Transamerica Redwood Park
A half-acre grove of redwoods and a small plaza at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid, reopened to the public in 2024. Free.
A half-acre grove of redwoods and a small plaza at the base of the Transamerica Pyramid, reopened to the public in 2024. Free.
An independent bookstore and cafe in the Outer Sunset, opened by Kathryn Grantham. Books from small presses and underrepresented authors. Cafe from 7am, bookstore from 9am.
An Outer Richmond vintage shop with clothing from the 1920s through the 1970s, plus southwestern pieces and vintage jewelry.
A 1.7-mile walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. The east sidewalk is open to pedestrians daily, 5am to 9pm (6:30pm November through March). The 28-19th Avenue Muni bus runs to the south parking lot.
An independent vinyl shop opened in 2017, with two San Francisco locations: 3614A Taraval in the Parkside and a second spot inside the 4-Star Theatre at 2200 Clement. Specializes in rare-groove soul, jazz, funk, and reggae.
A Market Street vinyl shop since 1993, selling previously-owned records at non-collector prices. Inventory leans 50s through 70s: jazz, rock, folk, fusion, soundtracks, comedy, and classical.
A Lower Haight vinyl shop opened in 1990, now owned by Chris Veltri. Specializes in rare grooves: jazz, soul, rock, blues, disco, international, hip hop, and avant garde.
A hands-on children’s museum at Yerba Buena Gardens with two floors of art, design, and innovation exhibits. $20 admission, open Thursday through Sunday.
A free museum inside Good Vibrations on Polk Street displaying antique vibrators from the Victorian era onward. Free guided tours on the third Sunday of each month.
A small vintage shop on Grant Avenue in North Beach with menswear and womenswear. Close to other Grant Avenue vintage shops.
A women-only Korean spa in Japantown with body scrubs, saunas, steam rooms, and hot tubs. Open since 2016. Appointments only.
A North Beach vintage shop on Grant Avenue with vintage t-shirts, shoes, jewelry, and designer pieces. Open daily until 8pm.
A Mission vintage shop with both clothing and home goods: mid-century decor, vintage kitchenware, and wearable vintage clothing.
A vintage shop at Haight and Ashbury with clothing from the 1920s through the 1980s and deeper inventory in the 40s and 50s. Open daily.
A Polk Street shop with vintage clothing, designer resale, and independent labels. Open Tuesday through Sunday.
A vintage and designer shop on Valencia Street in the Mission with clothing across genders and decades, plus shoes. Open daily.
A small vintage shop on Stockton Street between North Beach and Chinatown with one-of-a-kind pieces and rotating stock. Open Thursday through Sunday.
A 2,500-square-foot sauna and cold-plunge garden on Lower Nob Hill. The centerpiece is a 40-person circular sauna; the space also includes cold-plunge tubs, rain showers, and a fire pit.
A Chinatown tea shop on Grant Avenue since 1985, importing single-origin teas directly from farms in China and Taiwan. Teas by the ounce, teaware, and brewing equipment.
An independent bookstore on Valencia Street in the Mission, with new and used books across literary fiction, art, politics, and graphic novels. Open until 10pm daily.
A vintage shop on Clement Street in the Inner Richmond, owner-curated by Belle. Specializes in natural-fiber clothing: cotton, linen, wool, silk. Dresses, denim, and 90s tees.
A 90-minute circus show at Club Fugazi in North Beach. Created by two co-founders of The 7 Fingers (Montreal) as a tribute to San Francisco. Opened October 2021 in the venue that hosted Beach Blanket Babylon from 1975 to 2019.
A multi-vendor vintage cooperative with locations on Haight Street and Chestnut Street in the Marina. Clothing, accessories, and home goods from independent sellers.
The only bookbinding museum in North America, with historic tools and machinery from the 16th century to modern industrial equipment. Self-guided audio tours, hands-on exhibits, and docent-led visits in SoMa.
An independent bookstore on Haight Street since 1976 (San Francisco Legacy Business since 2016). New books across literary fiction, nonfiction, graphic novels, and politics, plus regular author events and silent reading parties.
A Haight Street vintage shop organized by decade, from the 1940s to the 1990s. Menswear and womenswear, European vintage, western wear, and costume rentals.
