Fog City Divas :: San Francisco Tourist Guide, San Francisco Information, San Francisco News » Tourism

Attractions in San Francisco

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:59:00 +0000

The main components of the image of a city are geographical, cultural, ethnic and historical. They create the internal microclimate of the city, its internal communications. A city image means the historically formed image of the city as a subject of social relations in the region or country, due to national, social and cultural factors, which is manifested in communicative attributes. San Francisco has a very strong attractive tourist image with interesting historical facts connected with the territory, beautiful landscapes, the beauty of architectural structures, the spirit of freedom in culture and relationship.

The cosmopolitan and colourful San Francisco is one of the most famous cities in the United States. And not only there. The inhabitants of the Californian city-country are around 808,976 (2008 estimation). The city is the cultural, transportation, and financial centre of the San Francisco Bay Area with population of 7.4 million individuals. San Francisco is positioned at the tip of the Peninsula and includes important stretches of San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean within its borders.

Nowadays, San Francisco is one of the most visited tourist destination worldwide, well-known with its cool summer mist, sheer rolling hills, incredible mix of modern and Victorian architecture and its legendary landmarks, such as the Golden Gate Bridge, the Alcatraz Island, the Ocean Beach, the cable cars, Chinatown etc. The city is also a main financial and banking centre, and the home of more than 30 intercontinental financial institutions. All of this makes San Francisco one of the most visited places all over the world.

San Francisco includes numerous islands, like Alcatraz, Yerba Buena Island, Treasure Island, Red Rock Island, a small portion of Alameda Island, Farallon Islands, and the Angel Island. The total area of the city including the water is just about 600 square kilometres. San Francisco is also known for its hills. There are over 50 hills in the limits of the city. Some of the neighbourhoods are named after the hill on which they are placed, such as Pacific Heights, Russian Hill, the Alamo Square (named after the Alamo Hill), and Nob Hill. The pair of hills laying at one of the highest points of the city is called Twin Peaks and it forms an admired spot for overlook. The tallest hill (282 m high) in San Francisco is Mount Davidson. Dominating in this area is also the Sutro Tower – big white and red television and radio transmission tower.

The close by Hayward Faults and San Andreas are accountable for a lot of earthquake activity, but none of them passes physically all the way through the city. The Fault of San Andreas slipped and was responsible for the earthquakes in 1906 and 1989. Negligible earthquakes happen from time to time. The risk of major earthquakes have affect on infrastructure of the city’s development.

The San Francisco Top Attractions are the Golden Gate Bridge, “The Rock” or Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Park, the Exploratorium, the Fisherman’s Wharf, the Ocean Beach of San Francisco, the Cable Cars of San Francisco, Chinatown, the Italian neighbourhood, Alamo Square, and the Red-and-White Ferry. Of course, there are many other places of interest as well.

Golden Gate Bridge

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:53:14 +0000

The Golden Gate Bridge is 1.7 mile long. It is one of the top 10 America’s wonders. If you intend to visit the city, you shouldn’t miss it for the world. The construction of the bridge lasted 4 years, from 1933 to 1937. Because of the frequent fogs it is equipped with sound and light signaling devices for the safe piloting of vessels and aircraft.

Some believe that the name of the bridge is directly related to its color and, indeed, the red-orange color of the bridge during sunset shines like gold. You can cross the bridge by walking, driving or cycling across. The bridge is the opening of San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. In 1937 when it was build the Golden Gate Bridge was the longest bridge in the world and has become a worldwide acknowledged symbol of California and San Francisco. Since it was completed the bridge’s length has been surpassed by 8 other bridges. It is still the 2nd longest bridge in the United States, after the New York City incredible Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. In 1999 the American Institute of Architects ranked the Golden Gate Bridge as the 5th on the America’s Favourite list of Architecture.

Alcatraz Island – “The Rock”

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:50:34 +0000

The Alcatraz Island is placed in the San Francisco Bay. It is 2.4 km offshore from San Francisco, California. It is known also with the name The Rock from the days when the small island was used as a military prison (Federal Bureau of Prisons federal prison till 1963), military fortification, and lighthouse. Actually, at first the island was used as a military fortress, which was later converted into a prison. The prison became famous because of the big names of some of its prisoners such as George “Machine Gun” Kelly, Robert
Stroud also called the “Bird of Alcatraz”, Henry Theodore Young and Al Capone. The prison was also famous for the fact that nobody can escape from there. There were total 14 escape attempts and all of them failed. The point is that the prison is located in the center of the bay and you can reach it only by water. But the bay water temperature is low, and the flow is very strong, so that even an excellent swimmer will not be able to swim more than 2 miles to San Francisco. In 1972 The Rock became a national amusement area and received land marking designations in both 1976 and 1986. At present, the island is a historic site open for tours, which is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Guests from all over the world can get to the island by ferry from Pier 33, near the San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf. As you probably know Alcatraz has been used in many books, comics, TV shows, movies, games and cartoons. Alcatraz became a famous historical site visited by huge number of tourists and is considered one of the most visited places in San Francisco.

