10 Things to do in San Francisco with Kids

The world's most famous trams, the Golden Gate Bridge and its sophisticated views of the West Coast bay are emblematic of this city. However, there is plenty to see and do in San Francisco, especially if you are travelling with children.

A scenic walk along the Embarcadero leads from the Ferry Building to the Exploratorium. There's also the drive through Presidio National Park to visit the Walt Disney Museum. And how can we forget Fisherman's Wharf with its popular San Francisco Aquarium along Pier 39. In this post you'll see 10 fun activities to plan your route through the heart of San Francisco.

The California Academy of Sciences building is fun to see when exploring San Francisco. The grassy roof is unique, children are impressed with the sights and activities.

The museum's intention is to explore nature while being aware of the environment, so your experience is immersive.

The place is often quite busy, especially between November and December when the Academy's reindeer, Peppermint and Cookie, stroll around and share with visitors to celebrate Thanksgiving and the December season.

This is why it is often included in travel itineraries as one of the things to do in San Francisco at Christmas.

You can skip the lines by buying your tickets to the California Academy of Sciences in advance. Also, if you bought your San Francisco Pass or other tourist passes, this entrance is included.

Practical information

• Where to find us: At 55 Music Concourse Dr, San Francisco, CA 94118.
• Price: From 20 €.
• Opening hours: Monday to Saturday from 9.30am to 5pm. Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The Aquarium of the Bay or San Francisco Aquarium is located at Pier 39, near Fisherman's Wharf.

Once you get there, kids will be dazzled as they pass through the 91-metre-long transparent tunnels.

The immersive experience offers splendid views of sea creatures, from jellyfish, wolf eels and seahorses to turtles and octopuses.

At the San Francisco Aquarium you'll find more than 20,000 marine species that make their home in San Francisco Bay. Guides and interpreters help you understand their unique ecosystems.

For a close-up look at sharks, rays and starfish, kids can head to the Touch the Bay exhibit. A few steps ahead, a group of river otters always thrills young visitors with their antics.

Find out more about the San Francisco Aquarium: admission, prices, guided tours and more, and be sure to spend an enjoyable afternoon with the kids.

As if that wasn't enough, you can access it with your San Francisco Pass and other passes such as the San Francisco with Go City ®.

Practical information

• Where the San Francisco Aquarium is located: Pier 39, Embarcadero and Beach Street, San Francisco, California.
• Price: From €30.
• Hours: Monday to Sunday 11:00 am to 6:00 pm (except for Thanksgiving and Christmas, when they close around 3:00 pm).

The Walt Disney Museum in San Francisco has everything you need to know to celebrate the life and work of Walt Disney and the rise of Mickey Mouse. There are more than 10,000 square metres of exhibits spanning his childhood memories and drawings to his work as an animator.

For Disney fans, if you enjoy the parks, movies and series and are interested in telling the story behind the genius to your children, this is the place to visit.

The museum addresses the highlights and intimate aspects of Walt Disney's career, his internationally successful productions of Snow White, Bambi, Pinocchio and Fantasia.

Temporary exhibitions also feature outstanding creative artists. The works of Maurice Sendak and Salvador Dalí have passed through this special section.

The atmosphere is warm and familiar in this area of the Presidio. The objects seem to tell a story of their own, and the audio guide available in Spanish helps you follow in Disney's footsteps.

Free parking is available next to the museum, and if you want to get the most for your money, you can take theSan Francisco Pass or other passes and visit more places in the area.

Practical information

• Where: 104 Montgomery Street in the Presidio, San Francisco, California.
• Price: From €23.
• Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm.

Your kids love adventures and you want to have a different kind of time? Book your tickets and go straight to the Escape Games in San Francisco.

Participants are locked in a room and work together to solve clues and puzzles to help them escape. Staff watch you and give you clues. It's a 60-minute immersive experience. It's great fun to watch the kids solve the clues and work as a team to escape together while testing their mental agility.

Why San Francisco? First and foremost because the whole family can participate. To solve the puzzles it is recommended that participants be 13 years of age or older, but if you have kids 4 and under they can join you and it's free, just let us know in advance when you purchase your tickets online.

Another reason that makes this experience special is that The Escape Game took care to design scenarios that are as family friendly as they are challenging for families to play. As a result, they have won the Golden Lock Awards for the best in the art.

Each room has a different theme, so you can come back more than once and experience a totally different adventure.

Make a note of this activity for your next San Francisco holiday with kids.

Practical Info

• Where to find The Escape Game: 150 Kearny Street, San Francisco, CA, 94108 (Sutter St.)
• Price: From 41 € you can join the fun.
• Hours: Monday to Sunday from 08:00 hours until 24:00 hours. It is important to reserve your place in advance.

It won't be Willy Wonka greeting you here, but I guarantee that the hosts at Ghirardelli Chocolate will put in as much or more effort than Timothée Chalamet, Johnny Depp and Gene Wilder in the movie classic.

San Francisco's chocolate is among the most prized on the West Coast of the United States and San Francisco serves as the centre of this acclaim.

San Francisco's most famous chocolate maker, Ghirardelli Chocolate, was founded in 1852 and is the oldest chocolate manufacturer in the United States still in operation.

The Original Ice Cream and Chocolate Store features some of the original equipment from the company's historic chocolate factory. You can also enjoy the brand's world-famous hot chocolate or its handmade chocolates, a children's delight.

Practical information

• Where to find this former factory: 900 North Point, ste 52, San Francisco, CA 94109.
• Price: From 13 € you can enjoy one of their famous sundays.
• Hours: Monday to Sunday 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.

