Things to See in San Francisco

City Lights Bookstore
261 Columbus Ave North Beach

'A kind of library where books are sold,' reads the classic understatement in the front window of this landmark bookseller, publisher and free-speech champion. After City Lights owner and Beat luminary Lawrence Ferlinghetti and bookstore manager Shigeyoshi Murao were arrested 'willfully and lewdly' printing Allen Ginsberg's magnificent Howl and Other Poems . They won a landmark 1957 ruling against book banning and published Lenny Bruce, Paul Bowles, William S Burroughs and Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos, among others inspiring generations of booklovers to discover favorite titles on the main floor and Nirvana upstairs in Poetry.

Amoeba Records
1855 Haight St Upper Haight

This indie music megastore lures the masses with listening stations, a free music 'zine with spot-on staff reviews, a free concert series featuring Tenacious D, The Killers and mash-up master DJ ZTrip, and a foundation that's saved 950+ acres of rainforest. If you leave penniless yet craving more, sell some CDs back to Amoeba, load up again and repeatforever.

Chinatown Kite
717 Grant Ave Chinatown

Be the star of Crissy Field and wow any kids in your life with a fierce six-foot-long flying shark, the classic goggle-eyed golden carp, or 'Pink Floyd,' the goofy pink flamingo (shouldn't that be a pig, really?). The wind chimes may seem like a fine idea to scare off hungry ghosts, but some of them are loud enough to scare off the living in a windstorm - if it's feng shui you're after, go with the noiseless ba gua, a mirror inside an octagon.

Gump's
135 Post St Downtown

About 150 years before Pier One reduced Asian import chic to wicker papasan chairs, Gump's was quietly outfitting Pacific Heights meditation rooms and Nob Hill Japanese gardens with authentic decor touches. Since 1861, San Franciscan Solomon Gump's posh import and export gift emporium has been the purveyor of a range of high-end-to-overpriced, tasteful-to-bland antiques, decorative arts and Asian home furnishings, all lovingly presented in lavish window displays.

Her
2053 Fillmore St Japantown

When it's time to get girly, head to Her. They've got universally flattering Ella Moss dresses and the coveted J Brand denims worn by Angelina - you can also get the star treatment with a personal shopper dispatched to your home. In February and March, bring in clean formal wear for a local nonprofit outfitting high school girls for prom, and get 25% off your purchase. Otherwise, monitor the smoking-hot sales rack for deals up to 70% off.

101 Music
1414 Grant Ave North Beach

You'll have to bend over those bins to let DJs and hardcore collectors pass (and, hey, wasn't that Tom Waits?!), but among the thousands of discs are rare releases still sealed in their original plastic shrink-wrap. At the sister shop at 513 Green St, don't bonk your head on the vintage Les Pauls, and check out the sweet turntables that were state-of-the-art in the 1970s.

Aquarius Records
1055 Valencia St The Mission

When pop is played out, it's the dawning of the age of Aquarius. Aquarius Records that is, featuring found sounds, trippy Latin American tropicalia, Japanese noise rock and other sonic avalanches. Recent staff favorites include local bands, far-out groups like Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, and Finnish headbangers.

Piedmont Boutique
1452 Haight St The Haight

'No food, no cell phones, no playing in the boas,' says the sign at the door, but inside, that last rule is gleefully ignored by cross-dressers, cabaret singers, strippers and people who take Halloween dead seriously. All the getups are custom-designed in-house and built to last - so like certain escorts, honey, they're not as cheap as they look.

Benefit
2117 Fillmore St Japantown

Get cheeky with BeneTint, the dab-on liquid blush made from roses, or raise some eyebrows with Brow Zings tinted brow wax - they're two of Benefit's signature products invented in San Francisco by the twin-sister team. Surgery is so LA - in SF, overnight Angelinas swear by LipPlump and Lindsay Lohan dark-eye-circles are cured with Ooh La Lift.

Bi-Rite Market
3639 18th St The Mission btwn Guerrero & Dolores Sts

.Weekends are busy, busy at the Bi-Rite Market which showcases local farmers, vintners, chocolatiers and cheese mongers. Sample the season's best regional organic fruits, then take sandwiches to Dolores Park up the street.

