Virtual Tour of San Francisco

Are you bored with the COVID-19 quarantine at home? Do you miss the good old days of free roaming near and far and exploring new destinations? In the era of restricted travel due to COVID-19 pandemic we need to be creative in terms of how we can get a fun and educational travel experience from our living room couch.

Therefore I decided to create for you a cool virtual tour of San Francisco attractions as well as a couple of fantastic points of interest in the greater Bay Area. Most of these virtual experiences will be available even after the pandemic but some of them are time limited, so hurry up to check them out while they are still available!

My San Francisco virtual tour will take you to several museums, music venues, a zoo and a couple of surprising spots. And best of all, the tour is FREE of charge! So hop on our virtual tour bus and let’s go!

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 1 – DE YOUNG MUSEUM

De Young Museum is a fine arts museum located in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. It has a vast collection of art including: American art from the 17th through the 21st centuries, international contemporary art, textiles and costumes, as well as art from the Americas, the Pacific and Africa.

Thanks to Google Arts and Culture project you can now tour de Young Museum’s collection on-line.

Pro tip: If you would like to visit de Young museum in person once the COZVZID-19 quarantine is over, here is some great information from my earlier article on visiting de Young museum with kids.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 2 – LEGION OF HONOR

Legion of Honor is an art museum located in Presidio. It houses a collection covering more than 6,000 years, mostly ancient and European art. Here you can find Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Near Eastern sculptures, pottery, jewelry and much more. In terms of European art, Legion of Honor is home to some of the masterpieces by Monet, Degas, Rubens, Titian, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Pissaro and many others.

A virtual tour of Legion of Honor collection is available through Google Art and Culture project.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 3 – MOMA

MOMA is the Museum of Modern Art located in downtown San Francisco. MOMA has a collection of over 30,000 works of modern and contemporary art (solely 20th century). Here you can see painting, sculpture, photography, architecture, design, and media arts.

A virtual tour of MOMA collection is available through Google Art and Culture project.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 4 – CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

California Academy of Sciences is a fantastic museum located in Golden Gate Park. It is one of our family’s most favorite attractions in San Francisco. The museum has various types of exhibits from animal habitats to an earthquake experience as well as planetarium shows.

California Academy of Sciences has several 24/7 webcams showing its most popular animal habitats: penguins and Philippine coral reef as well as a webcam at Farallon Islands, a chain of islands off the California coast frequented by seals, sea lions, sea birds and grey whales during their migration period from December to March. You can enjoy a peek into these habitats HERE.

Pro tip: If you would like to visit top San Francisco attractions, including California Academy of Sciences, in real life when the quarantine is over, don’t forget to buy San Francisco City Pass which will help you save 45% on the price of the tickets:

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 5 – EXPLORATORIUM

In my opinion Exploratorium is the best science museum in California if not the entire United States. This is a museum where you can touch everything. Each exhibit is a science experiment that you can try yourself. Both kids and adults love these educational explorations.

Exploratorium has lots of resources online for you to be able to easily set up some of the coolest scientific experiments at home. For most of them only regular household items are required, nothing fancy. You absolutely need to check out their Learning Toolbox with some new experiments dedicated to COVID-19.

Pro tip: If you would like to learn more about interesting science related museums in San Francisco Bay Area, check out my earlier article space attractions and museums in Bay Area.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 6 – ALCATRAZ

Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, now under purview of the U.S. National Parks Service, was once a fort, a military prison, and the infamous maximum security federal penitentiary that kept such criminals as Al Capone behind bars.

Thanks to Google Arts and Culture program you can now see from the comfort of your home some of the exhibits housed on Alcatraz.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 7 – SF JAZZ

San Francisco Jazz is one of the most popular music venues in San Francisco. The variety of jazz performances that they host under normal conditions is astounding.

During this COVID-19 pandemic SF Jazz will be showing some of their performances online for just $5 Digital Memberships fee that covers all concerts, not just 1 concert. If you are already a member of SF Jazz then the concerts are free to watch for you.

Please, check their up-coming on-line concerts program HERE. During the coronavirus quarantine the concerts will take place on Fridays at 5 pm Pacific Time.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 8 – PIER 39

Pier 39 in San Francisco is famous for several attractions. The only one available for virtual visit, however, is the dock inhabited by funny and quirky sea lions that have long become the symbol of Pier 39. There is a webcam which you can view 24/7 to see what the sea lions are up to.

If you would like to visit Pier 39 in person post COVID-19, here is all the information you need about unique things to do in San Francisco at Pier 39 and Fisherman’s Wharf.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 9 – OAKLAND ZOO

There are 3 zoos in San Francisco Bay Area. If you would like to learn which is the best zoo in Bay Area, please, check out my earlier article that I have highlighted as a link.

