Things to see in San Francisco

One of San Francisco's principal attractions is its network of century-old cable cars, America's only mobile National Historic Landmark. The system was opened in 1873, when Andrew Hallidie guided the first car down Clay Street, near Portsmouth Square, to replace horse-drawn streetcars. It was refurbished in the 1980s. The ride and the views can best be enjoyed standing on one of the outside platforms but travellers should hold on tight and watch out for traffic. The cars operate along three routes. The Powell-Hyde and Powell-Mason lines, beginning at Powell Street and Market Street, run roughly north-south between Fisherman's Wharf and Union Square. The California Street line runs east-west from California Street and Market Street, near the Embarcadero to Van Ness Avenue. The cars are turned by hand on turntables at the end of the line - all part of the experience. A visit to the free Cable Car Museum (www.cablecarmuseum.org) completes the experience. Here, located in the city's only remaining cable car barn and powerhouse, visitors can view the cable-winding machinery as it reels 17km (11 miles) of steel at a steady pace of 15km (9.5 miles) per hour. The mechanism is much more interesting than you might think and a video, historical memorabilia and gift shop make the museum a compelling stop.

Under the creative direction of architect Daniel Libeskind, The Contemporary Jewish Museum reopened in June 2008 in the landmark 1907 Jessie Street Power Substation, recognised by the 3,000 blue steel panels that clad the exterior. With a ‘no permanent exhibitions' policy, the museum hopes to earn kudos as a ‘dynamic and ever-changing' art hub representing the highest level of artistic achievement.

In the daytime, visitors throng the sidewalks and piers of Fisherman's Wharf - a centre for tacky souvenirs, Bay-view restaurants, shops, attractions and the spectacle of some 500 resident sea lions crowded onto pontoons to sunbathe. The sea lions appeared soon after the 1989 earthquake and have made this area home, leaving only briefly during the spring to breed in the Channel Islands. But in the early hours of the morning, from dawn until 0900, the ambitious visitor can get quite another view - that of a busy fish distribution centre sending out seafood both locally and further afield. Dylan Thomas once waxed lyrical to his wife, Caitlin, about the quality of the lobsters, clams and crabs here and small wonder - oysters, chowder, crab and shrimp cocktail are sold in disposable cartons on the wharf, for eating while strolling.

Pier 39, where Beach Street meets The Embarcadero, is actually one of 29 curiously numbered piers on the waterfront and is now the city's biggest attraction. Not only is it home to the sea lions but also many other attractions, such as the Aquarium of the Bay, where moving sidewalks are surrounded on three sides by water. Sightseeing boats leave from Pier 39 and the neighbouring Pier 41. The Cannery houses 30 speciality shops, while Ghirardelli Square, a former chocolate factory turned chic shopping centre, close by at the west end of Fisherman's Wharf, can also be approached from the wharf. Hyde Street Pier, which displays historic ships (including the Eureka, an 1890 paddle wheeler, and the schooner CA Thayer) and the art deco Maritime Museum, show how life in the city a century ago was much more entwined with the marine industry.

The 412 hectares (1,017 acres) of Golden Gate Park encompass meadows, lakes, myriad gardens, an open-air music concourse, a children's playground and vintage carousel, a buffalo paddock and the tallest artificial waterfall in the West. The park fronts Ocean Beach, which affords spectacular sunset views. Some 10,000 plant species flourish in the San Francisco Botanical Garden, while the must-see Japanese Tea Garden is an absolute haven. The Conservatory of Flowers is a living museum of rare and tropical plants.

Founded in 1895, the de Young Museum has moved twice due to earthquakes, but but its feet are now firmly planted at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), which includes the de Young Museum and the Legion of Honor. The new de Young, rebuilt in 2005 and largely supported with private money, holds many surprises, not least the textured copper facade and spiralling tower rising like a beacon in Golden Gate Park. Galleries flow from one to the next, each an experience that touches the senses. Gaze at fifth-century Peruvian artefacts and prized Maori sculptures from New Zealand, then wander through the Rockefeller Collection of American Paintings to dangling collages of modern art.

Destined to become a self-sufficient national park in its own right, the land and buildings of Presidio surround the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was formerly one of the oldest military installations in the country and now houses a forest, a Civil War brick fortress and a museum.