A vintage shop on Haight Street with wearable pieces rather than collectible-only stock. Open Thursday through Sunday.
A Japanese-inspired communal bathhouse with a 104-degree soaking tub, redwood sauna, steam room, and cold plunge. Reopened in 2025 after a five-year closure. Bathing suit optional on select days.
A Haight Street vintage shop carrying clothing and accessories from the 1900s through the 1980s, with a deep hat selection and a formal wear section by period.
A Japantown vintage shop carrying Japanese designer labels (Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake) alongside an American vintage section of denim, band tees, and workwear.
A sustainability-focused vintage shop on Haight Street, heavy on 90s and 2000s clothing plus vintage sports attire. Three locations: Haight, Palo Alto, and the Embarcadero.
A vintage vendor collective on Valencia Street in the Mission with 20+ booths. Inventory spans the 1940s through the 2000s: clothing, jewelry, jackets, sunglasses, and bags.
A Russian-style bathhouse in the Bayview with saunas, plunge pools, an on-site cafe serving Russian and European food, and chess meetups. Happy hour pricing on weekday afternoons.
A Japanese-style bathhouse in Japantown‘s Japan Center with communal hot and cold pools, a steam room, and a dry sauna. Gendered days; all-gender on Mondays and Tuesdays.
A 14-acre park built on top of the Presidio Parkway tunnels, with views of the Golden Gate Bridge, picnic areas, a playground, and food trucks. Opened July 2022; the Outpost Meadow expansion opened July 2025.
An independent bookstore on Clement Street since 1967, with new and used books, vinyl, and music. Acquired Browser Books on Fillmore in 2019 and opened a Green Apple location at SFO in 2024.
An independent record store on Haight Street since 1997, in a converted 24,000-square-foot bowling alley. Vinyl in every genre and an active buy-sell-trade counter.
A museum in the Presidio dedicated to Walt Disney’s life and work, from his early animation experiments through the planning of Disneyland. Founded by his daughter Diane Disney Miller and housed in a converted Army barracks.
The oldest public Japanese garden in the United States, built for the 1894 World’s Fair and tended by the Hagiwara family for nearly 50 years. About three acres of maples, koi ponds, and a five-story pagoda inside Golden Gate Park.
A private collection of more than 300 antique coin-operated arcade machines at Pier 45, including the Laffing Sal automaton from Playland at the Beach. Free entry. Bring quarters.
The working powerhouse for San Francisco’s cable car system. Free admission. The 14-foot sheaves and cables that pull every cable car in the city run continuously under a public mezzanine.
The first stand-alone LGBTQ history museum in the United States, opened in 2011 in a storefront on 18th Street in the Castro. Rotating exhibitions drawn from the GLBT Historical Society’s archive.
Fifty-five acres of plants from climates similar to San Francisco’s, inside Golden Gate Park. Free for SF residents with ID; free for everyone before 9am and on the second Tuesday of each month.
A 1986 sound sculpture by Peter Richards and George Gonzales on a jetty next to the St. Francis Yacht Club. Twenty-five PVC and concrete pipes turn wave action into low resonant tones. Free, open 24 hours, best at high tide.
A grassy slope in the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park, gathering spot for the Haight-Ashbury counterculture since the late 1960s. Sunday drum circle, picnics, and 4/20 traditions.
A one-block residential alley in the Mission covered with murals since 1972. Themes include immigration, Central American politics, and neighborhood history. Free to visit, daylight is best.
A one-block alley in the Mission with rotating murals managed by the Clarion Alley Mural Project, founded 1992. Themes include housing, identity, and political resistance. Free to visit.
Two long concrete slides in Seward Mini Park, designed by 14-year-old Kim Clark in 1973. Free, open Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 5pm. Bring or grab cardboard.
A fortune cookie shop in a Chinatown alley, hand-folding cookies on motorized griddles since 1962. Owned by Franklin Yee. Free to watch; bags of flat unfolded cookies are $10.
Roller rink at 554 Fillmore Street, inside a decommissioned Catholic church. All-ages afternoon sessions and adult evening sessions. Rental skates available.
