Hi there!
It’s very possible to have a perfect one day in San Francisco without a car because San Francisco is connected well by public transportation.
And there are lots of things to do in San Francisco cruise port on your own.
Arriving by cruise ship means that your starting point in San Francisco will probably be near Fishermans Wharf, which is a good starting point for your day.
With one day in San Francisco, you can go to Fisherman’s Wharf to see the sea lions (so fun!), go to the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center (yes to see the bridge, and also to go hiking and go down by the beach), and then go to see the famous crooked street.
These are things that I did for my day in San Francisco the first time I was in the city which was by cruise ship!
I was in San Francisco without a car and was quite happy with the things I did! I relied on public transportation, which I’ll also talk about below.
I will give you ideas below about planning your trip to San Francisco.
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👆 You can step foot on Alcatraz Island or do a boat ride around it.
👆 You can see redwoods in San Francisco at Muir Woods National Monument.
👆 Leaving San Francisco by cruise ship in the afternoon or early evening is an epic sailaway! If you don’t have a daytime cruise departure, then you need to consider the Golden Gate Bridge boat tour. If you’re leaving San Francisco by cruise ship, you will definitely sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, but you may still want to do the boat tour if your cruise ship departure is at night! I’ve had cruise ship sailaways in the afternoon and at night, and they are different experiences!
👆 There is a hop on hop off bus in San Francisco.
My day as I did it as outlined below was in September 2023 during a repositioning cruise that had a port stop in San Francisco. I also had a cruise ship stop in San Francisco in October 2024 for a California coastal cruise.
See more things to do in California from a cruise ship!
These are the things I did with one day in San Francisco cruise port!
1. Fishermans Wharf
Fisherman’s Wharf is fun because of the sea lions!
You can go to pier 39 to see them, and it’s easy to end up spending a lot of time there just watching them!
👆 It’s so fun to watch the sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf! This is within walking distance of the cruise port.
👆 Starting your walk at pier 39.
👆 You’ll keep walking onward to the sea lions.
👆 You’ll see the most amount of sea lions from late summer to late spring.
👆 The sea lions love pier 39! 😁
👆 You have lots of food options at pier 39.
Cruise ships dock near Fisherman’s Wharf so it’s a very convenient starting location. Princess cruise ships usually dock at pier 27.
It’s about a 20 minute walk to get from the cruise port to the Fisherman’s Wharf sea lions. (map)
2. Golden Gate Bridge welcome center
The Golden Gate Bridge welcome center is where you can go to get up close to the bridge on land.
This visitor center is also where you can go to get national park passport stamps in San Francisco.
👆 There’s an overlook near the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center where you can get views of the bridge… if it’s not foggy!
👆 The area surrounding the bridge is a part of the Presidio of San Francisco.
👆 You can learn things about the bridge.
👆 You can get national park passport stamps in San Francisco at the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center.
👆 This is a national park passport stamp for the GGNRA (Golden Gate National Recreation Area) Golden Gate Bridge.
👆 You can get to the Golden Gate Bridge by bus.
👆 There are more things to do from the welcome center, including the Presidio Coastal Trail which you can bike by getting a bike rental.
I went to the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center by bus from Fisherman’s Wharf. There’s a direct bus that will drop you off right in front of the visitor center. (map)
I used google maps to figure out public transportation in San Francisco, which worked out very well.
The first time in San Francisco I used cash to pay for the bus fare.
The second time, I downloaded the clipper card app and set that up before I arrived and it made it super easy to pay for the bus fare and ferry fare too. (So I highly recommend you do that! You will especially want to the clipper card if you are going on the ferry as it will give you a discount.)
3. Batteries to Bluffs Trail
One of the trails that you can get to from the Golden Gate Bridge visitor center is the Batteries to Bluffs Trail.
This trail is a coastal trail and it will also lead you to a trail that goes down to Marshall’s Beach. This is a beach that is right next to the bridge.
So, if it’s not foggy, it can make for a picture perfect view! Which… it was not for me. 😆
I did part of the Batteries to Bluffs Trail and then returned to the welcome center to take the bus.
👆 This is Marshall’s Beach. Spot the Golden Gate Bridge! 😅 I feel like I saw San Francisco in the way that it’s known for.
👆 There’s a trail to Marshall’s Beach.
👆 The final part of Marshall’s Beach Trail to get down to the beach.
👆 You can hike a coastal trail from the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center.
👆 Foggy part of the trail.
4. Lombard Street
There’s a famous street in San Francisco that’s known for being a super crooked street that zig zags back and forth, and that’s Lombard Street.
Lombard Street is a residential street, but it’s also a total tourist attraction.
Cars can drive down it, and driving down the one-way Lombard Street is also something that’s a total tourist thing.
You can’t (or shouldn’t) actually walk down Lombard Street the whole way (since you’ll get in the way of the cars), and there are stairs that go straight down off to the side.
👆 Lombard Street is the famous crooked street in San Francisco.
👆 It’s possible to drive down Lombard Street. It’s a one-way street.
👆 There are stairs alongside the street for walkers.
I went to Lombard Street by bus. I went from the Golden Gate Bridge welcome center. (map)
👆 After I got off the bus, I walked around the hilly Russian Hill neighborhood to get to Lombard Street.
👆 The famous San Francisco cable car goes by Lombard Street.
👆 Cable car stop.
👆 Another hilly street I saw walking back to the cruise ship. I walked back from Lombard Street.
5. Alcatraz Island
I didn’t do Alcatraz Island, but this is one of the easy things that you can do near the San Francisco cruise port.
The spot to board the Alcatraz Island ferry is located just a few minutes walk from Pier 27, which is where Princess cruise ships typically dock in San Francisco.
You can do the Alcatraz Island tour on its own. If you only want to do Alcatraz Island as part of the tour, the cheapest way to book is the official Alcatraz Day Tour.
If you want to make it a combo tour to do Alcatraz Island along with other top San Francisco sights, then there are lots of options depending on your interests. You can combine Alcatraz Island with Muir Woods, Sausailto, and the Golden Gate Bridge, for example.
See the Alcatraz Island combo tours.
👆 The closest view I got to Alcatraz Island was on the return ferry from Sausalito!
👆 This is the coastal town of Sausalito. I took the Golden Gate ferry to get here. I walked 20 minutes from the cruise port to the ferry terminal in downtown San Francisco. (map)
👆 This is Muir Woods. I went to Muir Woods by taking the Sausalito ferry, and then a bus the rest of the way. You can go to Muir Woods on your own, but it does require extra walking, planning, and waiting for the bus! This is what I did for my second cruise ship visit in San Francisco. I took a bus to “near” Muir Woods and then hiked the Panoramic Trail to Canopy View Trail to Lost Trail to Fern Creek Trail to the visitor center! See more about how to do Muir Woods without a car.
More for your travel to California:
HAPPY TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO!
More travel planning tips!
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