San Francisco has a way of overwhelming first-time visitors with a list of “must-sees” that’s actually three cities’ worth of sightseeing crammed into 49 square miles. Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, cable cars, Fisherman’s Wharf, a hill so steep it has its own switchback street — and somehow also several hundred wild sea lions who just moved into a marina one day and never left. The good news: a huge share of what makes this city worth visiting is either free or genuinely cheap, and the parts that cost money are usually worth planning around rather than avoiding.
San Francisco at a Glance
- Best for: 3–4 days minimum — the city is compact, but the hills slow you down more than the map suggests
- Getting in from the airport: BART train, about $11.15 one-way to downtown, 30 minutes
- Getting around: Muni buses/streetcars, cable cars, walking, and an ever-growing fleet of driverless Waymo robotaxis
- Weather reality: Famously foggy and cool in summer (San Franciscans call the fog “Karl”), often warmer and clearer in September and October
- Realistic daily budget: $60–110 per person for food, local transit, and one paid attraction a day, not counting lodging
Getting From the Airport, and Around the City
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) sits about 13 miles south of downtown, and BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is the cheapest fast way in: roughly $11.15 one-way to the downtown stations (Powell, Montgomery, Embarcadero, Civic Center), about a 30-minute ride, versus $45–60 for a taxi or roughly $30–45 for a rideshare with the mandatory airport surcharge added in.
Once you’re in the city, a few options cover almost everything:
- Muni buses and streetcars: $3 cash, or $2.75 with a Clipper card or the MuniMobile app
- Cable cars: $8 per single ride (as of the most recent SFMTA fare update)
- 1-Day Visitor Passport: $14 for unlimited rides on Muni buses, streetcars, and all three cable car lines — pays for itself after two cable car rides. 3-day ($33) and 7-day ($44) versions are also available
- Walking: Free, and genuinely the best way to see downtown and the Embarcadero, hills notwithstanding
And then there’s the newest way to get around: San Francisco is the epicenter of the driverless car boom, with Waymo alone running hundreds of steering-wheel-free robotaxis through the city’s streets and hills, priced comparably to a normal rideshare. Riding in one has become something of a only-in-San-Francisco novelty for visitors — genuinely worth doing once, even just for a few blocks.
Tip:
If you’re driving in from Marin County or Sausalito, know that the Golden Gate Bridge toll (currently $10.25 with FasTrak) is only charged southbound, into San Francisco. Driving north out of the city is free — and walking or biking across the bridge is completely free in both directions, any time.
Fisherman’s Wharf and the Sea Lions of Pier 39
Fisherman’s Wharf is San Francisco’s most-visited neighborhood, and Pier 39 is its beating, slightly chaotic heart — a wooden boardwalk of shops, restaurants, street performers, and an arcade, all free to walk through even if you don’t spend a dime once you’re there.
The real headline attraction, though, showed up uninvited. Shortly after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, a handful of California sea lions started hauling out on Pier 39’s K-Dock. By January 1990 there were over a hundred; the population has grown as high as 1,701 at its peak, and in spring 2024 a surge brought counts over 1,000 for the first time in 15 years. They’ve had the run of the dock, rent-free, ever since.
Watching them is completely free — no ticket, no timed entry, just a railing and however long you want to stand there. Numbers fluctuate seasonally: most sea lions head south to the Channel Islands to breed in late spring and summer, then return in bigger numbers from fall through winter, so a winter visit generally means a fuller dock.
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Tip:
The sea lions are loudest and most active in the morning and again in early evening. Midday, a lot of them are just napping in a pile — still worth seeing, just less of a show.
Alcatraz Island: What It Actually Costs and When to Book
“The Rock” is San Francisco’s single most in-demand paid attraction, and the only way onto the island is the official ferry from Pier 33, run exclusively by City Experiences (formerly Alcatraz City Cruises). A Day Tour ticket runs about $47.95 for adults, with reduced pricing for children and seniors, and includes the round-trip ferry, entry to the cellhouse, and the award-winning audio tour narrated in part by former inmates and guards.
Tip:
Book early. Tickets are released 90 days in advance and routinely sell out 60–75 days ahead during peak summer months. If your trip includes Alcatraz, it should be the very first thing you book, before your hotel.
The former federal penitentiary operated from 1934 to 1963 and once held Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. Today it’s run by the National Park Service, and the Early Bird ferry (around 8:45 a.m.) is the best way to see the island before the bulk of the day’s crowds arrive.
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Bay Cruises: The Golden Gate Bridge Without the Alcatraz Price Tag
If Alcatraz is sold out, or simply not in the budget, a Bay cruise is the next-best way to see the Golden Gate Bridge and the city skyline from the water — and it’s noticeably cheaper. Companies including Blue & Gold Fleet and Hornblower run narrated cruises from the Embarcadero and Fisherman’s Wharf piers, typically running 60 minutes and priced well under an Alcatraz ticket.