Neoclassical 1898 columbarium in the Inner Richmond at 1 Loraine Court. Over 8,500 niches under a stained glass dome. One of the few places in San Francisco still able to inter remains. Free.
Two floors of Beat Generation manuscripts, letters, and ephemera at 540 Broadway in North Beach. Half a block from City Lights. $8 adult admission. Daily 10 AM to 7 PM.
Naturalized flock of cherry-headed conures that has lived on Telegraph Hill since the early 1990s. Best seen late afternoon near Coit Tower and the Filbert Steps. Free.
Rusted shipwreck remains visible at low tide along the Lands End Trail. Check tide charts before you go. The 3.4-mile coastal path with Golden Gate views is the reason to go even without the wrecks.
Peephole in a storefront door at 281 Cortland Avenue, Bernal Heights, that screens curated short films on a 24/7 loop. One viewer at a time. Free.
Internet Archive headquarters at 300 Funston Avenue, in a former Christian Science church the nonprofit bought in 2009. Servers where the pews used to be. Free public reading room and Friday tours.
A narrow alley off Ellis Street transformed into a dense garden of redwoods, murals, and benches. Two minutes to walk through, and a genuine surprise in the Tenderloin.
Cartoon and comic art museum at 781 Beach Street in Fisherman’s Wharf. Collection of about 7,000 original pieces; rotating exhibitions. $10 adults, free first Tuesdays.
The Pacific Heights Victorian at 2640 Steiner Street used as the exterior in the 1993 film Mrs. Doubtfire. Private residence; viewable from the public sidewalk.
Stone castle built in 1870 for the Albion Brewery at 881 Innes Avenue in Hunters Point. Underground sandstone caves and natural springs. Visits by appointment only.
Victorian wood-and-glass conservatory at 100 JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park, opened in 1879. Five galleries of tropical and aquatic plants. $12 adults, free first Tuesdays.
A walled garden inside the SF Botanical Garden designed for visitors with visual impairments. Every plant chosen for scent or texture, with raised beds at arm’s height.
Half-acre pet cemetery along McDowell Avenue in the Presidio. Hundreds of graves of dogs, cats, and smaller pets; many headstones mimic the format of military grave markers. Free, dawn to dusk.
Mark McCloud’s private collection of LSD blotter art, housed in his Mission District home. Generally considered the largest collection of its kind. Visits by appointment only.
Hayes Valley comic shop at 326 Fell Street with original artwork painted on toilet seats by working comic artists. Free to view; comics for sale.
Small walled garden in Golden Gate Park planted with species mentioned in Shakespeare’s works. Each plant labeled with the relevant passage. Free, dawn to dusk.
A sunken hollow of towering tree ferns in Golden Gate Park, nicknamed Mescaline Grove since the 1960s. Dense canopy, prehistoric plants, and a two-minute walk that drops you into a rainforest.
The seawall at Aquatic Park is built with real tombstones from San Francisco’s relocated 19th-century cemeteries. Names and dates still visible in the concrete if you look closely.
Nonprofit dedicated to fine printing, book arts, and California literary history. Founded 1912. Library, rare books, letterpress exhibitions, and public lectures at 312 Sutter Street, Suite 500.
Abandoned Endicott-era coastal defense batteries (built 1899-1902) on the cliffs near Lands End. Concrete bunkers and gun mounts open to walk through. Free, dawn to dusk.
Six Corinthian columns from the Towne Mansion (destroyed in the 1906 earthquake) installed at Lloyd Lake in Golden Gate Park in 1909. Best at dawn when the lake is still.
Cloudflare’s SoMa lobby at 101 Townsend Street displays a wall of about 100 lava lamps. A camera records the wax motion to help generate cryptographic random numbers. Free, weekday business hours.
San Francisco’s oldest cemetery, dating to 1776, adjacent to Mission Dolores at 3321 16th Street. About 100 graves from early settlers, Ohlone peoples, and Gold Rush pioneers. Featured in Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
James Turrell skyspace inside a grassy mound in the de Young Museum‘s Osher Sculpture Garden. Free to visit. LED lights around the oculus shift how the sky color appears.
A herd of American bison has lived in Golden Gate Park since 1891. Small paddock in the western half of the park, free to see from the fence along JFK Drive.
