Click MAP to locate destinations preceded by yellow numbers.

Golden Gate Park is a 1,000-plus acre man-made wonder, reclaimed 127 years ago from the persistent sands blowing in off the Pacific Ocean. Early city maps called the area "The Great Sand Bank." Three miles long and half a mile wide, with science and art museums, the 1879 all-glass Conservatory of Flowers, boating, horseback riding, specialized gardens, nine lakes and 4,000 species of trees, it is a year round breath of green air, the lungs of the city for residents and visitors alike.

Start your day at the 10 Academy of Sciences (Music Concourse, Golden Gate Park; (415-750-7145), which offers three museums in one: Natural History Museum for dinosaur skeletons, earthquake demonstrations, dioramas of cavemen and mastodons, and much more; Morrison Planetarium for a changing program of sky shows and solar system exhibits; and Steinhart Aquarium for a fish round-about, a living coral reef and a touch tide pool. Have lunch in the Academy's large cafeteria or walk south out of the park a few blocks to Irving St., a bustling neighborhood filled with cafes and good restaurants.

Back in the park, step into the calm beauty of 11 Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens (9th Ave. and Lincoln Way; 415-661-1316), which features 70 acres and 17 distinct gardens of lovingly maintained flora – from the sun roses (Helianthemum) of Mediterranean climates to giant lobelias from high-elevation cloud forests. Some redwood trees along the Redwood Trail date from 1898 and are among the garden's oldest specimens. Free guided tours are offered daily at 1:30 p.m. with additional 10:30 a.m. tours on weekends.

Head west toward the ocean and stop at the 12 buffalo paddock off John F. Kennedy Drive. In 1890, the city Park Commission purchased the paddock's first bison – two cows named Madame Sarah Bernhardt and Princess and a bull named Ben Harrison. Those "wildings" from the Montana plains were the progenitors of all the park's bison until 1984, when a new herd was brought in to replace the ailing, shaggy beasts. Periodically, lucky visitors get to see the herd's huge, gawky calves.

At the northwest and southwest ends of the park stand two windmills built at the turn of the century. Together, they pumped 60,000 gallons an hour of fresh well water to green the park. When the city installed more efficient motorized pumps in 1913, the windmills fell into disrepair. The spars of the 13 Dutch or north windmill began turning again in 1981 thanks to a restoration project led by Eleanor Rossi Crabtree, daughter of a former mayor.

End your day at the 14 San Francisco Zoo (Sloat Blvd. and 45th Ave.; 415-753-7080). Built in the 1930s as a WPA project, today it is Northern California's largest animal park as well as one of the country's oldest zoos. A kangaroo with a joey in its pouch at the Australian WalkAbout; the only pair of aye-ayes (a kind of lemur) in the country; snow leopards; a jaguar relaxing in a 20,000-square-foot habitat (big cats are fed at 2 p.m. daily except Monday) — these are just some of the zoo’s pleasures. Don't miss the antique Dentzel Carousel with wondrously carved animals and the Children's Zoo, where petting animals is a yes-yes.

Fish Roundabout in the Steinhart Aquarium Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park

California wildflowers at Strybing Arboretum and Botanical Gardens,
Golden Gate Park

Bison in Golden Gate Park

Grey Kangaroo (albino) and her joey in the Australian Walkabout, San Francisco Zoo

Morrison Planetarium, Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park