Pier 39, San Francisco

For $23, you get a combined bay cruise and tour of the Aquarium by the Bay courtesy of Gold and Blue Fleet. The Aquarium is small compared to Melbourne Aquarium and Sentosa Aquarium, Singapore.

The Bay Cruise is worth it since you can have a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. Stories of how the Golden Gate was constructed and about the prisoners of Alcatraz can be heard during the tour.

Make sure to dress warmly as it gets chilly during the cruise especially at dusk.

This San Francisco tourist trap has over 110 shops, 13 bay view restaurants, a merry go round, a game arcade, an aquarium, numerous other attractions and entertainment. Street artrist perform daily on the Center Stage area. Pier 39 is also well known as a place to view the sea lions who made this their home.

Pier 39 is the most touristy part of Fisherman's Wharf. Here you will find hundreds of shops, hundreds of restaurants and millions of tourists. Its a good place to browse around for those much purchase items such as a t shirt reading "I am an escaped mental patient from Alcatraz" which you should never wear, ever and other very important items to bring back to friends and family that they will never wear or use.

All kidding aside, one good reason to visit Pier 39, other than to test whether you have a phobia of crowds, is to find cheap eats. There are a couple of walk up seafood places where the food is fresh and good and will not deplete precious monetary resources. I'll give more specifics in the restaurant section of this page.

There is something for everyone at PIER 39, San Francisco's #1 Attraction, a festival marketplace with more than 110 stores, 13 bay view restaurants, and variety of fun-filled attractions for all ages including, splashy sea lions, street performers and live daily entertainment.

The Aquarium of the Bay is located on Pier 39. A great way to spend and hour or so.
Walk with the sharks, always better than sleeping with the fishes......via the 300 ft tunnels. There are also touch pools for the kids to explore.

What is amazing to me is the popularity of Pier 39. It's the third most visited attraction in the US and the number-one tourist spot in San Francisco, welcoming 11 million visitors per year.

PIER 39 is a multilevel waterfront complex a few blocks east of Fisherman's Wharf. Constructed on an abandoned cargo pier, it’s a neo-recreation of a turn-of-the-20th-century street scene, but don't expect a slice of old-time maritime life. It has more than 100 stores, 11 bay-view restaurants, a two-tiered Venetian carousel, a Hard Rock Cafe, and arcade and aquarium entertainment for the kids.

It also has several attractions that are unique to its Fisherman's Wharf location. The famous sea lion colony that has taken up residence on the abandoned docks next door are themselves worth a special trip. Hear them honk, snort and slap their enormous bodies around; watch them cavort with their buddies.

You can see the sea lions for free (pier entrance doesn't cost a penny), but it's advisable to bring along plenty of cash for the other attractions as everything's slated toward helping you part with your travel dollars. To residents, that pretty much wraps up PIER 39 -- an expensive spot where out-of-towners go to waste money on worthless souvenirs and greasy fast food. It's the place that locals love to hate. If you want to get to know the real San Francisco, skip the cheesy T-shirt shops and limit your time here to one afternoon.

That said, I always bring new visitors here as it does have a few perks: absolutely beautiful natural surroundings of bay views, fresh sea air, and hundreds of sunbathing sea lions lounging along its neighboring dock. My wife never seems to tire of the place and first timers always seem enjoy it.

And everything's slated toward helping you part with your travel dollars. It's the place that locals love to hate. That said, it does have a few perks: absolutely beautiful natural surroundings of bay views, fresh sea air, and hundreds of sunbathing sea lions lounging along its neighboring dock.

Pier 39 offers plenty of speciality shops and restaurants for the tourist. It is located 2 blocks away from Fisherman's Wharf.

Sail boats, cruise ships and cargo ships pass by on San Francisco Bay here. On a nice day you can get some great pictures of the passing ships. Pictures of Alcatraz can also be taken from Pier 39.

While on Pier 39, make sure you stroll by the Sea Lions. They are entertaining at best.

Do you wonder also if they are there now? That is why I added this webcam. I hope they are there! It is so much fun to watch. Only a pitty you can't hear the noise they make "oink, oink, oink", hahaha, just amazing how much noise they can produce together :-))
The webcam is from :
http://www.mapwest.com/

I can't integrate the webcam anymore in VT, so this is a picture from the 25th of September 2002. But take a look at the webcam to have a current look at the seals :
http://www.pier39restaurants.com/Jpg/ispy.jpg