With kids · San Francisco · United States
San Francisco with kids
Family-tested sights, a calm base and the practical details that make travelling with children easier.
Updated By the AMZBooking editorial team
Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Quick answer
San Francisco is fun for children: cable cars, sea lions, hands-on museums such as the Exploratorium and the Academy of Sciences, and big parks with playgrounds. Hills tire small legs, so mix walking with streetcars and buses. Top picks: California Academy of Sciences, Exploratorium and Pier 39 and the sea lions. Families usually base themselves in Fisherman's Wharf.
Key facts
- Family picks
- 7
- Best area for families
- Fisherman's Wharf
- Rainy-day options
- 3
- Busiest months
- July–August
Best things to do with kids
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Museum · Golden Gate Park
1.California Academy of Sciences
Under a living roof planted with native wildflowers, the Academy combines an aquarium with a Philippine coral reef, a four-storey rainforest dome with free-flying butterflies, the Morrison Planetarium, African penguins and a natural history museum.
Go to the rainforest dome first, then up to the living roof for a view across the park; adults-only NightLife evenings run on Thursdays.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Expensive
- Book ahead
- Buy timed tickets online in advance for weekends and holidays.
- Kids
- Rainy day
- Nature
Museum · Embarcadero
2.Exploratorium
On Pier 15, the Exploratorium fills a waterfront shed with hundreds of hands-on exhibits on science, perception and art, from a fog bridge to the pitch-dark Tactile Dome. It is as engaging for adults as for children, especially at the adults-only Thursday evening sessions.
Book the Tactile Dome in advance; it is a separate ticket and slots are limited.
- Time needed
- 3 hours
- Cost
- Mid-priced
- Kids
- Rainy day
- After dark
Waterfront · Fisherman's Wharf
3.Pier 39 and the sea lions
Pier 39 is a busy pier of shops, restaurants and street performers, but the real draw is the sea lions that haul out on the floating docks beside it, a colony that settled here after the 1989 earthquake. Aquarium of the Bay is at the pier's entrance.
See the sea lions early or late to avoid crowds, then walk west along the Wharf to the Musée Mécanique and the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Free
- Kids
- Free
- Iconic
- Views
Experience · Nob Hill
4.Cable cars and the Cable Car Museum
Running since 1873, San Francisco's cable cars are the last manually operated cable-car system in the world. The Powell-Hyde line has the most dramatic hills and bay views, ending near Ghirardelli Square, while the free Cable Car Museum on Mason Street shows the giant winding wheels that pull the cables under the streets.
Skip the long queue at the Powell and Market turnaround by boarding a few stops up the line, or ride the quieter California Street line.
- Time needed
- 1–2 hours
- Cost
- Low cost
- Iconic
- Kids
- Views
- History
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Park · Golden Gate Park
5.Golden Gate Park
Larger than New York's Central Park, Golden Gate Park runs about 5 km from the Haight to Ocean Beach. Inside are the de Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, the Japanese Tea Garden, the Conservatory of Flowers and a bison paddock, and a long car-free stretch of John F. Kennedy Drive is popular with cyclists and skaters.
Rent a bike near the eastern end and ride west along the car-free JFK Promenade to the Dutch Windmill and Ocean Beach.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Kids
- Nature
- Active
Experience · Fisherman's Wharf
6.Musée Mécanique
A large private collection of coin-operated machines fills a shed on Pier 45: antique arcade games, mechanical fortune tellers, player pianos and the cackling Laughing Sal. Entry is free; you pay coins to play.
Get a handful of quarters from the change machines and try the hand-cranked moving-picture viewers.
- Time needed
- 1 hour
- Cost
- Free
- Kids
- Free
- Rainy day
- Off the beaten path
Park · Presidio
7.Presidio and Crissy Field
A former army post turned national park site, the Presidio has forest trails, historic barracks, the Walt Disney Family Museum and Presidio Tunnel Tops, a park opened in 2022 with lawns and a children's play area facing the bridge. Below, Crissy Field's restored marsh and beach path lead to Fort Point under the bridge.
Picnic on the Tunnel Tops lawns, where food trucks often gather on weekends in the warmer months.
- Time needed
- Half a day
- Cost
- Free
- Free
- Outdoors
- Kids
- Views
- Nature
Rainy-day ideas
- California Academy of Sciences — Go to the rainforest dome first, then up to the living roof for a view across the park; adults-only NightLife evenings run on Thursdays.
- Exploratorium — Book the Tactile Dome in advance; it is a separate ticket and slots are limited.
- Musée Mécanique — Get a handful of quarters from the change machines and try the hand-cranked moving-picture viewers.
Where families should stay
$$$ · Best for families and first-timers
Fisherman's Wharf
Fisherman's Wharf has Pier 39's sea lions, the Musée Mécanique, the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier and seafood stalls, and Alcatraz ferries leave from Pier 33 nearby. Both Powell Street cable-car lines end here, which suits families who want sights on the doorstep, but the area is very touristy and quiet late at night.
- Good
- Family sights on the doorstep; Cable cars and F-line streetcars to downtown; Bay views
- Watch out
- Very touristy; Restaurants geared to visitors; Cool and windy most evenings
- Nearby
- Pier 39, Alcatraz ferries at Pier 33, Ghirardelli Square, Musée Mécanique
Family travel tips
- Muni fares for children and teenagers are reduced or free; check the SFMTA site before buying passes for the family.
- The Koret Children's Quarter playground in Golden Gate Park has long slides and a vintage carousel.
- Pack warm layers for children even in summer; the wind on the waterfront and the bridge is cold.
- Book Alcatraz well ahead; older children usually love the cellhouse audio tour.
- Strollers struggle on the steepest hills; plan routes along the flat Embarcadero and use the F-line streetcars.
Day trips for families
- Muir Woods (About 40 minutes by car) — Old-growth coast redwoods, some more than 75 metres tall and many centuries old, line the boardwalk trails of Muir Woods National Monument at the foot of Mount Tamalpais.
- Sausalito (About 30 minutes by ferry) — This hillside waterfront town across the Golden Gate has galleries, waterfront restaurants and a colony of colourful houseboats.
- Monterey and Carmel (About 2.5 hours by car) — Monterey's Cannery Row leads to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, with sea otters and a towering kelp forest tank, and the coast continues to Carmel-by-the-Sea and its white-sand beach.
- Yosemite National Park (About 4 hours by car) — Yosemite Valley's granite walls — El Capitan and Half Dome — and its waterfalls, fullest in late spring, make a long but possible day trip; a night or two is far better.
When to go with children
The best months overall are April–May and September–October. July–August are the busiest, so book the big sights early. Weather by month.
Questions travellers ask
+Is San Francisco good for kids?
San Francisco is fun for children: cable cars, sea lions, hands-on museums such as the Exploratorium and the Academy of Sciences, and big parks with playgrounds. Hills tire small legs, so mix walking with streetcars and buses.
+What can kids do in San Francisco?
California Academy of Sciences, Exploratorium, Pier 39 and the sea lions, Cable cars and the Cable Car Museum and Golden Gate Park.
+Where should families stay in San Francisco?
Fisherman's Wharf: Sea lions, chowder in bread bowls and the ferry piers on the northern waterfront.