Saloon
1232 Grant Ave North Beach btwn Columbus & Vallejo

The bouncer with the four skull rings will tell you the Saloon survived the 1906 fire by its loyal patrons brandishing buckets of beer and wine to quench the flames. Worn out and well-loved, the oldest bar in the city (1861) looks like it hasn't had a coat of paint since it was first built, and an interesting mix of disheveled old-timers, street people and local hipsters hang here. Blues and rock bands perform nightly and on Sunday afternoon.

El Rio
3158 Mission St The Mission

World music, punk, electronic grooves and salsa are all on the turntable here, sometimes all on the same night. El Rio likes its music and its patrons eclectic, free-form funky and pansexual whenever possible. The club quite rightly boasts about the back garden, its 'Totally Fabulous Happy Hour' from 16:00 to 21:00 Tuesday to Friday, and free oysters on the half shell on Fridays at 17:30.

Bambuddha Lounge
601 Eddy St The Tenderloin Phoenix Hotel

Canopy beds, mojitos and glimpses of rock stars through bamboo thickets: could this be Miami? On balmy nights and sunny Sunday afternoons, the whole town crashes the tropical party by the pool. Indoors it's more Zen-monk minimalist, with gaunt women picking at tiny, pretty dishes, so booze it up outside and invite total strangers to rub your belly for good luck - bet you'll find takers.

Harry's Bar
2020 Fillmore St Pacific Heights

Botox, schmotox: cap off a visit to neighborhood day spas with Harry's raspberry-mango mojitos and frown lines are history. Opera season ticket-holders troll the mahogany bar, flogging their tickets to young men planning benefit soirees while wolfing down burgers and fries.

Aunt Charlie's
133 Turk St The Tenderloin

Like any lady of mystery, Aunt Charlie rocks sunglasses indoors and negligees under raincoats. Weekends this drag bar brings vintage pulp fiction covers with the Hot Boxxx Girls. Thursday is the Tubesteak Connection, when vintage bathhouse anthems and '80s techno draw crowds of art-school gays until corsets are tightened to make room for more. Check the rags for celeb DJ Bus Station John's fab-fab monthly parties, the Rod, and Double Dutch Disco.

Cafe Tosca
242 Columbus Ave North Beach

Tosca Cafe did not need a mink coat to become a legend. The old-world bar, the tall espresso machine and the opera on the juke box set a nice stage and the celebrities (local and otherwise) sprinkled in the crowd put on a little show. A great place to sink back in a Naugahyde booth and savour a midweek martini.

Berkeley Repertory Theater
2025 Addison St Berkeley

Nights here are full of award-winning, progressive theatre. A little more edgy than its sister at the Geary downtown, they'll do Shakespeare, but they'll also do work by Tony Kushner or Culture Clash. Classic, contemporary and works hot off the page are performed on one of their two stages near the downtown Berkeley BART station.

Biscuits & Blues
401 Mason St Downtown

The Mississippi Delta it ain't, but this is a definite bet for good live blues. With a steady lineup of blues and jazz talent, Biscuits & Blues has actually earned a reputation as one of the best blues clubs in the USA. And the name isn't just a gimmick - the joint serves up hot biscuits, catfish and chicken to get you fully experiencing the Southern love.

Yoshi's
510 Embarcadero West Oakland at Jack London Square

Unquestionably the best jazz club in the Bay Area if not the West Coast, Yoshi's has talent from around the world passing through on a near-nightly basis. Often, touring artists will stop in for a stand of two or three nights. Having the best bar food (sushi, grilled Japanese snacks) around only sweetens the deal.

Fillmore Auditorium
1805 Geary Blvd Japantown

There's no way to say, 'Yeah, I saw that at the Fillmore' without sounding like you're bragging. The Fillmore shows big acts in a relatively small 1250-seat setting, where you can squeeze in next to the stage if you're polite about it. The eclectic calendar runs the gamut from big-name rock concerts to punk shows to wild wrestling matches. Upstairs, see psychedelic rock history unfold in all its Day-Glo glory in the Fillmore's poster art gallery.

