Musée Mécanique
More than 300 antique coin-operated arcade machines at Pier 45, including Laffing Sal. Free entry; bring quarters.
Things to Do
Cartoon Art Museum
Cartoon and comic art museum at 781 Beach Street in Fisherman’s Wharf. Collection of about 7,000 original pieces; rotating exhibitions. $10 adults, free first Tuesdays.
Aquatic Park Tombstones
The seawall at Aquatic Park is built with real tombstones from San Francisco’s relocated 19th-century cemeteries. Names and dates still visible in the concrete if you look closely.
Big Eye Keane Paintings
Margaret Keane’s big-eyed paintings were one of the biggest art phenomena of the 1960s, sold from a San Francisco gallery under her husband’s name. The fraud unraveled in a courtroom paint-off in 1986.
Fisherman’s Wharf
The northern waterfront stretch from Pier 39 to Aquatic Park. Working fishing docks at Pier 45, historic ships at Hyde Street Pier, and the original Ghirardelli factory site.
Best of San Francisco
All lists →20 picksBest Things to Do in San FranciscoThe short list. If you only have two or three days, this is what they should be spent on.See and Do19 picksBest Neighborhoods to Explore in San FranciscoChinatown is the oldest in North America. Japantown is one of only three left in the country.See and Do8 picksBest Views in San FranciscoThe de Young's observation tower is free to walk into. Battery Spencer puts the whole bridge below you.See and Do15 picksBest Museums in San FranciscoFrom the two institutions that swallow an entire day to the free oddity on Polk Street that takes about fifteen minutes.See and Do12 picksBest Self-Guided Walks in San FranciscoRoutes with directions, timings and somewhere to eat at the end. Ninety minutes to three hours each.See and Do12 picksBest Things to Do with Kids in San FranciscoPlaces that hold a child's attention for longer than ten minutes, with the free and indoor ones flagged in each write-up.See and Do10 picksFoggy Day San Francisco: Best Indoor Things to DoIndoor plans for when the fog refuses to lift, including which museums are free and on which day.See and Do12 picksWeird & Offbeat San FranciscoA pipe organ played by the tide, tombstones built into a seawall, and gold circles marking cisterns buried under the street.See and Do
