What to do with a 9 and 11 y/o for a tour of SF
Dear BPN Community,
A distant cousin from London will be visiting us soon with her 9 and 11 y/o daughters and we have planned one day to show them around SF, Easter Sunday. There are 6 of us so we would either need 2 cars or would take BART from North Berkeley. I thought it would be fun to take the cable car to Ghiradelli Square, get ice cream, walk to Fisherman's Wharf, but then I'd love to show them GG Park and drive by the ocean. That would require driving and we'd be in 2 cars which is awkward. Of course the Tea Garden would be fun but I think that would be too much. Don't know whether it being Easter will affect these plans in any way.
I'm a native San Franciscan but I'd so appreciate your advice about this from those who are more in sync with this age group.
thanks so much!
Parent Replies
Public transportation + Uber XL might be an answer, if you don't want to deal with 2 cars.
When we have family from overseas, we actually rented a mini van for the day and drove that into the city. We went to Muir Woods and then went to SF to hang out, have dinner, etc.
You can BART/public transit to Exploratorium, which is really fun for this age group. (Adults love it, too!). You could easily make it a full day by going to Exploratorium, take the street car to Pier 49, get ice cream, check out Musee Mechanique, do a bit of touristy stuff, take the cable car to Union Sq. where you can BART back. Hop on/Hop off bus is actually pretty neat for first time tourists.
Alcatraz tour is really interesting and the view is amazing.
Japantown! I also really love the Presidio.
I would highly recommend using one of the local bus “tours.” The big bus is similar to what they have in London, but not as great — https://www.bigbustours.com/en/san-francisco/san-francisco-bus-tours?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADe-u1KYOY6ppvPJ5POPiSCMBCjiU&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqv2_BhC0ARIsAFb5Ac8fXOTaDYyBZqgmGweMYJ2OHQJmTQApoAezG6_1huWVGjzAi9kr1uMaAoidEALw_wcB
The buses come all the time at various points in the city, and you jump on at whatever location you want and you get off at whatever location you want. You could take Bart to Union Square and start there. If you go to the website, it tells you how long it takes if you want to stay and do all the stops. But it’s such a less expensive alternative to Uber and offers flexibility. You put on the audio overview, which is quite cheesy, but you might find it funny if you have a sarcastic sense of humor.
Good luck!
You can also consider taking a Waymo around while you are in the city, and we also like to take the ferry in if the weather is good. Presidio Tunnel Tops is another park option closer to Pier 39 with great views and walkable to Crissy Field. The kids may be a little too old for the playground there but it's also great.
Another transportation thought - take the ferry! That is like a tour plus transportation rolled into one!
There is so much! A few things that come to mind- find a parking garage and leave one of the cars there if you can all fit into one.
Things the kids would love-
The Exploratorium
The Academy of Sciences
The Palace of fine Arts - there’s a cool balloon art exhibit there now
The SF Zoo is also great
Sounds like you're really interested in showing off the city, which is lovely! For the cable cars, expect a wait (20 min plus) if you plan to hop aboard at either the end of the line. I would encourage taking BART to the Embarcadero station and then take the F line, which is an above ground trolley car that you can easily pay with a Clipper card, to Ghiradelli Square. Mind you it will be running on a Sunday schedule, so expect wait times. There is the wave organ which is a bit over 2 miles away from Ghiradelli Square, but it is an odd SF thing plus you see great views of the Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.
I would ask them which type of food like would like to eat and maybe structure the next moves from there. Also those ages would still be interested by the Exploratorium, Cal Academy of Science (which you can get free tickets from Discover and Go passes at your library), maybe Conservatory of Flowers? Either way, pack snacks and tissues and make sure you've got $ on your Clipper card. Best of luck!
Coit Tower might fit into your plans well without requiring a car! If everyone is pretty mobile, I think the hike up the hill/steps (depending on angle of approach) is super fun and also SO San Francisco (maybe save Ghirardelli for later as a bribe for accomplishing the trek). The murals are cool and the views from the top are great. The F line (if it's running on Easter sunday) is also kinda fun as transit but doesn't really open up new neighborhoods from the cable car unless you wanna head all the way to the Mission/Castro — maybe some Dolores Park time??