A 1906 hand-carved carousel by the creator of Coney Island’s first carousel. Roughly 65 wooden animals inside a glass pavilion at Yerba Buena Gardens. $4 a ride.
A cast-iron fountain from 1875 that became the city’s central gathering point after the 1906 earthquake. Still the site of an annual predawn ceremony every April 18th at 5:12 AM.
The first reinforced concrete bridge built in the United States, completed in 1889 and shaped to look like rough stone. Fake stalactites hang from the arch at the Haight Street entrance to Golden Gate Park.
San Francisco’s oldest park has 19th-century cemetery headstones built into its footpaths. Fragments of names and dates visible in the stone borders, repurposed when the city moved its dead to Colma.
An indoor trampoline park inside a renovated military airplane hangar at Crissy Field in the Presidio. Thousands of square feet of trampolines, ninja course, and foam pits.
Giant fishnet-stocking legs in red high heels jut from a second-story window above Piedmont Boutique on Haight Street. The legs have been there since 1995. A 30-second photo stop.
A hands-on typography and design archive in Dogpatch with over 100,000 items, from medieval manuscripts to punk zines. Staff pull pieces for you to examine. Free visits by appointment.
About 700 ancient Egyptian artifacts (including two intact mummies) collected by former SF mayor Adolph Sutro in the 1880s. Housed in the free Global Museum at San Francisco State University.
The oldest municipal lawn bowling club in the United States, operating in Golden Gate Park since 1901. Free lessons on weekends, no reservation needed. Three greens next to Sharon Meadow, with an Edwardian clubhouse from 1915.
A record shop at 254 Scott Street that opens only on Saturdays from 2 to 7 PM. Founded in 1951, specializes in 78s and 45s, run by Wade Wright since 1961.
A 10-story building only 20 feet wide at 130 Bush Street, covered in glazed terra cotta and hammered copper. Built in 1910 as a necktie, belt, and suspender factory by architect George Applegarth.
An outdoor food truck park in Mission Bay rotating from a pool of over 200 Bay Area trucks. Permanent bar, four fire pits, and lawn games near Chase Center.
Margaret Keane’s big-eyed paintings were one of the biggest art phenomena of the 1960s, sold from a San Francisco gallery under her husband’s name. The fraud unraveled in a courtroom paint-off in 1986.
A screen printing shop on Waller Street that also runs a pinball arcade in the back. About 60 machines, 50 cents to $1 a game, one block south of Haight Street.
A gold-painted fire hydrant at 20th and Church that reportedly saved the Mission District during the 1906 earthquake fires. Repainted every April 18th at 5:12 AM.
A nonprofit circus school where you can take a single drop-in trapeze or aerial silks class with no experience. Also hosts public performances in a small theater. Founded in 1984.
The California Academy of Sciences houses the sixth-largest herpetology collection in the world with over 315,000 reptile and amphibian specimens. Behind-the-scenes tours occasionally give access to the research storage.
Over 170 gold-painted or brick circles on San Francisco streets mark underground cisterns built after the 1906 earthquake. Each holds 75,000 to 200,000 gallons of emergency firefighting water, and they’re still in active use.
Mosaic-tiled staircase at the end of California Street climbing to Lincoln Park and the Legion of Honor. Fewer crowds than the 16th Avenue Steps, with ocean views at the top.
Potrero Hill’s Vermont Street has seven switchbacks between 20th and 22nd Streets. Site of the annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel race every Easter Sunday.
A 100-acre park in northwest San Francisco built over a former cemetery. Home to the Legion of Honor museum, an 18-hole golf course, and access to the Lands End Trail.
The Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club offers free fly casting lessons in Golden Gate Park, organized in 1933 and casting on three concrete pools built by the WPA in 1938. Patient instructors, no equipment needed.
An albino American alligator at the California Academy of Sciences with white skin and pink eyes. Fewer than 100 albino alligators are known to exist, and Claude has been a resident of the Swamp exhibit since 2008.
A pair of yellow metal hand outlines bolted to a fence behind Fort Point, made by Golden Gate Bridge ironworker Ken Hopper around 2000. Runners high-five them at the turnaround point on the Bay Trail.
