Fisherman's Wharf Highlights

Best of the Wharf

Wharf Ships in Fog by Brett Whysel

Fisherman's Wharf is a busy tourist area usually shunned by SF locals. Located on the waterfront, it is the former headquarters of authentic fishing markets and fisherman. Today, it is primarily souvenir shops and restaurants. The Wharf is the most popular tourist destination in SF. Does this make it a fun place to go?

Recommendation:

I recommend you go there for a few hours but avoid wasting the day there. There are some nice views, but the focus is to separate you from your money via shopping. Many tour boats leave from the wharf including the smooth Adventure Cat catamaran. Parking is $5.50 per hour with a $30 maximum at most lots, and the food is mediocre + overpriced. It's a fun, crowded place to sightsee. Most locals avoid the restaurants at the wharf like the plague. There are much better places to get seafood in the City. The wharf is a tacky place and maybe is best compared to a Disneyland or Great America -- it's a theme park, with the typical scams.

Musee Mechanique - Vintage Amusements

Transportation:

The Wharf is one of the most expensive places to park in San Francisco. There is also a heavy load of auto congestion and pedestrian traffic. Parking is $5.50 per hour with a $30 maximum. You should strongly consider a cab, cable car, or the bus. Either the Powell-Hyde cable car or Powell-Mason cable car will take you to the wharf in style, but slowly for $3 each way. The best muni bus to ride is the #42 Downtown Loop. Avoid the #30 Stockton -- it is an extremely crowded line through Chinatown and VERY slow. The #19 Polk and #39 Coit also go to the Wharf. Bus fare is only $1 each way, but usually a pretty unpleasant experience. A cab will cost you approximately $10 each way.

Wharf History:

The wharf was created by Henry Meiggs as "Meiggs Wharf" to serve the lumber trade. Meigg's wharf was always a spot for the fishing fleet, swimmers, and sunbathers. There was once a pig who could play cards, skateboarding penguins, and a greased pole for people to climb as a contest. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory (now a shopping mall) launched the wharf's heightened popularity. In the end though, Henry Meiggs was run out of town with a posse following him for revenge...

Free Attractions:

Don't miss the municipal pier. Nearby is the art deco Maritime Museum. It was designed in the 1930's as a public bathhouse. The WPA-era underwater fantasy mural is excellent, along with the anchor of the Independence, and the hull of the scow Charles W.

The Cannery (shopping mall) houses the free but small Museum of the City of San Francisco. The museum has great information on the 1906 earthquake and motion picture history. There's free music daily in the courtyard of the Anchorage (shopping mall) from noon to 4 p.m. Many fishing boats are between Alioto's restaurant and Pier 47. The best attraction of all is the sea lions at Pier 39 (huge shopping mall). Go up the left side of Pier 39 and avoid the very tacky shopping there. There are almost fifty sea lions and they bark like crazy. It's free and they hang out there every day.

Historic Boat Tours:

Hyde Street Pier features wooden boats from the early 1900's. A tour of the pier is $2. Of the seven boats moored at Hyde Street Pier, six are considered national landmarks. The square-rigged Balclutha was just restored at a cost of $1.5 million. The Balclutha made seventeen trips around Cape Horn. The C.A. Thayer was a lumber schooner from 1895. The tour includes a video of the Thayer's final voyage in 1950. The Eureka was once the world's biggest passenger ferry -- able to carry 2,300 passengers and 120 cars. The Eureka sailed from 1922 to 1941.

Moving to Pier 45, the Liberty Ship S. S. Jeremiah O'Brien and the WW II Pampanito are moored. Touring The Jeremiah costs $5 and the Pampanito is $7. The Pampanito is restored to wartime condition but contains many low doorways and cramped compartments (avoid if claustrophobic). The Jeremiah and the Pampanito's guns are pointed right at each other. The Jeremiah is the last Liberty Ship operating of two-thousand built.

The Historic Balcutha

Reader Recommendations:

"* The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located on Fisherman's Wharf, with the Maritime Museum and historic sailing ships docked off the Hyde Street Pier.
* There are some good piers behind the tacky restaurant row (A. Sabella's, Fisherman's Grotto) from which you can get a quiet, unique view of the bay and Alcatraz."
* The charter sail boats are a great bargain at only around $25-- some sail right from the wharf and go under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alkatraz.

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