Skip the cable-car queue. Ruined bathhouses, a free coin-op arcade and an island with a harder story to tell.
Sutro Baths & Lands End
Ruined 1890s bathhouse on the cliffs, open 24/7 and free. Do the 3.1mi Lands End Loop; the Lookout centre explains the wreck.
Presidio Tunnel Tops
Park built over the freeway tunnels: bridge views, Outpost playground, Field Station and daily food pop-ups. Free, no ticket needed.
Musée Mécanique
Pier 45 hangar of antique coin-op machines, free to enter. Bring quarters: Laffing Sal and the fortune tellers still take them.
Angel Island Immigration Station
Ferry from the Ferry Building to the detention barracks where Chinese arrivals carved poems into the walls. $3 day use, $5 museum.
Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
Saturday 8am-2pm is the big one with 100+ vendors; Tue and Thu 10am-2pm are calmer. Eat outside, not in the food hall.