Australian Consulate General
575 Market St South of Market Suite 1800

Quetzal
1234 Polk St Civic Center

Post Office
Hallidie Building 150 Sutter St Union Square

San Francisco General Hospital
1001 Potrero Ave Potrero Hill

Canadian Consulate
555 Montgomery St Financial District

German Consulate General
1960 Jackson St Pacific Heights

Sf Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center
1800 Market St Civic Center

'The Other City Hall' is home to indispensable nonprofits and host to comedy nights, political rallies, drag showcases and other pursuits of happiness - it even provides childcare services to visiting proud parents. The glorious historic aqua Victorian has been opened up in the middle and outfitted with a sheer glass facade, like a closet propped permanently open to let in the light.

French Consulate General
540 Bush St Union Square

San Francisco Visitors Information Center
900 Market St Civic Center

University of California-San Francisco Medical Center
505 Parnassus Ave Inner Sunset

Michelangelo
570 Columbus Ave North Beach

Finicky purists scoff at Michelangelo, but for a cheap plate of spaghetti Bolognese and a convivial crowd, it's hard to beat this hole-in-the-wall joint in the middle of the Columbus St action. Wine comes in rooster-shaped pitchers, and big bowls of gummie bears get passed around for dessert. Fun, easy and fast - except when there's a line. Cash only.

Ame
689 Mission St The Mission St Regis Hotel

Inside the coolly elegant St Regis Hotel, Ame (ah-may) has a spectacular (though pricey) sashimi bar, an impressive selection of sakes and a rich menu of perfectly executed dishes such as sake-marinated black cod with shrimp dumplings, and risotto with eel and foie gras. Service could be better at this price, but the food is incredible.

1550 Hyde St
1550 Hyde St Nob Hill

'Clang clang clang went the trolley, zing zing zing went my heartstrings' That Judy Garland tune finally makes sense after an evening at this romantic hilltop restaurant, with dark wood, candles everywhere, and big Bay windows to watch the cable cars pass. The seasonal three-course dinner's a deal at around 30 Sunday through Thursday, with an optional 16 pairing option that would be foolish to pass up.

Zuni Café
1658 Market St Civic Center

Gimmickry is for amateurs - Zuni has been turning basic menu items into gourmet staples since 1979. Reservations and fat wallets are necessary, but the see-and-be-seen seating is a kick and the food is beyond reproach: organic beef burgers on focaccia with matchstick fries, Caesar salad with house-cured anchovies, crispy roasted free-range chicken with horseradish mashed potatoes, and impeccable chocolate pudding.

Aqua
252 California St Financial District

Dinner here is a major investment, but the around 35 three-course business lunch is a solid bet: tiny, jewel-like dishes so fresh and delicately handled, you can almost taste the sun in a cherry tomato, and that wild salmon's last smirk. Service is easygoing yet attentive and smart, so you can trust your server to recommend worthy wine pairings and give you an honest assessment of a dish.

Ramp
855 China Basin St Downtown head to the foot of Mariposa St, off 3rd St

Only locals lunch here, in an industrial shipyard on the eastern waterfront. Sit on the docks at umbrella tables and purge your hangover with Bloodies. The food's OK, mostly sandwiches and salads, but the crowd is a cool cross section, and the not-yet gentrified area shows a side of SF few visitors see. Musicians play weekends and the place become a bar.

Greens & Greens to Go
Bldg A, Fort Mason Center The Marina cnr Marina Blvd & Buchanan St

Long-running Greens raises the standard for vegetarianism, with inventive cooking so good that even hard-core meat eaters leave sated. The former industrial space juts out over the water, with stupendous Golden Gate Bridge views. Or picnic by the bay with salads, sandwiches and fantastic black-bean chili from Greens to Go.

Sai Jai Thai
771 O'Farrell St Civic Center

Mum and the cooks shout at each other in Thai, hardly anyone speaks English, and the room is grungy, but the cooking's spot-on. Just make sure when you're asked how hot, you reply, 'Spicy like for Thai people!'