Some of these boats are worth photographing even docked. The Hornblower-operated San Francisco Belle, a Mississippi-style paddle-wheeler, and the Blue & Gold Fleet’s fleet of modern catamarans both depart regularly from the piers near Fisherman’s Wharf, with the Bay Bridge as a backdrop on clear days.
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On foggier mornings — and San Francisco has plenty of them — the boats depart into a wall of gray that burns off by early afternoon more often than not. It’s part of the city’s character, not a reason to reschedule.
The Embarcadero, the Ferry Building, and Pier 7
The Embarcadero is San Francisco’s waterfront promenade, running from Fisherman’s Wharf down past the Ferry Building to the ballpark, and walking any stretch of it is free and genuinely one of the best things to do in the city.
The Ferry Building itself, with its unmistakable 1898 clock tower, was once one of the busiest transit hubs in the world, serving as many as 50,000 people a day before the Bay Bridge and Golden Gate Bridge opened in the late 1930s. After a four-year renovation, it reopened in 2003 as a food marketplace, and its Ferry Plaza Farmers Market — running Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, year-round since 1993 — is one of the best free things to browse in the city, even if you don’t buy anything.
A few blocks north, Pier 7 is a quiet, often-overlooked wooden pier that extends far out into the Bay, lined with old-fashioned lampposts and benches, with a straight-on view of the Transamerica Pyramid rising over downtown. It costs nothing and rarely has more than a few dozen people on it at once, even on a busy weekend.
Aquarium of the Bay, and the CityPASS Math
At the edge of Pier 39, Aquarium of the Bay focuses specifically on San Francisco Bay’s own marine life — sharks, rays, and river otters — via underwater tunnels, and it’s one of several attractions bundled into San Francisco’s official CityPASS program.
The math is worth doing before you buy individual tickets to everything. San Francisco CityPASS bundles admission to four attractions — typically California Academy of Sciences, a Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise, and a choice between Aquarium of the Bay, the Exploratorium, SFMOMA, the Walt Disney Family Museum, or the de Young Museum and Legion of Honor — for one combined price, valid across nine consecutive days.
Planning to hit more than two or three paid attractions? Get 50% Off Best Attractions With CityPASS is the kind of deal worth checking before you buy anything separately — official CityPASS bundles currently advertise savings up to 45% versus paying full price at each attraction individually, and the smaller C3 pass (choose any 3 attractions) saves up to 39%. Compare the bundle against your actual itinerary; if you’re only doing one museum, skip it.
The Skyline, the Hills, and the Fog
Part of what makes San Francisco visually distinct is the sheer density packed onto its hills — something you notice immediately from any elevated vantage point downtown.
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Looking north from a downtown high-rise, you can pick out Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, the Hotel Huntington on Nob Hill, and, on a clear day, the hills of Marin across the Bay. The city’s famous fog — nicknamed “Karl the Fog” on social media — tends to roll in over these same hills most heavily from late spring through summer, generally clearing by early-to-mid afternoon.
Tip:
September and October are widely considered San Francisco’s best-weather months — warmer and clearer than the famously foggy, chilly summer, and with smaller crowds than peak tourist season.
A Sample Budget Day in San Francisco
- MORNING: BART in from the airport or your hotel, walk the Embarcadero toward the Ferry Building — free
- MIDDAY: Browse the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market (Tue/Thu/Sat) or the marketplace inside, grab lunch from a food stall — $10–18
- EARLY AFTERNOON: Cable car or Muni over to Fisherman’s Wharf, one Visitor Passport covers both — $14
- AFTERNOON: Watch the sea lions at Pier 39’s K-Dock, browse the boardwalk — free
- EVENING: A Bay cruise at sunset for Golden Gate Bridge views, or save that budget for Alcatraz if it’s the trip’s priority — $30–48
Money-Saving Tips for San Francisco
- Book Alcatraz first, if you want it. It sells out 60+ days ahead in summer, and it’s the one attraction you genuinely cannot buy last-minute at the dock.
- Walk the bridge instead of driving. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on foot or by bike is free in both directions, any time — only southbound car traffic pays a toll.
- Get a Visitor Passport before your second cable car ride. At $8 per single ride, two rides already costs more than the $14 all-day Passport, which also covers every Muni bus and streetcar.
- The sea lions, the Embarcadero, and Pier 7 are all free. Budget your paid-attraction money for the one or two things that genuinely cost money to see — Alcatraz, a bay cruise, a museum — not everything.
- Check CityPASS math against your actual list. The bundled savings are real, but only if you were already planning to visit three or four of the included attractions.