Carla's Tip

Ghirardelli is usually quite busy, you can do the inside tour and take a photo under the iconic illuminated sign while you wait for your creamy ice cream.

A ride on one of San Francisco's iconic cable cars is an unforgettable experience for most children. The trams offer an exhilarating way to get from one end of San Francisco to the other, riding in an open-air carriage through the city's historic neighbourhoods.

The historic San Francisco Cable Car lines still in operation are:

• The Powell-Mason and Powell-Hyde lines begin at the corner of Powell and Market Streets.
• The Powell-Mason line runs up Nob Hill and down to Fisherman's Wharf, where it stops at Taylor and Bay Streets.
• The Powell-Hyde line also goes up Nob Hill, but turns to cross Russian Hill before terminating at Aquatic Park (Hyde and Beach Streets) near Ghirardelli Square.

Children and adults alike are amazed to witness one of the best views of San Francisco with the bay and Alcatraz in the distance. To add to the fun, the tram drivers are friendly, ringing bells at every stop and, during the steepest stretches, encouraging passengers to cheer and shout as if they were on a roller coaster.

Although all the cable car lines cater primarily to tourists, San Franciscans tend to use the California line, which runs from the financial district through Chinatown and Nob Hill and ends at Van Ness Avenue. If you want to get an idea of what to see and do in Chinatown before visiting the area like the locals, you can hop on this tram.

San Francisco's trams were created in 1873 by Andrew Hallidie to replace horse-drawn carriages. Hallidie designed a transportation system that could overcome San Francisco's steepest hills and be affordable. You can ride San Francisco's trams from €8.

This is one of the most attractive corners of San Francisco. You literally feel like you're in China. Throughout the year there are activities such as:

• Chinese New Year celebration. This is serious business here. You can enjoy the dancing lions, the paper lantern ceremony, Chinese zodiac history evenings and more. There are 3 weeks of special events in January where the whole family actively joins in the celebration.
• Fortune Cookie making is available to everyone. Since 1962 the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory has been making the curious fortune biscuits and visitors witness the process. Children love to try their luck as they witness the fortune biscuit making process.
• Film festivals such as the San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival, better known as CAAMFest; or the San Francisco International Film Festival, also known by its acronym SFFILM Festival. Both events take place in the spring and often include children's productions in their programme. You'll also find galleries, travelling shows, entertainment venues and more. There's plenty to see and do in Chinatown where the atmosphere is energetic all year round.

When you find a place where 5-, 40- and 70-year-olds alike are having fun, you can say it's family-friendly, and that's the case with the Exploratorium. This unique museum presents fascinating exhibitions on science, art and human perception.

The exhibits are a blast and get the young ones excited about learning while the adults enjoy the process.

The museum encourages children to ask questions that lead them to discover how the world works among its huge rooms and experiments in science, chemistry, biology, art and trends.

If you're looking for whatto see and do in San Francisco in 1 day with a family activity, the Exploratorium is the answer.

Practical information

• Where to find them: At Pier 15 (Embarcadero with Green Street), San Francisco, CA.
• Price: From €28.
• Hours: Thursday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm; Wednesdays from 10am to 4pm; Sundays from noon to 5pm. On Thursdays there are special activities for the over 18s between 18:00 and 22:00.

A visit to the zoo is usually a good plan with the queques and if the place offers a variety of activities, even better. This is the case at the San Francisco Zoo, where the family can:

• Ride the famous Little Puffer Train. This little steam engine is over 100 years old. It has transported generations of visitors around the zoo and is still running today. Climb aboard and travel through South America through its wildlife and stories. On the tour you will also reach the park's Bear Country, a space where children are entertained by seeing the lifestyle of these animals. Also, if you arrive early you can enjoy the following recommendation.

• Have breakfast with a brown bear. From 10:30 am the zookeepers serve breakfast to Kachina and Kiona, the park's pair of grizzly bears. If your kids surprised you with questions about Cartoon Network's We're the Bears, this is the place to ask them and share with the bears in their special place in the park.

• Visit the home of the giraffes. Zoo visitors can enter the Giraffe House to see some of the largest animals on Earth up close. This takes place every day at 3.45pm. During the walk, the keepers explain their stories as they feed the gentle animals, and it is even possible for your little one to become one of the day's helpers as he or she can serve the giraffes themselves.

In addition to these activities, it is also possible to walk through the lemur forest, meet some endangered grey wolves, take part in guided tours and more.

Check out this year's itinerary and visit San Francisco Zoo for a fun experience with the little ones.

Practical information

• Where: Sloat Blvd. at the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA. 94132
• Price: From 21 €.
• Opening hours: Monday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

A visit to Chinatown allows you to participate in exciting Asian cultural activities, but if your children are between the ages of 2 and 12 and you want to tap into their creativity in a fun environment, put The Children's Creativity Museum on your calendar of things to see and do in San Francisco.

This museum celebrates and supports children's creative expression through its animation studios, innovation labs, artistic expression room, music studios, comedy room, exhibits, programs and innovative presentations.

In this museum children are able to create clay characters for their own stop-motion animation film, to using art to manage their emotions.

This place literally is an Imagination Lab that fosters the well-being of children while they interact and have fun. Plus their prices are cheap. The prices are reasonable and children have access to a whole range of activities. Are you up for a visit?

Practical information

• Where: Yerba Buena Gardens at 221 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California.
• Price: From 19 €.
• Opening hours: Thursday to Sunday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.