The Golden Gate Park

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:48:03 +0000

The Golden Gate Park, positioned in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park with 1,017 acres of public grounds. The park is modelled as rectangle and it is comparable in shape but 20 % outsized the New York’s Central Park. The Golden Gate Park has per year 13 million visitors. It is one of the most visited city parks in the USA. The park includes the Kezar Stadium, the Conservatory of Flowers, the AIDS Memorial Grove, the Music Concourse, De Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences, the ) Japanese tea garden, the San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum, the Stow Lake, the Spreckels Lake, the Golden Gate Park Stadium, the Bison Paddock, the Windmills, the Beach Chalet etc. The park is used for some scenes in movies, such as Charlie Chaplin’s “A Jitney Elopement” and “In the Park”.

Hakone Japanese Tea Garden

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:44:39 +0000

In the Golden Gate park is located another attraction of the city – Hakone Japanese Tea Garden where you can have tea in original Japanese tea house and enjoy the small waterfall, a monumental Budha and original pagodas. People say that this is probably one of the quietest and tranquil places in the city with its small ponds, pagodas, bridges and a tea room.

The Exploratorium

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:43:14 +0000

The Exploratorium is the best museum in San Francisco. It is a mixture of art, science, and human perception full with hundreds of exhibits. The Exploratorium was founded by the famous educator and physicist Dr. Frank Oppenheimer in 1969. It offers to visitors different ways such as events, exhibits, websites, webcasts, ExNet and more in order to understand and explore the world around them. The exhibits includes: Seeing (visitors can interpret the world through their brain, their own subjectivity and their eyes), Traits of Life – A Living Laboratory, Matter/World, Listen (the idea is that sound carries information, by its nature), Mind (visitors have to observe and reflect on their own psychological experiences), Education, Arts, etc.

The Fisherman’s Wharf

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:42:01 +0000

Fisherman’s Wharf is a very popular neighbourhood with a lot of souvenir shops, restaurants, cafes, fairs, where you can admire the wonderful view of the ocean or watch a colony of sea lions. It is one of the most favourite tourist attractions in San Francisco, California. It roughly goes round the northern harbour area of San Francisco. This is one of the famous and busiest tourist attractions in North America. The historic sea front still serves as a working fishing pier, so you can expect fresh seafood from the restaurants in the area. Some of the restaurants like Alioto’s and Pompeii’s are three generations old of the same family ownership. Very close there is a chapel built in memory of the “Lost Fishermen” of Northern California and San Francisco.

Pier 39

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:40:18 +0000

Pier 39 is the favorite and “organized” resting place for the sea lions. Here, they quietly live their lives and do not pay attention to the tourists. For these animals some special wooden floorings have been made. In the skins of many of them there are traces of shark teeth.

San Francisco Cable Cars

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:37:20 +0000

In early 1980, with the subway lines to Market Street, the trams were considered outdated type of transport and tram routes were closed. It was decided to hold the last parade of “veterans”. The townspeople liked the festival so much that they began to organize it yearly, and since 1995 the historic streetcars began their regular traffic. The tram park has real rarities from all over the world – Italy, England, Portugal, Japan, etc. Most were built in 1946-1948, but there are some cars of more venerable age. The oldest one was “born” in 1895.

The system of the cable cars in San Francisco is the world’s last manually-operated cable car system, and it is an image of San Francisco. The cable car system forms part of the inner-city transport network operated by Muni (Municipal Railway). Cable cars work on two routes from downtown near Union Square to Fisherman’s Wharf, and another route all along the California Street. The cable cars are a very popular tourist attraction as well. They are as significant tourist site in San Francisco as Fisherman’s Wharf and Alcatraz Island.

San Francisco Chinatown

andy — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 17:34:44 +0000

The Chinatown in San Francisco is the oldest in North America and one of “the largest Chinese communities outside Asia”. It was established in 1840s and it was highly influential and important in the culture and history of ethnic Chinese immigrants to North America and the USA. In addition the San Francisco Chinatown has been a home and starting point for thousands of immigrants from China. It is also a main tourist attraction with its restaurants and shops. The attractions there draw more visitors per year than the Golden Gate Bridge.