My hubby and I recently visited San Fran from Arizona. It was nice to see some water for once! We decided to stop by Pier 39 while in town to check it out. We arrived at around 9 AM, and it was quiet and relatively uncrowded. We checked out the sea lions and they were fun. Then we left to go ride the cable cars, go to Coit Tower, and take our Alcatraz trip. We came back later in the afternoon to get a couple of hats since we were getting sunburned, and the Pier was packed! We hate crowds, so it wasn't our cup of tea later on in the day. Plus we don't like kids and there were tons of those tearing around. We did go have lunch at the Sea Lion Cafe, which wasn't that great. Our waitress couldn't even speak English (which happened a lot in San Fran!).
Pros: Shopping, clean restrooms, nice views
Cons: Parking difficult, crowded at times
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