Everybody wants to see the Golden Gate Bridge. And who can blame them?

But comparably few people think to go downstairs to Fort Point, the army redoubt beneath its southern struts, an architectural gem in its own rights and an affordable alternative to Alcatraz.

Similarly, a lot of people come into town and want to see Fisherman's Wharf, but aren't even aware of the greatest waterfront attraction of all, just up Taylor Street from the wax museum. Here, a pocketful of quarters will take you into the hallowed halls of latter-day carnival kitsch.

An artifact of the Exploratorium (and as such just around the corner from the Palace of Fine Arts), the Wave Organ not only makes beautiful (if deeply weird) music out of the motion of the ocean, but the oddball artificial peninsula near the Yacht Club provides one of the most intriguing panorama views of the city.

For the life of us we don't know why Golden Boy's clam and garlic slice hasn't become famous the world over as a signature San Francisco dish. It's an authentic local treat for a handful of dollars and ideally situated in walking distance to other North Beach hot spots.

Size matters not, because although the Yoda Fountain is one of the smallest and most easy to miss Presidio icons, it’s the one visitors are most likely to remember and take endless selfies with.

So many visitors to Chinatown manage to overlook the Fortune Cookie Factory in Ross Alley. Again, why this isn't the very first place every tourist goes will forever be a mystery to us, but maybe sending bags of delicious, hand-folded San Francisco tradition home with your visiting relatives will up its credibility.

It took artist Andy Goldsworthy a year (beginning in 2010) to create this surreal, winsome, beautiful installation in the Presidio. Goldsworthy salvaged the 1,200 feet of eucalyptus used from the Presidio itself.

St Mary’s Square has plenty to see, including the somber and moving “Comfort Women” memorial statue that has roiled headlines and international relations in 2017.

Often overlooked is a nearby icon dedicated to Sun Yat-sen, the Chinese physcian revolutionary who helped overthrow the Qing Dynasty and attempted to found a democratic Chinese state. Italian-American artist Beniamino Bufano created the memorial image in the late ‘30s.

It's a myth that Mexican muralist Diego Rivera painted the scenes in Coit Tower; those murals are an attempt to capture Rivera's style and working class politics, but they're not the real deal.

Instead, a genuine Rivera piece titled "Allegory of California" is on public display in the last likely of all places: the stairwell of the ultra exclusive City Club.

Immediately beneath the Bay Bridge you’ll find Pier 24 Photography, a quiet, classy, truly sophisticated photo gallery in an old cargo warehouse originally built to connect two other piers together. Now it affords a truly remarkable view of the bridge and a secluded spot to enjoy the exhibition imagery; the gallery is free to the public, but visitors do have to schedule their visit in advance.

Audium doesn’t look like much, being just a hole in the wall theater near Japantown and the edge of the Tenderloin, but the point is how it sounds. The venue uses terms like “sound sculpture” and “sound labyrinth” to describe the show, but really the only way to a figure out what’s going on here is to check it out yourself.

A true labor of love, maintained and occasionally rebuilt by artist Eduardo Aguilera for years. While there are plenty of spots to take in the grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge and accompanying Pacific, few will give your guests quite the same sense of tranquility as you get from wandering the stony paths at Eagle's Point.

The winter holiday season brings the Stockton Street winter walk and the tree and skating rink in Union Square, which is all well and good.

But the true marker of seasonal good tidings are the adorable and adoptable kittens and puppies in the window at Macy’s around the block, which it’s nearly criminal not to sneak a peak at while you’re in town.

Drop a little local historical know-how on your guests at Mary Ellen Pleasant Park, San Francisco's smallest park. Of course, being so small, there's not much here to see, but now that you're here you're in walking distance of some of San Francisco's biggest and oldest Victorian homes. They might not make the postcards as often as the Painted Ladies, but they're well worth showing off.

Of course you'll want to take people to the freshly expanded SFMOMA while you're downtown. But as remarkable as the museum’s modern art collection is, the Museum of African Diaspora offers a one-of-a-kind survey of culture dating back even to the earliest reaches of human history, and it's just a few blocks away too.

