Every San Franciscan has opinions about Fisherman’s Wharf, and most of them are unkind. But with kids it genuinely works, as long as you know which three blocks matter and which ones are a souvenir shop with a sign.
Worth your time
The sea lions at Pier 39
Free, loud, and still the best thing at the Wharf. They colonized K-Dock after the 1989 earthquake. Numbers rise and fall with the season, so check the webcam first if it is the main reason you are going.
K-Dock, Pier 39 · Free · pier39.com
Musée Mécanique
A warehouse of antique arcade machines, free to walk into, with everything from a hand-cranked carnival diorama to fortune tellers and old-fashioned strength testers. Bring quarters, set a per-kid budget, and plan on an hour.
Pier 45, Shed A · Free entry, coins for machines
Aquarium of the Bay
Small but well suited to young kids, with walk-through tunnels under sharks and rays from the bay and touch pools. Indoors, which matters on a cold day.
Pier 39 · Around thirty dollars adult, twenty-two child · Daily 10am–5pm, last entry 4:30pm
Aquatic Park and Ghirardelli Square
Walk west past the crowds and the Wharf gets better. Aquatic Park has a sheltered swimming cove, a curved pier to walk out on and grassy bleachers. Ghirardelli Square above it is free to wander, with chocolate samples and open plaza space for kids to run.
Cable Car Museum
Ten minutes uphill on Mason Street, free, and full of enormous spinning machinery that pulls the cables under the street. Ride a car up and walk back down.
1201 Mason St · Free
Alcatraz, if you plan ahead
Tickets are sold only through the official ferry operator, Alcatraz City Cruises, and they release about ninety days out and sell out well ahead in summer. Buying from a third-party reseller is the classic Wharf mistake. The audio tour is gripping for roughly ages eight and up and long for younger kids.
Ferries leave from Pier 33 · Official tickets
What to skip
The sit-down seafood restaurants lining Jefferson Street charge a premium for the address. The wax museums and haunted houses are expensive novelty. And the historic ships at Hyde Street Pier, long a highlight, are not currently boardable: the pier is closed for a rebuild and the fleet has been moved out of the city temporarily, so check the National Park Service site before you count on them.
Where to actually eat
Locals steer to the walk-up window and counter places rather than the white tablecloths: The Codmother for fish and chips, the Sabella and La Torre sidewalk stand that has been there since the 1920s, Eagle Café for breakfast with a bay view, and the counters at Ghirardelli Square. If you want the splurge seafood dinner, Scoma’s has earned its reputation since 1965.
Timing and getting there
Go early. Before 11am on a weekday the crowds are thin and the sea lions are active. September and October are the best months here, warmer and clearer than summer.
Parking garages at the Wharf are expensive. The F-line historic streetcar runs along the Embarcadero at normal Muni fare, which is free for riders 18 and under, and it is far more pleasant with a stroller than hunting for a space. A cable car is $9 a ride and a memory; the F-line is the practical way back.
Restrooms: Pier 39 near the sea lion viewing area, the Aquatic Park bathhouse, and the main Wharf plazas.
Prices and hours were checked in September 2026 and can change, so confirm before you go.
More family guides
Three Days in San Francisco: A First-Timer’s Guide
A three-day plan for a first visit to San Francisco: what to book ahead, what the passes are really worth, how to…
Read the guide →
Moving to San Francisco: Your First 30 Days
The paperwork clock starts the day you arrive: 10 days for a license, 20 for your car, and a parking permit before…
Read the guide →
The Local’s Guide to San Francisco
Free gardens, museum passes from your library card, cheap court bookings and a month-by-month calendar: the perks and rituals San Franciscans should…
Read the guide →