Chow
215 Church St The Castro

Just like its sister restaurant Park Chow, this place offers affordable arugula and goat cheese pizzas, pastas, and grilled and roasted meats. There might be a wait for a table that's not by the bathroom or right in front of the door, but the prices are right and the friendly staff make it a pleasant place to dish the dirt with friends.

L'Osteria del Forno
519 Columbus Ave North Beach

Off-the-boat waiters serve trattoria-style Italian dishes at this tiny, eight-table spot that lines 'em up every night. Though little on the menu is truly authentic, the crispy-thin pizzas and roasted meats have a soul-satisfying quality and prices are reasonable. For dessert: affogato (espresso poured over ice cream). Cash only.

MH De Young Memorial Museum
50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr Golden Gate Park

The latest, greatest addition to the park is the sleek, sensational copper-clad de Young, cleverly treated by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron to rapidly oxidize green to blend into the park. Herzog & de Meuron won a Pritzker Prize (the architecture equivalent of a Nobel) for the repurposed industrial Tate Modern and showed a similar appreciation for building environment with the 2005 de Young, whose perforated facade pattern is drawn from aerial photography of the park.

Alcatraz
Alcatraz Island depart pier 41, Fisherman's Wharf The Piers

Alcatraz: For almost 150 years, the name has given the innocent chills and the guilty cold sweats. Over the years it's been the nation's first military prison, then a forbidding maximum-security penitentiary, then disputed territory between Native American activists and the FBI. No wonder that first step you take off the ferry and onto 'The Rock' seems to cue ominous music: dunh-dunh-dunnnnh! Ferry prices can vary significantly: shop around.

Aquarium Of The Bay
Fisherman's Wharf Pier 39

Watch sharks circle overhead, manta rays skate shyly by and seaweed sway all around, as conveyer belts guide you through glass tubes right into the Bay. Not for the claustrophobic, perhaps, but a thrilling fish-eye view of San Francisco that leaves kids and parents wide-eyed and humming Little Mermaid tunes.

Golden Gate Bridge
north from San Francisco: take a right at the last exit off Highway 101 Marine Dr The Presidio

Strange but true: the elegant suspension bridge painted a signature shade called 'International Orange' was almost nixed by the Navy in favor of concrete pylons and yellow stripes. Joseph B Strauss correctly gets heaps of praise as the engineering mastermind behind this marvel. Only southbound traffic is charged a toll.

Cartoon Art Museum
655 Mission St SoMa

Comics fans need no introduction to the permanent collection here - please, like you need a wall tag to spot John Romita's truly amazing Spiderman cover drawings, or Edward Gorey's sketches for Gashlycrumb Tinies, starting with 'A is for Amy who fell down the stairs/B is for Basil assaulted by bears'?

Creativity Explored
3245 16th St The Mission

This is an extraordinary nonprofit celebrating art without limits, where 100 developmentally disabled artists create alongside other professional artists. Recent themed group shows have covered art inspired by jazz, superheroes and super-villains, and mail art. Don't miss the art openings, which are joyous events.

Fort Point
Marine Dr Fort Mason

Spoiling for a fight, Fort Point is the result of a seven-year makeover from small Spanish fort to triple-decker US military fortress. The Fort was completed with 126 cannons in 1861, just in time to protect the Bay against certain invasion by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War or not, as it turned out. Without firing a single shot, Fort Point was abandoned in 1900, and became neglected once the Golden Gate Bridge was built right over it.

Exploratorium
3601 Lyon St The Marina

Is there a science to skateboarding, do robots have feelings, too, and do toilets really flush counter-clockwise in Australia? Head to the Exploratorium to get fascinating scientific answers to all those questions you always wanted to ask in science class. Try out a punk hairdo courtesy of the static electricity station and feel your way through the maze of the Tactile Dome; patrons must be over seven years old and reservations are required.

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd St SoMa

With its vantage point on the cutting edge of the Pacific Rim, local technology savvy and prodigious collection of photography, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) was destined from the start (in 1935) to be an eclectic, unconventional museum. But when it moved into architect Mario Botta's light-filled brick box in 1995, suddenly it became clear just how far this museum was prepared to push the art world.

