Waterbar

This one is no longer an option. The photography museum permanently closed to the public in February 2025.

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.

A market hall of food stalls with the ferries going out the back. Good for grazing lunch with kids, and the Saturday farmers' market spills onto the plaza.