September is when San Francisco’s weather turns. The fog that sits over the western half of the city through July and August thins out, and September and October are reliably the warmest and clearest stretch of the year here. It is also a dense month on the calendar: the symphony opens its season, the opera’s season opening was canceled by an orchestra strike that has since been settled, two large free street festivals land mid-month, and several museum shows either open or close.
Here is what is happening in San Francisco in September 2026, with the dates and costs we have been able to verify from first-party sources.
Festivals and Free Street Events
Opera in the Park, Sunday, September 13: canceled. San Francisco Opera’s free outdoor concert in Golden Gate Park was called off after the company’s orchestra went on strike the evening before. Our report on the strike covers what happened, our piece on what the strike means if you are holding tickets covers refunds and credits, and our piece on San Francisco Opera’s opening weekend covers the season as it was scheduled.
Chinatown Autumn Moon Festival, September 19 and 20. Grant Avenue closes for two days of the mid-autumn festival, with lion dancing, food stalls and street performance. Free to attend. See our Autumn Moon Festival preview for the layout and how to approach it on foot.
Muni Heritage Weekend, September 19 and 20. The same weekend, the SFMTA and Market Street Railway run free trips on vintage streetcars and buses from the San Francisco Railway Museum at 77 Steuart Street, 10am to 4pm both days. The SFMTA has published a Fun Map this year that shows live vehicle positions during the event. Our Muni Heritage Weekend preview lists the vehicles expected and what the cable car rides cost.
Elevation Sky Park opens at Pier 70, Saturday, September 19. The dome venue on the Dogpatch waterfront opens to the public with Pier Play San Francisco, an outdoor festival running 2pm to 10pm, 21 and over, headlined by BLOND:ISH. Our report on the opening covers what is built so far and how to reach the site.
Portola, September 26 and 27, Pier 80. The electronic and pop festival returns to the Dogpatch waterfront with about 60 artists across four stages. Robyn and Dog Blood headline Saturday; Swedish House Mafia and Tiësto headline Sunday. It is 21 and over, there is no parking, and Portola Week club events run September 24 through 27. Our Portola 2026 guide has the stage assignments and current pass prices.
The Mexican Navy tall ship Cuauhtemoc is open to the public September 23 through 26. The 297-foot barque is expected to pass under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 9:30am on Wednesday, September 23, then berths at Piers 15 to 17 on the Embarcadero, where going aboard is free. Our guide to the visit has the open ship hours and where to watch the arrival from shore.
Philippine Sun, from September 4. A light sculpture by the Filipino collective mumu, titled 13°N, 122°E, is unveiled at Yerba Buena Gardens on September 4 and stays up afterward. Its light is timed to sunrise and sunset in the Philippines. Free. See our report on the installation.
The Presidio turns 250 on September 17. El Presidio de San Francisco was founded on that date in 1776, and the Presidio Trust is marking the anniversary across the whole year rather than on one day. The free guided walk 250 Years on the Presidio is on Sunday, September 13 at 11am, and the park’s eighth annual Chuseok Festival, a celebration of Korean culture, is on Saturday, September 26. Our piece on the Presidio at 250 covers the programming and what is free to see on any day.
Music and Performing Arts
San Francisco Opera’s strike is over, and the season now opens September 22. The company’s orchestra went on strike less than an hour before the curtain for Simon Boccanegra on September 12, and the free Opera in the Park concert the next day was called off with it. Five performances were lost in all, including the September 20 opening night of Mary, Queen of Scots. The two sides reached a tentative four-year agreement on the evening of September 17, and Simon Boccanegra now opens the 104th season on Tuesday, September 22 at 7:30pm. The musicians still have to ratify the agreement, so check sfopera.com before traveling to Civic Center. The Opera Ball has moved to November 12. Our report on the settlement covers the terms that have been made public, our report on the cancellations lists the dates that were lost, and our piece on what the strike means if you are holding tickets covers refunds and credits.
The orchestra had warned patrons on August 27 that it would not play opening night without a new contract.
The San Francisco Symphony opens September 24 with its gala at Davies Symphony Hall: Giancarlo Guerrero conducting, Hilary Hahn playing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto. The night worth circling is September 25, the All San Francisco Concert, where a limited public allocation of tickets is sold at $12. Two of the three works overlap with the gala program. Our season opening piece explains how the $12 tickets work and why the Symphony’s own gala page is currently showing last season’s information.
