What are the most worthwhile things to do in San Francisco on a first visit?

The bridge first. The Golden Gate Bridge opened to pedestrians on May 27, 1937, after construction that began in 1933, and its 4,200-foot main span was the longest suspension span in the world at completion. The towers rise 746 feet, the deck hangs 220 feet above the water, and the color is a decision, not an accident: consulting architect Irving Morrow chose International Orange because it stays visible in the fog and sits well against the headlands. Pedestrians use the east sidewalk; the full crossing and back is about 3.4 miles.

Alcatraz is the booking problem of the trip. The island's federal penitentiary ran from 1934 to 1963 and held Al Capone and George "Machine Gun" Kelly; today the National Park Service manages it inside Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Only one operator, Alcatraz City Cruises, lands boats there, from Pier 33. Tickets are released up to 90 days ahead and in summer routinely sell out a month or more in advance. The cellhouse audio tour is narrated by former officers and inmates.

Back on land, ride the cable cars as transport, not just theater. The system dates to 1873, when Andrew Hallidie's Clay Street line replaced horse-drawn cars on grades horses kept slipping on; it is now the world's last manually operated cable car system and a National Historic Landmark since 1964. Of the three lines, Powell-Hyde is the scenic one — it crests Russian Hill past the top of Lombard Street, where eight hairpin turns added in 1922 unwind a 27 percent grade, and drops down Hyde with Alcatraz framed ahead. Fill remaining hours in Chinatown, established in 1848 and the oldest in North America, spread over 24 square blocks, or in Golden Gate Park: 1,017 acres, about 20 percent larger than Central Park.

From the front bench of a Powell-Hyde car at the top of Hyde Street, the street falls away so steeply that the bay fills the windscreen, Alcatraz sitting in the middle of it like a grey ship that never left.

The sea lions at Pier 39 were never installed as an attraction. A few hauled out on the marina's K-Dock shortly after the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 1989; by January 1990 they had taken it over, and when the marina asked The Marine Mammal Center what to do, the advice was to let them stay. The boats moved; the sea lions are still there.

• Morning — Walk the bridge early, before the afternoon wind builds and the sidewalk crowds.
• Midday — Ride Powell-Hyde from downtown to the Wharf end, stopping at the top of Lombard Street on the way down.
• Afternoon — Take the Alcatraz ferry you booked weeks ago; the crossing and cellhouse together run about three hours.

Alcatraz is the one ticket that cannot be improvised — if the official calendar is sold out, no reseller can conjure a landing slot, only bundle one bought earlier. Cable cars charge $9 for a single ride with no transfers, and SFMTA has approved $12 from January 4, 2027; the Powell Street turnaround queues at midday can eat an hour, so boarding at an intermediate stop is faster.

Use the food question in this group to eat along this route — North Beach and the Wharf sit at the cable car's downhill end.