Golden Gate Park
bounded by Stanyan St, Fulton St & Lincoln Way western side of the city from Haight-Ashbury to the beach Golden Gate Park

When San Franciscans refer to 'the park,' there's only one that gets the definite article: Golden Gate Park. Everything that San Franciscans hold dear is here: free spirits, free music, redwoods, Frisbee, protests, fine art, bonsai and buffalo.

Queen Anne Hotel
1590 Sutter St Western Addition from Sutter St and Van Ness Ave, walk 4min W on Sutter St

The Queen Anne Hotel was built in 1890 as a girls' boarding school. The place is huge - 48 rooms, with a giant downstairs parlour - and would be perfect for a game of hide-and-seek. Some details are tacky, but the hotel has a wonderful sense of place.

Mark Hopkins Intercontinental Hotel
Nob Hill 999 California St from Union Sq, ascend steep Powell St for 6min; turn left on California St, and climb the hill for 2min to Mason St

Glistening marble floors reflect the glow of two giant crystal chandeliers in the lobby of the Mark Hopkins, one of San Francisco's landmark hotels. The Mark conveys a quiet, timeless elegance that distinguishes it from most SF hotels.

Hotel Vertigo
Tenderloin from Union Sq, walk N on Powell St 2min to Sutter St, then 8min W on Sutter St 940 Sutter St

Scenes from Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo were shot here, and the 2008 refurb of the former York Hotel nods to the master with Spirograph-like artwork reminiscent of the opening sequence. The mostly residential 'hood is quiet by night, but a short walk to Union Sq.

St Regis Hotel
125 3rd St SoMa from Powell St station, walk E on Market St 3min to 3rd St, on the S side of Market St; turn right (S) and walk one and a half blocks

The pinnacle of luxury, the St Regis honors its neighbor, the Museum of Modern Art, with stunning sculptures and paintings filling its public areas. Of San Francisco's top-shelf hotels, the St Regis and the Four Seasons run neck and neck for first place.

Hotel Bohème
North Beach 444 Columbus Ave from the intersection of Columbus Ave and Broadway St, walk NW on Columbus Av for 4min

A love letter to the Beat era and Jazz Age, the Hotel Bohème captures the spirit of North Beach in the 1950s and '60s, when the likes of writer Jack Kerouac and painter Robert LaVigne prowled the city streets.

Inn 1890
1890 Page St Upper Haight from the Golden Gate Park end of Haight St, walk N 1min to Page St; turn right and walk 1min to the inn

An enchanting 16-bedroom Victorian mansion with little ornamentation, the Inn 1890 sits on a quiet residential street in the Upper Haight, near the city's center point. Given the exceptional charm, personalized service and quality of the rooms, the rates are a bargain. Seek this place out.

Fairmont
950 Mason St Nob Hill from Union Sq, ascend Powell St for 6min; turn left on California St and climb the hill for 2min to Mason St

The Fairmont stands as a monument to 1906 grandeur, the archetype in the genre of old-school fancy hotels. The huge lobby is so elaborately decked out with crystal chandeliers, marble floors, potted palms and giant yellow marble columns that you may feel like you've just stepped onto a movie set.

Red Victorian Bed, Breakfast Art
1655 Haight St Upper Haight from Haight and Ashbury Sts, walk W for 2min up Haight St toward Golden Gate Park

The 'Summer of Love' lives on at the Red Vic. A cozy B&B with tripped-out theme rooms related to harmonious living, the inn also has a cafe and gallery with art promoting peace and a 'change in human consciousness' - welcome to old-school San Francisco.

Seal Rock Inn
545 Point Lobos Ave The Richmond from the terminus of the 38 Geary bus, walk half a block N to the motel

You can smell the salty air from your room at this beachside motel, on a hill overlooking the mighty Pacific. You'll be 9km (5.5mi) from the city center, but there's something magical about staying by the ocean. And it's blissfully quiet.

Hotel Monaco
501 Geary St from Union Sq, walk 1min W on Geary St Union Square

It's hard not to love the Monaco, with its whimsical design and high-style playful spirit. Design details feature a pastiche of big, bold circus-color schemes and unexpected patterns, from leopard prints to stripes. The Monaco is pet-friendly too, and they'll even bring you a goldfish to keep you company.