San Francisco Zoo does not have webcams, I searched thoroughly and I could not find them. But Oakland Zoo, just across the bridge from San Francisco has, and not just one but five! Come check out 3 types of bears, elephants and condors HERE.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 10 – SAN FRANCISCO ZOO

As I mentioned above, San Francisco Zoo does not have webcams so I had to create a virtual tour for your myself. Check out my fun video to listen to peacocks and penguins talk, lions play courtship games and much more here: Virtual Tour of San Francisco Zoo.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 11 – WINCHESTER MYSTERY HOUSE

Winchester Mystery House is one of those unique super cool and a little spooky attractions. This architectural wonder is located in San Jose.  It was once the personal residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of William Winchester and heiress to a large portion of the Winchester® Repeating Arms fortune.

It is mind boggling just by the numbers: 24,000 square feet, 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 160 rooms and 47 stairways and fireplaces. So why is it called “Mystery House”? Some people believe it has resident ghosts. Josh Gates from Travel Channel actually filmed one of his programs about Winchester Mystery House.

During the time of COVID-19 Winchester Mystery House is giving you an unprecedented opportunity to do a FREE video tour of the house on line – now available till April 7, 2020 HERE.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 12 – CANTOR ARTS CENTER

Cantor Arts Center is a fine arts museum located at Stanford University. It has over 40,000 items that span 5,000 of human history including paintings, sculptures and decorative art.

Thanks to Google Arts and Culture program you can view Cantor Arts Center collections online.

In addition to Cantor Arts Center, Stanford Campus has a dozen of interesting attractions such as museums, gardens and even a labyrinth. Most of these attractions are FREE to general public. If you would like to visit Stanford campus after the quarantine, here is a detailed self-guided Stanford University tour.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 13 – STANFORD BING CONCERT HALL

Stanford University’s Bing Concert Hall is famous for top-notch live performances. This season Stanford Live had to go digital because of the COVID-19 pandemic. You can enjoy their digital season on-line free of charge: music, stand-up comedy, movies, lectures and other performances.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 14 – CITY WEBCAMS

There are several cool rotating webcams that show most popular locations in San Francisco. The most popular are the ones showing 360 degrees changing views of the San Francisco Bayfront and the city’s skyline. You can these webcams at Earthcam website.

Virtual Tour of San Francisco Stop 15 – SAILING THE BAY

I have created a couple of videos for you picturing sailing in San Francisco Bay on a gorgeous day. You can see the wonderful city sights from the water on my YouTube channel here: Sailing San Francisco Bay and Sailing Under Golden Gate Bridge.

Would you like to see even more? Check out my bigger and bolder virtual tour of California!

SAN FRANCISCO FOOD

The travel experience is never complete without tasting local food. To easily get the taste of San Francisco at home you can either procure or cook some of the city’s most famous food items.

Sourdough bread

Boudin Bakery is probably the most famous place in the city that bakes San Francisco’s signature bread. You can order your loaves for delivery HERE. If you want to try baking your own sourdough, check out this recipe and guide for beginners.

Cioppino

Cioppino is an Italian-American seafood stew that is very popular in San Francisco. You cannot have it delivered from the City by the Bay but you can easily make it at home. Here is an easy Cioppino recipe.

Dungeness Crab

San Francisco is famous for Dungeness crab that once can fish out off the coast during December – June crabbing season. You can eat the crab as is, boiled, or add the crab meat into soups, salads and sandwiches. See if your local grocery store sells the crab or you can buy it online.

Giovanni’s Fish Market is located on California Pacific coast just 4 hours drive from San Francisco in a beautiful coastal town of Morro Bay. They ship their seafood overnight. You can purchase the crab HERE when it is in season (or any other seafood for that matter).

If you would like to learn about the town where your seafood comes from and may be visit it after quarantine, check out my Things to Do in San Luis Obispo itinerary that includes Morro Bay.

Chocolate

Two of the well-known chocolate makers are based in San Francisco: Ghirardelli and See’s Candy. You can buy Ghirardelli chocolate in pretty much any grocery store and if you want more of a gourmet experience, Sees’s Candy is sold in their on-line store (unfortunately the store is currently closed but we hope it will open soon)

Wine

Finish your San Francisco “tasting” with delicious Northern California wine. Some of my favorite wineries are: Buena Vista, Benziger, Korbel. I can write a lot about California wines and wineries but this is not the purpose of this article. If you would like to learn more about great California wineries and how to visit them, check out my blog page about California family friendly wineries.

BOOKS

Here are some great books suggestions that will make you feel as if you traveled to San Francisco and had some fabulous local adventures (all images below are clickable links):

Fantastic science exploration and experiments book by Exploratorium museum:

A story of the daring escape for Alcatraz:

A captivating mystery novel about a quirky San Francisco book store with a sneak peek into the life of the Silicon Valley:

If you found virtual tour of San Francisco helpful, please do me a little favor and share this information with others, for there’s a good chance that it will help them too. 🙂 Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram where I post many more cool photos and videos about our trips than I could include in a blog post and organize some nice giveaways!

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