Laurie Anderson plays the Curran Theatre on September 25, one night only, with The Republic of Love backed by the jazz group Sexmob. Our preview of the show has the lineup, the start time and how to reach the theatre.
The first San Francisco Brazilian Film Festival runs September 24 through 27 at the Vogue Theatre, 3290 Sacramento Street, with 16 films and tickets at $20 per program. It opens with Pedro Pinho’s I Only Rest in the Storm and closes with a 4K restoration of Walter Salles’s Central Station. Our festival preview has the full picture and how to reach the Vogue.
Two other Davies dates before the season opener: Samara Joy on September 8, and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert, September 10 through 12, with the score played live to the film.
Museums: What Opens and What Closes
September is a month of deadlines. Four shows close and three open.
Closing: Vivid: Immerse Your Senses at the California Academy of Sciences ended September 7, after which the Academy has no headline temporary exhibit until Halloween. Matisse’s Femme au chapeau: A Modern Scandal at SFMOMA has been extended to September 27, two weeks past the September 13 date the museum had listed; weekend mornings from 10am to noon are reserved for members until it closes, and the museum shuts to the public on September 14, 15 and 16 for a private event. Because the terms of the bequest forbid the painting from traveling, the show has no second venue anywhere. The Etruscans: From the Heart of Ancient Italy closes at the Legion of Honor on September 20. Tiny Chef, Big Impact at the Academy of Sciences runs to September 30.
Opening: Eternal Paris: Photographing the City of Light opens at the Legion of Honor on September 5, in Gallery 22, with roughly 50 photographs from the Achenbach Foundation. It is included with general admission, which means a free Saturday covers it. Garuda in Bali opens at the Asian Art Museum on September 18, in the Hambrecht Contemporary Gallery, and is also included with general admission. Ha Chong-Hyun: Retrospective, the Korean painter’s first museum show in North America, opens at the Asian Art Museum on September 25 and runs to January 25, 2027; note that September 24 is a members-only day, not the public opening.
Reopening: The Museum of Craft and Design reopens September 5 with OBJECTS: USA, on view through January 17, 2027. The Museum of the African Diaspora, closed since August for installation, reopens on September 30 with Nexus Black Art Week, September 30 through October 4, and Dorian Reid’s Calling All Cats!, up through December 6. The anchor of the new season is Dewey Crumpler: Sonic Lineages, which fills all three floors from September 30 through May 30, 2027.
Still running: Treasures of the Pharaohs at the de Young, through January 31, 2027, ticketed separately. A Gallery of Their Own and Superficial Matters, both at the de Young since mid-August, run into 2027.
Outside the museums: Ken Kesey’s original Furthur bus and Jerry Garcia’s BMW are on public display in the County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park, in the Haight Street Art Center’s Forever Grateful, Golden Gate Park, September 5 through October 25 on timed-entry tickets. The companion exhibition at the art center’s own gallery on Haight Street closes September 20. At Fort Mason Center, Leah Rosenberg’s 18-panel mural The Sea Is But Another Sky opened September 17 on the loading docks between Buildings B and C; it is free, viewable daily 7am to midnight, and stays up through 2027.
Sport
The Golden State Valkyries close their regular-season home slate on September 18 and 19 at Chase Center. The WNBA pauses league-wide from August 31 through September 16 for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, so there is no Valkyries basketball in the city for the first half of the month. The team has already clinched a playoff spot, and postseason dates had not been published as of late August. Our piece on the schedule around the break has the remaining dates and how to get to the arena.
Food and Drink
Prelude closes on September 19. The Southern-inspired restaurant inside The Jay hotel at 333 Battery Street serves its last dinner that night, and Omakase Restaurant Group says a new concept will take the same space this fall. The details are in our report on the closing.
Yank Sing closes its Rincon Center dim sum room on September 20. The restaurant at 101 Spear Street is closing because its lease ran out. The company’s other San Francisco location, at 49 Stevenson Street, stays open, so only one of the two rooms is affected. Our report on the closing covers which is which and how to reach the one that remains.
Otra will close in early December. The Mexican restaurant at 682 Haight Street in the Lower Haight runs daily from 5pm to 10pm until then. Our report on the closing covers what the owners say is behind it and what happens to the space.
