Aquarium of the Bay

If you have kids, they will love the Aquarium by the Bay. You can walk underwater and there will be sharks swimming over you. At the end you can touch stingrays and other sea creatures. My wife touched an anemone and it stuck to her finger. This is a fun place and worth the money; if you bring a camera, make sure you have a fast lens—it gets dark in there. You can buy a week-long city pass in San Francisco and for 60 dollars you get access to the museum, trolley rides, a boat trip that takes you under the Golden Gate Bridge, and more. We bought them for our whole family and had a blast going to all the museums and other things that were included. We loved our vacation to San Francisco and are planning another trip next year!

On the water’s edge at Pier 39, more than 30,000 sea creatures from the San Francisco Bay and California coastline await. Walk-through transparent tunnels that bring the bay’s diverse aquatic life up close. You’ll come eye-to-eye with the native sevengill sharks, watch the hypnotic motion of the jellyfish, and can even touch a grand bat ray’s wing, if you dare. The aquarium also hosts daily naturalist-led animal feedings, talks about tide pools, octopi, and climate change, interactive experiments, and a new virtual reality experiences that bring you upclose to whales and polar bears. Four adorable otters live here, too. Considered a watershed ambassador, otters are indicators or healthy waterways. Add on a behind-the-scenes tour and shark feeding tour to the regular admission ticket, and make an unforgettable day of this amazing waterside habitat.