Things to do in San Francisco & Yosemite

Walk the Golden Gate Bridge on its east sidewalk facing the city, ride the Powell-Hyde, Powell-Mason or California cable car lines over the hills, and take the Alcatraz City Cruises ferry from Pier 33 to Alcatraz Island for the award-winning Cellhouse Audio Tour. On the waterfront, the sea lions of PIER 39 lounge near Aquarium of the Bay, and the Exploratorium fills its pier with more than 650 hands-on exhibits from giant bubbles to indoor fog, while the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park puts an aquarium, planetarium and four-story rainforest dome under one living roof. At the city's northwest edge, the Coastal Trail at Lands End runs along the cliffs past the ruins of the Sutro Baths, and in winter the Holiday Ice Rink in Union Square opens for skating. Beyond the city, walk among old-growth coast redwoods at Muir Woods National Monument, trace computing from early calculating tools onward at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, watch the sea otter feeding at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and see the granite cliffs, waterfalls and giant sequoias of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada.

Good to knowMuir Woods requires parking or shuttle reservations in advance, and at Yosemite non-US residents aged 16 and up pay an extra nonresident fee on top of the vehicle fee unless they hold an annual pass. Alcatraz is reached only by Alcatraz City Cruises ferries, cable cars take MuniMobile, a Clipper card or exact cash, and the Golden Gate Bridge sidewalk keeps shorter hours in winter. The Computer History Museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the Exploratorium's pitch-dark Tactile Dome needs its own ticket.