CityPASS San Francisco articles

Just an hour north of San Francisco’s main attractions, a world away from clanging streetcars, sightseeing hordes and traffic jams, there’s Point Reyes National Seashore, where visitors can wander in solitude, view wildlife, feel the ocean’s spray, and get back to nature. Here, guests can spot migrating gray whales in the winter or hear the bugling of mating tule elk in the late summer. Plus, there’s no entry fee.

One of the world's most notorious and best known prisons, over the years, Alcatraz housed some 1,545 of America's most ruthless criminals including Al Capone, Robert Franklin Stroud (the "Birdman of Alcatraz"), George "Machine Gun" Kelly, Bumpy Johnson, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Mickey Cohen, Arthur R. "Doc" Barker, James "Whitey" Bulger, and Alvin "Creepy" Karpis (who served more time at Alcatraz than any other inmate).

Born and bred in the Bay Area usually means growing up ignoring San Francisco’s cable cars. Read about one woman’s reasons for changing her mind about these charming transit vehicles as she sheds some light on the most misunderstood of SF icons, the trolley.

While the San Francisco Bay Area is amply dotted in brightly colored, provocative art, famed muralist Ray Patlan recommends that visitors start in San Francisco’s Mission District if they want to experience a close collection of established and exciting mural artwork.

One Canadian writer visits San Francisco for the first time with kids and learns the City by the Bay has a lot in common with her hometown of Vancouver, BC. From the West Coast vibe, tolerant and friendly populace and a wide variety of high quality food, read on to see what makes SF great!

Everyone knows San Francisco’s bustling, busy Chinatown, the largest outside of Asia. But Japantown? "People just come here to eat,” says Dawn Shalhoup, who represents Japantown and took us on a walking tour. "They don’t realize how much there is to do!”