Things to Do Near Port of San Francisco

Hundreds of California sea lions haul out on floating docks off the west side of Pier 39, loud enough to hear from the parking lot.

Best for: Small children, a free stop between other plans, anyone with twenty spare minutes at the wharf

Pro tip: Numbers swing hard with the season. PIER 39's own guide records the colony passing 300 in its first months and hitting a record above 2,100 in May and June of 2024, but much of it leaves for the Channel Islands breeding grounds over the summer — so on an August sailing, check the live webcam at pier39.com/sealions before you make the walk. One correction worth having: the Marine Mammal Center's Sea Lion Center on the pier closed on 12 January 2024, per the Center's own page, so ignore the opening hours third-party listings still print for it.

A 300-foot pair of clear tunnels runs beneath 700,000 gallons of bay water, so sharks and rays pass directly overhead.

Best for: Young children, a rainy hour, families already walking the wharf

Pro tip: Tanks hold local bay species rather than tropical fish, and the two walk-through tunnels are the part small children remember. Booking online saves $2.23 on an adult and $1.75 on a child against the gate price, and a redeemed ticket is good for the rest of the day. Watch the last entry at 4:30pm, which is earlier than the closing time implies. Pair it with the sea lions two minutes away, so one trip up the waterfront covers both and the colony fills any queue.

Every machine in this Pier 45 arcade is meant to be fed a coin and operated, which suits a five-year-old better than anything behind glass.

Best for: Young children, a free twenty minutes, parents who want to leave whenever they like

Pro tip: Entry costs nothing, so a family can walk out after twenty minutes without feeling it — but the machines take coins one at a time and the site publishes no price list, so hand over a fixed pile of quarters at the start rather than refilling on demand. The range runs from Victorian fortune tellers and mechanical dioramas to arcade cabinets a parent will recognize. The site states the arcade opens 365 days a year, which covers a holiday sailing. Get change before you arrive. Entry costs nothing but every machine is coin-fed, and with no published price list a roll of quarters is the difference between a planned visit and hunting for a bill-changer along the wharf. Set the quarter budget before you walk in — a free door makes an open-ended visit more expensive than it looks. The site states the arcade opens 365 days a year, 10am to 8pm.

An aquarium, a planetarium, a four-story rainforest dome and a natural history museum share one roof and one ticket in Golden Gate Park.

Best for: A full day before the cruise, families with a spare day, young children who need more than an hour

Pro tip: Treat this as a day-before outing rather than a sailing-morning stop — it is more than four miles from the piers, across the full width of the city, and the four attractions under one admission are what make it a half day rather than an hour. A summer sailing date falls inside the published peak window, so budget the higher figure. If you want something closer and cheaper for the same ages, the Children's Creativity Museum at 221 Fourth Street charges $20 for everyone aged 1 and over with same-day re-entry, and opens Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Six galleries and more than 650 hands-on exhibits fill two waterfront piers an eight-minute walk down the Embarcadero from the terminal.

Best for: Teenagers who would rather operate something than read a placard, a rainy afternoon, science-minded families

Pro tip: The museum's own FAQ puts a typical visit at two to four hours and names weekday afternoons after 3:00pm as the quieter stretch. Check the closure list before you buy: the hours page marks the museum closed for maintenance from 8 September to 27 September 2026, and closed on 26 November and 25 December 2026, with no After Dark on 31 December. The Tactile Dome, a pitch-dark crawl-through, books separately and sells out on its own. Drivers get a discount at the Pier 15 lot with the code the museum publishes, and the store opens onto the Embarcadero without a ticket if you only have half an hour. Tickets are date-specific and nonrefundable. Worth knowing that the daytime schedule has changed from what most guides still repeat — the page we read on 2026-08-17 lists Monday as closed and Tuesday as a normal 10am to 5pm day.

The last operational World War II Liberty ship is berthed at Pier 35, the same pier San Francisco uses as its second cruise berth.

Best for: Teenagers with an hour to fill, naval history readers, anyone berthing at Pier 35 anyway

Pro tip: One line on the visit page matters specifically to cruise passengers: afternoon tours may be available on cruise dates, which reads as a warning that access narrows when a ship occupies the Pier 35 berth. If your own ship is docking there, call before you walk over. Tickets are sold at a booth on the day rather than online. The page states the ship is open every day of the year and carried no drydock notice when we read it.

Admission is free at the working Washington-Mason powerhouse, where the four cables that haul the whole system wind through a sheave room below the viewing gallery.

Best for: Anyone curious how the cable cars actually work, a turnaround point on a cable car ride, a free half hour

Pro tip: The museum occupies the operating powerhouse and carbarn rather than a separate building, so the machinery running the city's cable cars is turning while you watch. Both the Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines stop within a block, which makes this a stop on a ride rather than a separate errand. Hours run Tuesday to Thursday 10am to 4pm and Friday to Sunday 10am to 5pm, with Monday closed. A ramp on the Washington Street side serves disabled visitors.

The ferry from Pier 33 is the only boat permitted to land passengers on Alcatraz, and it leaves from a pier five minutes up the Embarcadero from the cruise terminal.

Best for: Anyone with a spare half day before boarding, history readers, first-time visitors

Pro tip: The Park Service strongly recommends reserving ahead and sells up to 90 days out, so book the day your cruise date is fixed rather than the week before. Cancel 72 hours or more ahead for a full refund; inside 72 hours there is no refund unless the seat resells. The operator's homepage warns that it is the only authorized provider and that street vendors do not sell genuine tickets, and its terms disclaim tickets bought elsewhere. An America the Beautiful pass buys no discount here, because the charge is for ferry transport rather than park entry.

The 1898 ferry terminal holds a food hall open from 6am to 10pm daily, with an outdoor farmers market on the plaza three days a week.

Best for: An early breakfast, provisioning before boarding, anyone who would rather graze than sit down

Pro tip: The 6:00am building opening is the earliest reliable coffee and provisions anywhere near the terminals, which matters on a morning with a mid-morning check-in — though merchants keep their own hours inside that window, so an early arrival finds bakeries rather than the full hall. The farmers market runs Tuesday and Thursday 10am to 2pm and Saturday 8am to 2pm year round, and Saturday is much the largest. Two things the site flags: dogs are barred from the building by law apart from service animals, and the marketplace closes on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

An elevator up Telegraph Hill buys a full circle of bay views, and the 1930s WPA murals on the ground floor cost nothing to walk in and see.

Best for: A short outing with a big view, mural and history readers, anyone who wants to see the bay they are about to sail

Pro tip: The fee buys the elevator, not the building — the lobby murals are free to walk in and see, and the hilltop parking circle already delivers most of the view. That matters because the park's own page cautions that the nearly 90-year-old elevator may be out of service, and the fallback is thirteen flights of stairs. Hours are seasonal: 10am to 6pm April through October, 10am to 5pm November through March, with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day closed.

The Dragon Gate at Grant Avenue and Bush Street opens onto the oldest and largest Chinatown in North America, founded in 1849 and rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake.

Best for: An afternoon on foot, anyone who would rather walk a neighborhood than queue for a ticket

Pro tip: Grant Avenue is the commercial spine, but Stockton Street is where the produce and fish markets residents actually shop are, and it is the more interesting walk. Waverly Place has the painted balconies and Ross Alley the fortune cookie factory. If you want an indoor anchor, check the Chinese Historical Society of America calendar first — its FAQ lists opening on Wednesdays and Saturdays only, 10am to 5pm, so five days in seven the doors are shut and the free streets are the whole visit. Most shops open around 9 or 10am and close by 6 or 7pm.