open worldwide. The attraction features wax figures of famous figures from movies, music, politics, popular culture and sport. It also celebrates “The Spirit of San Francisco” with wax figures of local artists, musicians and activists from the city's past.