Pier 24

Embarcadero seafood with a kids' menu, crayons, and floor-to-ceiling fish tanks.

Embarcadero hotel with waterfront outdoor space, well placed for older kids who like to walk.

Dim sum carts that keep babies through school-age kids busy; room for strollers.

A free single room opposite the Ferry Building with a streetcar cab kids can sit in and work the controls. Ten minutes, no ticket, right on the F line.

Half the fun is getting up there on the free gondola, then letting kids run around the rooftop park three stories above the street.

Getting up there is half the draw: a free gondola runs from 6 am to 8 pm to the rooftop park, where the play area sits three levels above the street.