Free Things to Do with Kids in San Francisco

A family vacation in San Francisco doesn’t need to break the bank; travelers will find plenty of free and low-cost activities. While riding the famous cable cars is not cheap (at $9 a person), many of the city’s other iconic landmarks are free.

Nothing says “San Francisco” louder than Fisherman’s Wharf and, for kids, the star of this dockland area is Pier 39. Here they can watch sea lions cavort, and they can also be entertained by musicians, magicians, jugglers and other street performers. Kids love making their own music by going up and down the musical stairs at the middle of the pier.

Chinatown is another San Francisco landmark, and the city’s most colorful neighborhood, with its concentration of shops selling Asian foods and traditional goods. Step through the Dragon Gate into the oldest and largest Chinatown in the country, where streets and alleys will make your kids feel as though they have been transported to the other side of the world. Bright paper lanterns hang overhead from traditional curved roofs, and the air is filled with exotic fragrances and sounds.

Step off Grant Avenue to explore side streets, especially the narrow and more atmospheric Waverly Place, where you’ll find the Tin How Temple. Don’t miss Ross Alley for a visit to Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory, and watch cookies baking on a rotating cast iron griddle wheel.

Mechanically minded kids can see the inner workings of the cable car system at free Cable Car Museum atop Nob Hill. You’ll want to explore this neighborhood and nearby Russian Hill, famous for the “Crookedest Street in the World.” Lombard Street climbs past terraced homes in a series of eight hairpin curves — all within a single block.

The city’s parks alone can occupy days with activities. The star is gigantic Golden Gate Park, spanning more than 1,000 acres of lawns, gardens, public art, picnic grounds and space for kids to run off steam.

Gather picnic food from a farmers’ market and spend an afternoon looking for the park’s attractions: a playground, merry-go-round, public art, kinetic sculptures, waterfalls, a herd of buffalo and a 75-foot Dutch windmill surrounded by thousands of tulips in the early spring.