San Francisco packed a submarine, sea lions, and a secret mural into one waterfront walk

What’s waiting along the bay’s edge

San Francisco’s northern waterfront runs from the busy docks of Pier 39 west to the quiet 1939 beach at Aquatic Park, and almost everything worth stopping for sits within an easy stroll.

Sea lions, a WWII submarine, an antique arcade, and a surrealist mural inside a Depression-era bathhouse all line the same stretch. Much of it costs nothing.

And the whole way, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge sit out on the water, close enough to feel like part of the walk.

From Italian fishing docks to a tourist corridor

Italian immigrants and other newcomers worked these docks going back to the Gold Rush.

For generations, this was a real working waterfront where fishing boats came and went and the catch moved through daily.

The fleet started shrinking in the 1960s and 1970s as visitors replaced nets and rope as the main business. A small commercial fishing presence still holds on near the piers today.

Walking it now, you can feel that the water trade never fully left, even if the tourists outnumber the boats.

The sea lions claimed K-Dock and never left

A few sea lions hauled themselves onto Pier 39’s K-Dock shortly after the October 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. By January 1990, they arrived in droves.

The numbers climbed past 500 that first winter, and the marina let them stay.

The population shifts with the seasons, the food supply, and migration patterns, so the count is different every time you show up. Some days you get dozens.

Other days, hundreds.

Either way, standing at the railing while they bark and shove each other around on the floating docks costs you nothing.

Squeeze through the tight hatches of a real WWII submarine

The USS Pampanito is a Balao-class submarine from World War II, and it sits open to the public at Pier 45. You can walk the whole length of it from bow to stern.

The ladders going below are steep, and the round hatches between compartments are narrow enough that most people have to turn sideways and crouch.

An audio tour fills in the stories of the crew who ran this vessel.

The whole experience is hands-on in a way that most naval museums are not, mostly because the ship is the exhibit.

Three hundred coin-op machines, many of them still running

Musée Mécanique sits right there on Pier 45 and walking in is free.

What you find inside is more than 300 coin-operated machines built across more than a century, from hand-cranked music boxes to early arcade games.

Bring quarters, because many of them still work and you’re expected to play them. This is not a glass-case collection.

You put the coin in and the machine does its thing. It’s one of the most hands-on stops on the whole corridor.

A small chapel standing for those lost at sea

Also on Pier 45, past the crowds and the machines, a small chapel honors the Lost Fishermen of San Francisco and Northern California. It remembers the men from the fishing community who went out and didn’t come back.

Most visitors walk right past it. The space is calm and quiet and keeps the waterfront tied to the working life that built it.

It doesn’t take long to step inside, but it changes how the rest of the walk feels.

One of only two working Liberty ships still afloat

The SS Jeremiah O’Brien is a World War II Liberty ship docked at Pier 35, toward the eastern end of the corridor. Liberty ships were the workhorses of the Allied supply effort, built fast and in enormous numbers.

This one is among only two still operational anywhere. You can walk its decks and see the engine that drove it across wartime waters.

It sits a short walk from the busier stretch of the Wharf, and the crowds thin out considerably once you get there.

The old chocolate factory with a view over the cove

Ghirardelli Square takes its name from a chocolate company founded in 1852 that moved its manufacturing to this spot in 1893.

The brick factory buildings are still there, along with the lit clock tower that anchors the square. It sits at the western end of the corridor, a short walk from Aquatic Park.

Head up to the terrace levels and you get open views over the cove and out across the bay. Original shop and restaurant spaces still occupy parts of the historic building.

Watch workers spin a cable car by hand

At the corner of Hyde and Beach, the cable car reaches the end of its line. Workers here rotate the car by hand on a round wooden turntable so it can head back up the hill.

Riders waiting to board gather around, and so do people just passing through. It’s one of the few spots in the city where you can watch this done right in front of you.

The stop also marks the boundary between the Wharf’s energy and the quieter stretch of Aquatic Park just ahead.

Cold water, a shielded cove, and no lifeguards

Aquatic Park opened in 1939 and hasn’t changed much since.

Its curved cove is protected from the open bay, which keeps the water calmer than anywhere else along this stretch. Cold-water swimmers come here year-round.

Kayakers, paddleboarders and rowers all use the lagoon. The silty beach is a good place to sit and watch the water without committing to getting in.

If you do wade in, know that the water is cold, there are no lifeguards, and you’re on your own.

A surrealist mural inside a free Depression-era bathhouse

The Maritime Museum lives inside the 1939 Aquatic Park Bathhouse, a building shaped in the sleek, curved lines of the Streamline Moderne style.

Federal work crews built it during the Depression as public art for everyday people, and they meant that seriously. Artist Hilaire Hiler painted huge surrealist murals inside depicting a mythical underwater world.

Mosaics run through the building as well, and the restored third floor reopened with more of the original art on display. Entry is free.

Alcatraz to the left, sourdough in hand

The whole corridor keeps the bay in view the entire time. Alcatraz sits a mile and a quarter offshore and stays visible from almost everywhere on the walk.

The Marin hills rise behind the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

Near Pier 39, the SkyStar Observation Wheel climbs more than 150 feet for a view straight down the waterfront and out over the skyline.

Dungeness crab and sourdough bread have been the food of these piers for generations, and steaming pots still show up along the route.

Walk the Fisherman’s Wharf corridor in San Francisco, California

The waterfront corridor runs along San Francisco’s northern edge, roughly from Pier 39 west to Aquatic Park. Sea lions, the Aquatic Park beach and cove, the promenade, and the Maritime Museum are all free.

The USS Pampanito, Musée Mécanique machines, and the SkyStar Wheel charge admission or coins.

The Maritime Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday, and the park Visitor Center is open daily, with both closed on New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

A few things to know before you go: the historic tall ships moved to Mare Island in 2025 while Hyde Street Pier undergoes reconstruction; the pier is closed with no set reopening date, and the Aquatic Park Municipal Pier is permanently closed after a safety determination, though the beach, cove, and promenade remain open.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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