Fisherman’s Wharf

One of the greatest tourist places in all of California is San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. This unique, fun waterfront area, like everywhere in San Francisco, has a number of smaller areas within, including Pier 39, Hyde Street National Park, and more.

At Pier 39, tourists can find amazing restaurants, including such tourist favorites as Hard Rock Café and Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., as well as dozens of other restaurants and local seafood venders. Pier 39 is home to the Maritime Museum, Aquatic Park, and the world famous barking sea lions – a group of wild sea lions who have made the waters surrounding the pier their home. The pier also offers incredible views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz.

The west end of Fisherman’s Wharf is home to Hyde Street Pier National Park. This free park houses a fleet of historic landmark ships, a visitor center, maritime museum and research facility. For a small fee, visitors can tour historic turn-of-the-century ships.

Also on the Pier is Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, a monument to bizarre world records and happenings, as well as the Wax Museum, with more than 240 amazingly real looking wax figures, including United States presidents, sports heroes and more. The Aquarium of the Bay is here – a massive aquarium with 300 feet of clear acrylic tunnels, holding 20,000 marine animals from throughout the San Francisco Bay and surrounding waters. From sharks to jellies, octopuses to sea stars, this touch and learn aquarium has it all!

The Fisherman’s Wharf is also exactly what the name implies – a great place to see locals and local restaurants pick up the freshest catches of the day! In Fish Alley, at the first light of dawn, the freshest seafood is brought straight off the fishing boats, then sold by vendors and wholesalers up and down the wharf. The month of February is a month long celebration of all things crab, as the city celebrates its heritage of fishing and Dungeness crab.