A 163-step mosaic staircase in the Inner Sunset that runs sea-to-sky, leading up to Grandview Park.
A Marin Headlands overlook 500 feet above the Golden Gate Bridge‘s north tower, with the bridge in the foreground and the San Francisco skyline behind it.
A mile of sand at the southwest edge of the Presidio, with the Golden Gate Bridge visible from the beach.
An Art Deco tower on Telegraph Hill with panoramic views and Depression-era murals inside. Take the Filbert Steps up through the gardens and wild parrots.
The highest point you can drive to in San Francisco at 922 feet. On a clear day you can see from the Farallon Islands to Mount Diablo. Christmas Tree Point is the main viewpoint.
San Francisco has hundreds of public stairways climbing its hillsides. Filbert Steps to Coit Tower, the 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, the Lyon Street Steps, and dozens more, often lined with garden plantings.
The famous row of Victorians on Alamo Square is just the start. San Francisco has roughly 48,000 Victorian and Edwardian homes built between 1849 and 1915.
Balmy Alley has murals dating to the early 1970s. Clarion Alley‘s project has cycled more than 700 murals since 1992. A self-guided walk through decades of Mission District street art.
The oldest Chinatown in North America. Walk the alleys (Waverly Place, Ross, Spofford) past the Tin How Temple, family-association buildings, and tea shops, not just Grant Avenue’s main strip.
A restored tidal marsh and waterfront promenade in the Presidio with ground-level views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Flat and easy walking from the Marina to Fort Point.
A coastal trail at the northwest edge of San Francisco, about 1.5 miles one way. Cypress trees, shipwreck remains visible at low tide, and a cliffside labyrinth above Mile Rock Beach.
A former military base turned national park at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. 1,500 acres of forests, beaches, trails, and historic buildings.
16 acres in the Mission District that draws 7,000 to 10,000 people on sunny weekends. Sloped lawn with downtown views, J-Church streetcar running along the western edge.
1,017 acres stretching 3 miles from the Haight to Ocean Beach. Gardens, museums, lakes, a bison herd, a Dutch windmill, and miles of trails.
A comprehensive Asian art collection spanning 6,000 years across every major Asian culture. Housed in the former San Francisco Main Library, a 1917 Beaux-Arts building in Civic Center.
A hands-on science museum at Pier 15. About 600 exhibits explore perception, physics, and the natural world. Founded in 1969, relocated to the Embarcadero in 2013.
An aquarium, planetarium, and natural history museum under one living roof in Golden Gate Park. Over 46 million specimens, plus a four-story rainforest dome.
American art from the 17th century to today, plus international textiles and major traveling exhibitions. The Hamon Observation Tower is free to enter.
The West Coast’s largest modern art museum spans seven floors of painting, sculpture, photography, and architecture. Free first-floor gallery, no ticket needed.
San Francisco’s cable car system has been running since 1873. A guide to the three lines, the current $12 fare and Cable Car Plus pass, and how to avoid the longest waits at the Powell turnaround.
How to visit Alcatraz: how to book tickets through the official operator, what’s on the audio tour, and what to expect on the ferry from Pier 33.
A Thursday afternoon farmers market on Bartlett Street in the Mission. 3pm to 7pm, March through November, run by Foodwise.
Sunday morning farmers market in the Stonestown Galleria parking lot, 9am to 1pm year-round. Free parking. Near SF State.
Sunday morning farmers market on Clement Street in the Inner Richmond, 9am to 2pm year-round. Northern California growers.
A small Saturday morning farmers market at the Fillmore Center plaza, year-round. 9am to 1pm. Next to the Fillmore Auditorium.
California’s oldest farmers market, opened in 1943 and operated by the City. Saturdays 6am to 2pm at 100 Alemany Boulevard. EBT accepted.
A farmer-operated nonprofit market in United Nations Plaza since 1981. Sundays and Wednesdays year-round. EBT and Market Match accepted.
CUESA’s year-round farmers market outside the Ferry Building. Saturday 8am to 2pm, Tuesday and Thursday 10am to 2pm. EBT and Market Match accepted.