Between this and the pet cemetery you might be worried that your visitors think you're being a little morbid, but the fact is the oft-overlooked columbarium is one of the most startlingly beautiful buildings in the entire city, liable to leave you dumbstruck upon entry.

Lots of visitors stop by the Cliff House and the nearby Sutro Bath ruins and then blow right past the Camera Obscura, a weird, leftover bit of Victoriana that produces a beautiful and strange view of nearby Seal Rock.

There’s been a Camera Obscura near the Cliff House since at least 1896, although the neighborhood has gone through several and this is not the original one, instead dating to 1946.

Before he died in 2017, sculptor Lawrence Argent unveiled his towering, nine-story, stainless steel take on the Venus de Milo in San Francisco.

Unfortunately, the statue and surrounding public plaza are hidden behind the Trinity Place apartments and almost invisible from the street at every angle, meaning most people still have no idea they're there. Take your visitors in for a glance at the gleaming goddess so they can get a piece of SF culture even many locals miss.

The Mission’s screen printing shop plus antique pinball arcade/museum is one of the more unlikely mashups in the city, but of course, that’s part of what gets a lot of people in the door.

On the other hand, maybe your visitors really aren't art lovers. That's okay, you can still give them an infusion of genuine San Francisco culture with a quick jaunt down Clarion Alley, another local landmark that really should be more famous abroad than it is. Suddenly stepping into this vibrant and graphically dazzling corridor while going from one Mission dive bar to another will make for a profound San Francisco memory.

This is a lovely place to shop, of course, whether for gardening supplies, unique stones, or fossils—but the real reason out of towners will want to see it is the weird taxidermied animals in tiny little clothes. Say what you like, it’s a singular experience.

Definitely do: Take guests for a trip down the concrete Seward Street slides.

Definitley don’t: Attempt this without a box to slide on.

Admittedly, a mere fire hydrant, no matter how well gilded, is probably not worth leaving the house over. But if you plan to be near Dolores Park anyway, don’t neglect to single out this historically heroic spigot, the oddest and most humble but perhaps most important landmark in the entire city.

And from the Dolores Park lookout, both tourists and the hydrant can look out with pride on what the city it saved has accomplished.

If you know art lovers, they'll probably want to peruse the galleries around Union Square, the Mission, and maybe even a few on the edges of the Tenderloin. But a trip to the Dogpatch to see the truly enormous (150,000 square feet across three different buildings) art collective on Minnesota Street might leave an even bigger impression when push comes to shove.

Despite the name and alleyway location, Peephole Cinema is an entirely savory and whimsical affair, a “miniature theater” showcasing very short films for an audience of only one at a time.

If anyone fancies some light hiking, you don't have to drive to the Marin Headlands, as there are any number of trails tucked away right here. The Mount Sutro Reserve is a real looker, but we also recommend Glen Canyon, which is basically what Golden Gate Park might look like if it was the product of nature rather than human whims.

San Francisco is never short on either parks or killer views, but this quiet little spot overlooking the Eureka Valley combines them with its signature swing that, although out of commission more often than we'd like, provides a particular angle on the city that you cant' get anywhere else.

Those who don’t live in Sunnyside probably have never seen this beautiful public garden with its century-old palm grove and octagonal conservatory. A tiny neighborhood alternative to Stern Grove, it remains a hidden gem in an out of the way spot.

Yes, it turns out there’s a mammoth antique sundial right smack in the middle of Ingleside Terrace. In its day—1913--it was quite the landmark, but now it’s one of San Francisco’s most obscure, weird,and unforgettable places to visit.

Some ocean gazing at Ocean Beach can be a tranquil way to wile away an afternoon with visitors, but don't forget that nearby Lake Merced offers some moments of Zen in its own right, usually with fewer fellow visitors underfoot than you'll find at the brink of the Pacific.

If your visiting relatives have seen Hamilton or are just big on colorful local history, they might be interested in visiting the spot where Senator David Broderick squared off against former California Supreme Court Justice David Terry near Lake Merced in 1859.

The two were fighting over slavery politics. Terry won, and both San Francisco and San Mateo County tried to prosecute him, but failed. The markers pointing to both men’s positions are actually in Daly City, just over the line.