Pier 39

Along the Embaradero in between the Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf, The Exploratorium was the first interactive science museum in the world, and remains perhaps the best. The converted pier is filled with intriguing interactive experiments about nearly every branch of the natural and social sciences. If you're lucky, they'll conduct one of their most famous (and fascinating to most children) demonstrations: the dissection of a cow eyeball. The exploratorium also includes the Tactile Dome, a maze that you explore in pitch darkness, using only your sense of touch.

A 45-acre pier-complex featuring 100 specialty stores, 12 full-service restaurants, theater, cruises, live entertainment, and more.

A nice place and the right size for kids, with an underwater tunnel, where the fish swim above you as you gaze at them, and ponds where you can touch various live marine animals. It's a perfectly decent aquarium, but many locals would recommend you save your money for the fantastic California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.

A short time after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake struck, these sea lions moved bag-and-baggage into the west marina at Pier 39. There can be as many as 900 sea lions there during the winter months. In the summertime many of them migrate but there is always a steady population at Pier 39's K-Dock all year round.

A small free center with limited information and sea lion merchandise. Naturalists from the Aquarium of the Bay are on hand at the center as well as on the dock overlooking the sea lions to answer questions and give presentations about the sea lions.

Colorful jugglers, magicians, clowns, mimes, and comedians of all descriptions entertain Pier 39 visitors throughout the day.