From bustling cosmopolitan cities to quiet coastal retreats, the San Francisco Bay Area is incomparable.  First-class attractions, worldclass athletics, cultural diversity, remarkable skylines and breathtaking views make this the region one of the world’s most popular destinations.

Stanford’s campus is located less than an hour’s drive from San Francisco to the north, just minutes from the Silicon Valley to the south and within easy reach of the breathtaking coastal cities that line the Pacific Ocean to the west.

San Francisco has been named by Conde Nast Traveler magazine as the No. 1 travel destination in the United State for 15 years in a row. Surrounded on three sides by the Pacifi c Oceans and San Francisco Bay, San Francisco is located on a hilly peninsula, occupying just 47 square miles of land. It is the center of the San Francisco Bay Area—the nation’s fifth largest metropolitan area with a population of more than 7.0 million—and host to an estimated 16 million visitors each year.

South of the Stanford campus are the cities of San Jose and Santa Clara, the anchors to the Silicon Valley. Computer firms and software companies can be found throughout the region, which is considered the leader among the world’s technology industry.

One of the world’s greatest stretches of coastline is located within a short drive from Stanford. To the south is the Monterey Peninsula, which includes the picturesque towns of Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz. The Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row and 17-Mile Drive along Pebble Beach are musts for visitors.

Further north and east of Marin County is the home to the Napa Wine Country and within a few hours drive from the Bay Area is Lake Tahoe, home to some of the fi nest skiing in the country and the wonders of Yosemite National Park.

The Bay Area is also home to six major professional sports franchises, including the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A’s, San Jose Sharks and Golden State Warriors.

Below is a very small list of the many things to do in the bay area.

Local Attractions:

• Golden Gate Bridge - http://www.goldengatebridge.org/
• Alcatraz Island - http://www.nps.gov/alcatraz/
• Lombard Street - http://www.lombardstreetsf.com/
• Pier 39 - http://www.pier39.com/
• Presidio - http://www.nps.gov/prsf/
• Golden Gate Park - http://www.golden-gate-park.com/
• Palace of Fine Arts Theatre - http://www.palaceoffinearts.org/
• Exploratorium - http://www.exploratorium.edu/
• Cliff House - http://www.cliffhouse.com/
• The Outside Lands - Concerts - http://www.sfoutsidelands.com/
• Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - http://www.beachboardwalk.com/
• Pebble Beach Golf Course - http://www.pebblebeach.com/
• Monterey Bay Aquarium - http://www.mbayaq.org/
• 17 Mile Drive - http://www.pebblebeach.com/page.asp?id=1373
• Half-Dome - http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/halfdome.htm

Cities/Areas of Interest:

• Lake Tahoe - http://www.visitinglaketahoe.com/
• Monterey - http://www.monterey.org/
• Wine Country - http://www.napavalley.com/
• Yosemite National Park - http://www.nps.gov/yose/
• Half Moon Bay - http://www.halfmoonbaychamber.org/
• Farrallon Islands - http://www.farallones.org/

Sports/Events:

• San Francisco 49ers - http://www.sf49ers.com/home.php
• San Francisco Giants - http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=sf
• AT&T Park - http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/sf/ballpark/giantsenterprises/index.html
• Oakland A's - http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=oak
• Oakland Raiders - http://www.raiders.com/home/
• Golden State Warriors - http://www.nba.com/warriors/index_main.html
• San Jose Sharks - http://sharks.nhl.com/
• Infineon Raceway - http://www.infineonraceway.com/
• Laguana Seca - http://www.laguna-seca.com/
• AVP Crocs Tour - SF - http://web.avp.com/index.jsp
• Mavericks - http://www.maverickssurf.com/Home/
• American River Whitewater Rafting - http://www.americanwhitewater.com/
• Bay to Breakers Marathon - http://www.ingbaytobreakers.com/main.html
• Grand National Rodeo - Cow Palace - http://www.grandnationalrodeo.com/

All descriptions courtesy Wikipedia.com

Alcatraz
Alcatraz Island, sometimes informally referred to as simply Alcatraz or by its pop-culture name, The Rock, is a small island located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California, United States. It served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, then a military prison followed by a federal prison until 1963. It became a national recreation area in 1972 and received landmarking designations in 1976 and 1986. Today, the island is a historic site operated by the National Park Service as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and is open to tours. Visitors can reach the island by ferry ride from Pier 33, near Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

Coit Tower
Coit Tower was built atop Telegraph Hill in 1933 at the bequest of Lillie Hitchcock Coit to beautify the City of San Francisco.[citation needed] Lillie bequeathed one-third of her estate to the City of San Francisco "to be expended in an appropriate manner for the purpose of adding to the beauty of the city which I have always loved."

Contrary to popular opinion, the tower was not designed to resemble a fire hose nozzle. This myth persists in part because of Lillie Hitchcock Coit's affinity with the San Francisco fire fighters of the day, in particular with Knickerbocker Engine Company Number 5. Although the architects claimed to have no design precedent in mind,[citation needed] during this time Europe saw the construction of aesthetically designed power stations that could be claimed as prototypes (e.g.: Battersea Power Station).

The art deco tower, 210 feet (64 meters) of unpainted reinforced concrete, was designed by architects Arthur Brown, Jr. and Henry Howard with murals by 26 different artists and numerous assistants.

The Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the opening of the San Francisco Bay onto the Pacific Ocean. As part of both US Highway 101 and California Route 1, it connects the city of San Francisco on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County.

The Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge span in the world when it was completed in 1937 and has become an internationally recognized symbol of San Francisco and California. Since its completion, the span length has been surpassed by eight other bridges. It still has the second longest suspension bridge main span in the United States, after the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. In 2007, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.

Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of 1017 acres (4.1 km², 1.6 mi²) of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 174 acres (0.7 km², 0.27 mi²) larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. With 13 million visitors annually, Golden Gate is the third most visited city park in The United States (after Central Park and Lincoln Park in Chicago).

Fisherman's Wharf
It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. It is best known for being the location of Pier 39, San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, the Cannery Shopping Center, Ghirardelli Square, a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, the Musée Mécanique, the Wax Museum at Fisherman's Wharf, Forbes Island and restaurants and stands that serve fresh seafood, most notably dungeness crab and clam chowder served in a sourdough bread bowl. Some of the restaurants, like Pompeii's and Alioto's #8, go back for three generations of the same family ownership. Nearby Pier 45, there is a chapel in memory of the "Lost Fishermen" of San Francisco and Northern California though it might not always be open everyday. Once a year, the chapel has a service for the lost fishermen.

SF MOMA
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a major modern art museum and San Francisco landmark.

It opened in 1935 under founding director Dr. Grace Morley (Grace L. McCann Morley, Director from 1935–1958) as the San Francisco Museum of Art, the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art. For its first sixty years, the museum occupied upper floors of the War Memorial Veterans Building in the Civic Center. Under director Henry T. Hopkins (1974–1986) the museum added "Modern" to its title in 1975, and established an international reputation.

In a major transformation and expansion, in 1995 the museum moved to its current location, 151 Third Street, adjacent to Yerba Buena Gardens in the SOMA district and its iconic architectural showpiece facility designed by Mario Botta. Inviting comparison to the preeminent MOMA in New York City, the museum re-branded itself "SFMOMA".

The museum has in its collection important works by Jackson Pollock, Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Klee, Marcel Duchamp and Ansel Adams, among others. The famous cinema series Art in Cinema was started at SFMOMA in 1946 by filmmaker Frank Stauffacher.