A 1946 camera obscura at Lands End that projects the coastline onto a dish inside a small wooden shed. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The surviving structure from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. Designed by Bernard Maybeck and rebuilt in concrete in the 1960s. Free to visit.
Contemporary dance company founded by Robert Moses, blending modern technique with African American vernacular dance. Performs at Bay Area venues. $20 to $50.
A small Mission District bar at Folsom and 17th with live music most nights. Jazz, blues, folk, and singer-songwriters. No cover.
A small nonprofit performance and gallery space at 2698 Folsom Street in the Mission since 2003. Music, poetry, and gallery shows. Sliding scale $10 to $20.
Contemporary dance company in SoMa, founded in 2005 by Raissa Simpson. Studio shows and appearances at Bay Area venues. $20 to $40.
An electronic music venue on Erie Street off Mission since 2010. House, techno, and bass music with a side patio. Cover $10 to $30.
Home of the San Francisco Giants since 2000. Waterfront stadium with McCovey Cove past right field and the Bay Bridge past center. Tickets $15 and up.
Community cultural center at 868 Kearny Street documenting Filipino American history and the I-Hotel eviction. Free admission. Near Chinatown-Rose Pak BART.
Nonprofit art and technology center in the historic Grand Theater at 2665 Mission Street, with immersive exhibitions and creative coding workshops. Free to $20.
A 13-acre arts campus in former Army warehouses on the northern waterfront. Theaters, galleries, food events, and views across to the Golden Gate Bridge.
A 140-seat cabaret room inside the Hotel Nikko near Union Square. Jazz vocals, Broadway singers, American Songbook, with dinner service. Tickets $40 to $85.
Multipurpose art and event space at 446 Valencia Street in the Mission, with rotating programming including theater, dance, and pop-ups. Near 16th Street BART.
Dance school and performance venue on 24th Street in the Mission, with programming from folk to contemporary. $10 to $25. One block from 24th Street BART.
A cocktail bar at Haight and Ashbury with live jazz several nights a week. No cover. Open since 1989.
Experimental and contemporary music venue in the Tenderloin with concerts and sound installations. Sliding scale $5 to $20, near Powell BART.
A 200-capacity room on Mission Street for indie rock, garage, punk, and electronic since 2011. Stage near floor level. Tickets $10 to $20. 16th Street BART.
A 300-seat theater on 24th Street in the Mission presenting work by women, LGBTQ artists, and artists of color. Founded 1986. Tickets $15 to $40.
A basement blues club on Mason Street near Union Square, open since 1995. Live blues and soul most nights, Southern food, about 100 seats. Cover $15 to $25.
Regional theater company since 1965, with two downtown venues. Tickets $25 to $110. Powell BART.
Contemporary ballet company founded in 1982 by Alonzo King. Performs at YBCA and other Bay Area theaters. Tickets $30 to $95.
ACT’s flagship 1,000-seat theater on Geary Street, built in 1910 and restored after the 1989 earthquake. Larger classic and contemporary productions. Tickets $25 to $110. Powell BART.
ACT’s 280-seat second stage on Market Street, built as a 1917 movie theater. New plays, adaptations, and smaller-scale work. Tickets $25 to $90. Civic Center BART.
The northern waterfront stretch from Pier 39 to Aquatic Park. Working fishing docks at Pier 45, historic ships at Hyde Street Pier, and the original Ghirardelli factory site.
The 1898 ferry terminal at the foot of Market Street, now a food marketplace and the Saturday morning home of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
The only city-operated cable car system still in daily service, with three lines climbing the hills from downtown. Technology patented by Andrew Hallidie in 1871.
San Francisco’s oldest building, an adobe chapel completed in 1791 that survived the 1906 earthquake. Founded as the sixth Spanish mission in California.
The 1.7-mile span connecting San Francisco to Marin, opened in 1937. Walking, cycling, and viewpoints on both sides.
Fortune cookies folded by hand in a Ross Alley shop, operating since 1962.
A 19th-century public square at the base of Telegraph Hill. Morning tai chi, afternoon picnics, and Saints Peter and Paul Church on the east side.
The North Beach bookstore that opened in 1953 and published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. Three floors of books at Columbus and Broadway.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy
The full guide in your pocket. Save spots, get directions, and explore offline.