Are you visiting San Fran with kids and looking for cheap things to do in San Francisco? We spent New Years Eve (opens in new tab) in San Fran and made a special effort to find child-orientated activities. If you’re planning on visiting San Francisco soon or having a holiday in San Fran, two of these places are even free which is great for us family budget travellers. Read on for our 3 kid orientated things do in San Fran.
Pop Over To Baker Beach
You cannot possibly go all the way to San Fran and not visit Baker Beach. This is the beach that sits directly under the Golden Gate Bridge which is actually red.
It’s a small covey beach which hugs the Atlantic. In January it was not warm but certainly was not as cold as some of the British beaches we’ve been to in Summer. The beach has panoramic views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands and Lands End, just make sure you wrap up warm!
Other activities to do nearby include the Sand Ladder, Marshalls Beach, Lands End Labyrinth, Battery Marcus Miller, Fort Point Historic Site, Crissy field (which is the beach on the opposite side of the peninsular), the Wave Organ and Pier 39. There’s even a beer company locally called Fort Point Beer Brewery.
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Travel to San Fran for less than £1,000 for 5! Get Cheap Flights To San Fran With Kiwi.
Spend The Day At California Academy of Sciences
California’s Academy of Sciences is excessively expensive for a family of five BUT incredibly worthwhile visiting and as a bonus, it’s open three hundred and sixty-five days a year. If you plan on spending quite a bit of time in San Fran or even visiting more than once, you might want to consider buying a membership.
It is described as the world’s only aquarium-planetarium-rainforest-living museum and there’s a wealth of information to be seen and learned.
Our top tip would be to get a free ticket for the planetarium and don’t miss your slot. It gives you such a breath-taking experience to see how small the earth is in comparison to space. Also make sure you get there early and take a packed lunch to save money too.
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Climb Up Onto Battery Spencer
There are a number of batteries around the Golden gate bridge and in order to get to this one, you’ll need to first cross the bridge heading north.
During the early 1900’s, Battery Spencer was one of the main protection points for the San Francisco harbour. It featured manned, military guns and buildings for housing generators and shells.
It was operated until World War II and today it is free to visit where you can explore abandoned buildings and get that amazing view over the bridge and back over to San Fran city. Although on the day we visited the cloud coverage came in quickly and left the city only partially visible.
Parking was chaotic and full when we got there, so we parked about 1/2km up the hill and walked down. The area is full of walking and cycling paths and whilst visiting we saw at least five buzzards in the sky.
Other things to do on this side of the bay are Fort Baker, the Marine Mammal Centre, Rodeo Beach, the museum Nike Missile Site SF-88, Black Sands beach, Battery Wallace, Fort Cronkhite and a number of trails.
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Looking For Other Ideas On Things To Do?
Relevant Posts From America
If you’re looking for inspiration on what to do with kids in America, check out some of our other posts from our time there.
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