Cole Valley is filling up. Four businesses are arriving on the neighborhood’s block and a half of Cole Street: Pasta Supply Co in the former Peet’s Coffee space, a new restaurant from Hamano Sushi’s Jiro Lin in the former Kamekyo space, the antique store Schatzgarten this month, and the coffee shop Double Black. Our rundown of what is opening covers where each one is and how to get there on the N Judah.
Free Things to Do
September 1 was the first Tuesday of the month, which made the de Young, the Legion of Honor and the Conservatory of Flowers free on the first day of the month. The Asian Art Museum was free on Sunday, September 6. The de Young and the Legion are free every Saturday for residents of the nine Bay Area counties. Our free museum days guide for September has the full list, including the library pass programs.
Beyond the museums, the Autumn Moon Festival on September 19 and 20 is free, and the Philippine Sun installation at Yerba Buena Gardens is free and permanent. So are the Presidio’s anniversary walk on September 13 and its Chuseok Festival on September 26. Going aboard the tall ship Cuauhtemoc at Piers 15 to 17, September 23 through 26, is also free. Opera in the Park, which is free in most years, was canceled this year.
Free all month, and all year: the Golden Gate Dozen, a named 13-mile route from Crissy Field to Fort Funston that links 12 national park sites, including Fort Point, Lands End, Sutro Baths and Ocean Beach. It breaks into shorter segments, and September and October are the clearest months to walk the ocean half of it.
Also free and open daily: Sunset Dunes, the two-mile car-free park on the former upper Great Highway. It has a skate area, a bike pump track and hammocks, and its first playground, Shipwreck Cove, is under construction, with an opening expected before the end of the year.
At Fisherman’s Wharf, Alioto’s Plaza has opened on the site of the demolished Alioto’s restaurant, and it costs nothing to walk through.
Getting Around: Closures and Changes
September is Transit Month across the Bay Area, the eleventh year of it, with a month-long ride contest and more than 80 mostly free events, including a ride-along with the transit agencies’ chief executives on September 11.
Muni service changes started August 29, just before the month began, with frequency increases on the 1 California and the N Judah and larger buses on the 5R Fulton Rapid. Our rundown of the Muni changes covers the routes affected.
Muni single-ride tickets left the MuniMobile app on September 1. Single rides bought before that date stay valid for 30 days. After it, use Clipper, tap a chip-enabled bank card at a reader, pay cash on board, or buy at a Metro ticket machine. Muni-only day passes follow in January 2027. Our guide to the Muni payment changes has the full schedule.
Muni bus headsigns are flashing “Fare Required” through late November. The message alternates with the route name and is part of the SFMTA’s Fares for Our Future compliance campaign, which is adding fare inspectors; the citation for riding without proof of payment is $134. Our explainer on the signs covers the current fares, what counts as proof of payment and how visitors should pay.
Muni’s next 112 buses have USB charging ports, and the first of them enter service in October.
Caltrain’s first rider code of conduct takes effect October 19, after a two-week education period starting October 5. Our piece on what the code covers and who enforces it has the details; alcohol stays legal on board but not on station platforms.
US-101 Hospital Curve closes northbound on one more September weekend: September 18 to 21. The September 4 to 7 closure has passed. Southbound closures follow in October. Details and the disagreement between Caltrans and SFMTA on the exact extent are in our closure explainer.
SFO reopens Runway 1R on September 29, three days early, ending a six-month repaving closure that, combined with FAA limits on parallel landings, delayed 41 percent of the airport’s flights this summer. Our report on the reopening covers what changes for arrivals and what does not.
BART runs its Green Line weekend service on September 12 and 13 and again on September 26 and 27. See our Green Line weekend guide for what that changes for riders.
A BART Inspector General audit of the Transbay Tube seismic retrofit found that more than 8,000 anchor bolts had to be scrapped and replaced partway through the project, which finished in 2024. Our report on the audit covers what it found and what it does and does not mean for riders now.
Portsmouth Square in Chinatown is closed and fenced for a rebuild that runs to 2028, and the Kearny Street footbridge over the square has been demolished, so that crossing between Chinatown and the Financial District is now at street level.
Downtown, the empty San Francisco Centre on Market Street has drawn a new round of bids, including a proposal to turn it into a multilevel sports complex. The building stays closed to the public meanwhile, so the Powell Street end of Market Street is still a walk past a dark frontage.