When we have first-time out-of-town visitors, we go into the city via the San Rafael and Golden Gate Bridges; it's longer but you get more of a picture of how the area is laid out with the Bay and the islands and so forth, and the first views of the bridge, and SF from the Marin Headlands are so gorgeous. We head to the right after the bridge to walk around Lands End a little, and then depending on the ages and tastes of the group we do dimsum on Clement Street or a meal at the Beach Chalet and maybe spend the rest of the day at the Exploratorium. In our experience Fisherman's Wharf is underwhelming, and a lot of the fine art museums host traveling blockbuster exhibitions our guests may already have seen at home, but the Exploratorium is unique and the setting on the Bay adds to the specificity of the experience.
Oh my gosh, how could you miss out on Hunky Jesus at Dolores Park on Easter Sunday!??!! It's a San Francisco ritual and you're so lucky that's the day they're able to be in the city!
Easter In The Park: “No Easter Without The T.”
Sunday, April 20, 2025 | 10:30 am to 4pm
– Children’s Easter: 10:30 to 11:30 am
– Easter Celebration: Noon to 4:00 pm
– Hunky Jesus Contest: 3:00 pm
This isn't for every family, but if they want a Very San Francisco Experience and are the type of people who would find this amusing instead of offensive, you could attend Easter in the Park including the Hunky Jesus contest (https://secretsanfrancisco.com/sisters-easter-sf/).
Generally, you have great ideas. Here are some suggested slight alterations and other ideas, depending on what they like:
Alcatraz was a hit for kids that age when my out of town family came to visit. We didn’t go to Angel Island, but that would be fun too (esp on bikes).
Adding to this as I think the suggestions from Anonymous user are great-you could look into taking the ferry to SF, either from Richmond or Jack London (and/or taking the ferry back). You'd have to park at one of the ferry terminals, but Richmond's terminal at least has free and ample parking. Fun way to get to the city and get some good sightseeing in. You could get some food at the ferry building then head to the Exploratorium since it's so close. You'll want to check the schedule for Easter Sunday-enjoy!
I see that the Hyde Street Pier is closed indefinitely--that would have been by #1 suggestion. Fort Point would also be fun for this age, and it's an interesting perspective on the GG Bridge.
I see someone beat me to the suggestion of renting a minivan., which would dodge the two-car problem. Not that there's anything wrong with public transportation.
Totally recommend taking the ferry from Oakland (Jack London Square) or Richmond if that's closer! The ferry is TONS of fun for visitors (and non-visitors :)) You can walk to the cable car from the ferry building.
Then I wonder if you could take a Waymo to GG park/ocean? That could be fun too, and novel. I haven't done it myself but my husband takes visitors every time they go into the city and they love it. But Uber XL (as someone else mentioned) also sounds like a great option. At the ocean, you could take them to Lands End if you have time- that's consistently a winner for our visitors.
Your cousin and her daughters are so lucky! What a fun itinerary you've come up with for them!
I agree with other posters re exploratorium and other fun places like Pier 39. Alcatraz is also fun with kids. Especially the night tour.
Not sure you want to spend the time but if you take Bart and then the N Judah Muni you can get to the beach. But car is more efficient of course. Uber is probably a good idea
My Norwegian family came to visit when my son was 10 - we drove to Ocean Beach (from East Bay via Bay Bridge), parked near Java Beach and walked the whole park stopping at Stow Lake, went to Inner Sunset for lunch, went through the AIDS grove, past the Academy of Science and onto the Upper haight And saw some houses where Janis Joplin lived etc. We took the Judah back to our car from Cole and Carl. On the way home we went over the Golden Gate. My family loved it and so did my son. Not sure if your visitors want to walk that much but it I was epic fun and my kid liked it too,
Maybe you can present some different options and see what they want to do? Some people are really into seeing the Golden Gate Bridge for example while others don't care about it and have a different interest. My public-transit itinerary would probably be in line with the first things you mentioned but then from Fisherman's Wharf taking the bus to Chinatown rather than trying to go to Golden Gate Park. I never get tired of going to Chinatown, there's lots of interesting shops for browsing, there's a little media or something museum that had an interesting art display when I was there with friends back in December, not to mention all the food and tea options... I'm sure you will have a great time! Enjoy!