San Francisco CityPASS Tops the List of Money-saving Travel Tips
Download this page in PDF formatRenowned for its beauty, its busy waterfront and its endearing quirks, San Francisco is a fantastic fall retreat. Leaves are changing color in Golden Gate Park, the city’s iconic cable cars are less crowded, and great shopping beckons, both around downtown’s posh Union Square and in such colorful, personality-plus neighborhoods as Chinatown and the Haight. And, thanks to San Francisco CityPASS, smart travelers can save enough money visiting the city’s top attractions to indulge in a few guilt-free shopping splurges.
Inside each San Francisco CityPASS ticket booklet is a San Francisco Muni & Cable Car 7-day Passport, as well as prepaid admission tickets to the California Academy of Sciences, Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise, Aquarium of the Bay and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The booklet also includes an option ticket that gives travelers a choice between the Exploratorium or the de Young Museum and Legion of Honor.
San Francisco CityPASS costs $64 for adults (a value of $120.90) and $39 for kids age 5-12 (a value of $74.95). In addition to the nearly half-off savings, each San Francisco CityPASS admission ticket allows holders to bypass most main-entrance ticket lines.
Between September and November, calm breezes from the San Francisco Bay and warm air from the Central Valley combine to create toasty-to-mild fall temperatures. By day, the city’s Ocean Beach and Baker Beach are populated with sunbathers, while nights are warm, creating ideal conditions for a cable car ride around the city. With a San Francisco CityPASS Muni and Cable Car 7-day Passport, holders enjoy a week of unlimited rides on all cable cars, as well as all Muni buses and streetcars. The Muni passport is valid for seven consecutive days, starting with the date on which the holder first uses her/his San Francisco CityPASS.
Accessible by Muni bus, Golden Gate Park is often busy with fall visitors reveling in the golden autumn colors. The park is also home to two San Francisco CityPASS attractions: California Academy of Sciences and the de Young Museum (whose admission ticket also includes same-day entry to the Legion of Honor Museum).
At the California Academy of Sciences, visitors explore an aquarium, planetarium, natural history museum and four-story rain forest canopy — all under one dynamic, eco-friendly roof. Within the Academy’s patchwork quilt of climates live penguins, piranhas, chameleons, bats … even a rare albino alligator. Best of all, San Francisco CityPASS booklet holders bypass the main ticketing line, breezing right into the museum and its fascinating exhibits.
Sitting opposite the California Academy of Sciences is the de Young Museum, which, in 2005, reopened in a state-of-the-art facility that integrates art and architecture with Golden Gate Park’s natural landscape. The de Young showcases American art from the 17th through the 21st centuries; international contemporary art, textiles and costumes; and art from the Americas, the Pacific and Africa. After perusing the galleries, visitors can ascend 144 feet (44 m) to the observation floor of the Hamon Tower, which provides panoramic views of San Francisco, the Pacific Ocean and the surrounding park. CityPASS customers also can use their de Young Museum ticket to gain same-day admission to the Legion of Honor museum, featuring Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker in the Court of Honor.
The de Young shares an option ticket with the Exploratorium. CityPASS travelers, especially those with kids, will want to make a beeline for this fascinating and challenging museum. Housed within the walls of San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, the Exploratorium is an inventive collage of hundreds of science, art and human perception exhibits. Freeze your shadow on the Shadow Wall; touch a swirling, 10-foot-tall tornado funnel; or make a reservation to crawl, slide and climb through the Tactile Dome, a pitch-black maze of 13 chambers that must be navigated solely by sense of touch.
A one-hour Blue & Gold Fleet Bay Cruise is a great way to take advantage of San Francisco’s easygoing fall weather. After boarding a boat at busy PIER 39, visitors sail along the city’s historic waterfront, passing the resident sea lions and heading out toward the soaring Golden Gate Bridge. This narrated cruise also glides past Sausalito, Angel Island and infamous Alcatraz prison.
Another water-based adventure can be found at the Aquarium of the Bay, which allows San Francisco CityPASS ticket holders to get up close and personal with local marine wildlife. Overhead, sevengill sharks circle while guests walk through tunnels in tanks filled with 20,000 sea creatures. The Aquarium of the Bay also allows visitors to safely dip their fingers into pools to touch bat rays, sea stars and, yes, even sharks.
CityPASS holders can then shift gears and enjoy the impressive artistic offerings at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. SFMOMA contains the West’s most comprehensive collection of modern and contemporary art, and always has a new performance or special exhibit underway. Fall travelers won’t want to miss Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Modern Century, on view Oct. 30, 2010, through Jan. 30, 2011. Featuring some 300 photographic prints taken by Cartier-Bresson between 1929 and 1989, The Modern Century is the first large-scale retrospective of the artist’s work to be presented in the United States in more than three decades.
Meanwhile, SFMOMA’s gift shop is rife with memorable souvenirs, dramatic jewelry and art books, and its on-site Caffé Museo is the place to drink and dine among an interesting mix of neighborhood artists, businesspeople, students and out-of-town travelers.
San Francisco CityPASS can be purchased online at citypass.com or at any of the CityPASS attractions. It is valid for nine consecutive days, beginning with the first day of use.
As a premier product for travelers who crave savings, convenience and a well-defined means to discovering a city’s leading attractions, the CityPASS concept showcases the best attractions in North America’s most exciting destinations at an incredible discount. CityPASS ticket booklets are available for New York, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Hollywood, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Southern California and Toronto. For more information on CityPASS and its partner cities and attractions, visit citypass.com.
