Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum

Address:175 Jefferson St.
San Francisco, California
Tel: (415) 771-6188

How bizarre, how bizarre! From shrunken heads to funky art, the Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum is filled with the unusual, and chock-full of oddities sure to shock and excite any visitor.

In addition to cool exhibits, Ripley's Believe it or Not! San Francisco houses hundreds of rare artifacts from all over the world. The chain of museums originally began with Robert Ripley's personal collection of oddities, which was on display at the 1933 Chicago's World Fair. Today, the San Francisco location has crazy exhibits, such as a two-headed calf, an eight-foot-long scale model of a San Francisco cable car made from 270,836 matchsticks, and an eight-foot-tall Stegosaurus made entirely from chrome car bumpers.

If visiting with older kids, check out the shrunken head display, a practice once common to the Jivaro Indians of Ecuador, who kept the heads of enemies as symbols of bravery and shrunk them down by boiling it in herbs. If you can still stomach lunch after the tour, the Museum is located on Fisherman's Wharf, so there's no lack of great dining options about.

To get here, take Bus 32 from the Ferry building, take a cable car from Powell Street to the end of the line, or ride the F-line in from Market Street – but any way you get here, arrive ready, because seeing is believing!