In the Upper Haight, the corner building at Haight and Ashbury has a proposed new use. San Francisco Heritage has selected the radio station KEXP and the Blue Bear School of Music to turn the Doolan-Larson Building into a music and cultural center with a rooftop venue, a broadcast booth and music classrooms. The project is still exploratory: nothing is under construction, the storefronts are still trading, and the intersection is unchanged for visitors this month.
At the ocean end of the city, the Great Highway Extension south of Sloat Boulevard still carries northbound traffic only, and the seawall and dune project meant to replace it has been pushed back to a late 2029 construction start.
Downtown, the Recreation and Park Commission’s Capital Committee took up the naming of the new Embarcadero Park on September 2. The proposal would call the southern half Art Agnos Plaza and the northern half Sue Bierman Commons, with construction on the five-acre park starting late this year.
At City Hall, four supervisors have moved to pause new data center approvals for 45 days. The ordinance was introduced on September 15 and needs a four-fifths vote to pass. It does not change anything a visitor will see this month, but it is the opening move on a question that will shape the Bayview and South of Market for years.
Also at City Hall, the Board of Supervisors hears PG&E’s appeal on September 22 against the environmental review for the city’s proposed purchase of the utility’s local electric grid. Our explainer on the public power takeover covers the city’s $3.4 billion estimate, how it would pay, and the October 20 deadline for PG&E’s own valuation.
In India Basin, the approved housing site next to the new waterfront park is in default. The lender on Build Inc.’s 24-acre 700 Innes Avenue project has recorded a second notice of default, which opens a path toward a foreclosure sale. Our report covers what was approved for the site and confirms that India Basin Waterfront Park at 900 Innes, with its piers, dock and Bay Trail segment, is on a separate track and stays open.
Labor Day was Monday, September 7. Several museums, including the de Young and the Legion of Honor, are normally closed on Mondays, so check hours before building a day around a gallery visit.
Looking Ahead to October
Our full guide to things to do in San Francisco in October 2026 is now published.
Several October events sell or fill up during September, so they are worth booking now. Hardly Strictly Bluegrass returns free to Golden Gate Park October 2 through 4, and Robert Plant has been added to the lineup. RM x SFMOMA: Between You and Me opens October 3, with a weekday and weekend surcharge on top of admission. San Francisco Fleet Week runs October 4 through 12, with the air show October 9 through 11; the organizers published the performer lineup in early September and it is headed by the Blue Angels. Terror Vault returns to the Old Mint on October 1 with SLASHED: Return to Hellville, running selected nights to November 1; it is 18 and over, and tickets are on sale now. Uniqlo opens a flagship at 801 Market Street on October 9. The Asian Art Museum opens Vishnu’s Cosmic Ocean on October 23, and the California Academy of Sciences holds its SuperNatural Halloween party on October 24, with general admission tickets already on sale. The Portal, a nonprofit 45-seat arthouse cinema at 3293 Mission Street, says it opens in October, though it has not published a date inside the month.
One thing to see before October: Marco Cochrane’s sculpture R-Evolution comes down from Embarcadero Plaza starting October 12, with a free farewell event at the plaza on October 2.
Further out, the Legion of Honor opens Azzedine Alaïa: Sculpting Fashion on November 21, the first major US retrospective of the couturier, with 80 garments and pieces from his own historical collection.
Planning Notes
Two practical points about September here. First, the warm weather is real but it is not uniform: the Sunset and the Richmond stay cooler and greyer than the Mission and the eastern half of the city on the same afternoon, so dress for the neighborhood you will actually be in rather than the forecast. Second, the middle two weekends carry most of the month’s load. September 12 and 13 were to carry the opera opening and Opera in the Park, both since canceled. September 19 and 20 have the Autumn Moon Festival, Muni Heritage Weekend, the Elevation Sky Park opening at Pier 70, the Etruscans closing and both Valkyries home games, and September 26 and 27 have Portola and the last weekend of the Matisse show. Hotel rates and restaurant bookings tighten on those dates.
The citywide backdrop is a tighter hotel market. San Francisco Travel puts occupancy at 70.7% this year and forecasts 72.1% next year, with the average room rate rising from $266.16 to $271.43; the numbers are in our summary of the 2027 tourism forecast.
For more, see our guides to things to do in San Francisco, the main attractions for first-timers, and the city’s major museums.
Photo: Dead.rabbit, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
