88 Things to Do and See in San Francisco
The kind of low-down, insider-y itinerary you hope to get up to when you take a trip to the centerpiece of the Bay Area.
Spot is a simple, beautiful, intuitive travel app that helps you find cool places in your city & around the world. We originally created this post for HarpersBazaar.com, see the original here. And, for even more under-the-radar San Francisco finds, check out our Undercover San Francisco list.
Tennessee Williams once mused, “America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.” And while NYC sparks with unwavering electricity, and New Orleans is all louche, languid sex appeal, San Francisco marches to the beat of its own drum, a singular tune. Over the years, this little city — only seven by seven miles — has fostered the Beat Generation, nurtured flowers-in-their-hair hippies, championed the gay rights movement, and birthed the tech revolution.
Today, homegrown fashion brands are turning the industry on its head, game-changing restaurants are making everyone look west, renegade creatives are doing things their own way, and the “cruffin” does the “cronut” one better. We’ve rounded up a mix of can’t-miss San Francisco attractions and activities, and had several in-the-know locals, including blogger SFGirlbyBay and The Forest Feast author Erin Gleeson, weigh in with their faves. This list ranges from high-brow to low, from obvious (but worth it) to little-known (and most definitely worth it). Below, the kind of low-down, insider-y itinerary you hope to get up to when you take a trip to the centerpiece of the Bay Area.
Mission Dolores Park
The ultimate hipster hang, Dolores Park is a sloping swatch of green lawn, tennis courts and a children’s playground. On weekends expect drum circles, cool-kid birthday parties and see-and-be-seen scenesters decked out in their festival best. Bring a bottle of wine (rosé if you want to make friends), and take in the incredible view from the southwest corner where the city stretches out in front of you in a fishbowl panorama–the vibe is invigorating, uplifting, and worth a soak.
Design-Forward Coffee Shops
San Francisco gets a gold star for style-centric coffee spots, offering up intricate tilework, killer light fixtures and an impeccable shelfie game, in addition to a perfectly pulled shot of espresso. At Sightglass’s expansive SOMA flagship, light pours in from the skylights and three-story-high windows, while baristas sling coffee from a brushed-zinc bar that seems to float like an island in the middle of the room. Mazarine has milky-blue-tiled alcoves backing the baristas that recall rows of library books (this shop was inspired by Paris’s Bibliotheque Mazarine, the oldest public library in France). Blue Bottle’s Sansome outpost is in a 1912 building that once held haberdashery and barbershop Cable Car Clothiers. Reveille’s new Mission Bay location has an espresso bar with graphic tiles, gray-leather stools, and precisely stocked open shelving hung with Spanish moss. And Jane on Fillmore was inspired by a swinging ’70s London coffee shop and is sexy as all get out.
Mel Rice Ceramica
Stuck in a nook no bigger than a closet on the front of Amnesia bar in the Mission, Mel Rice Ceramica is owned by Melissa “Mel” Rice who, in a former life, was a pastry chef at cult-bakery Tartine. Here, at her renegade, semi-permanent pop-up she sells her own hand-thrown ceramics sporting cool geometric motifs and tongue-in-cheek quotes.
Conservatory of Flowers
From the Victorian era, this glass atrium is the western hemisphere’s oldest such greenhouse. Inside, exotic flora climbs the walls, brushes the ceiling and snakes across ponds in fairytale proportions–from orchids as tiny as postage stamps to lilypads as big as garbage-can lids. Our favored game plan starts with a picnic on the giant front lawn before you mosey inside.
Secret Bars
Some of San Francisco’s best bars are hideouts preferring to fly under the radar. The Hideaway, at Leo’s Oyster Bar, flirts with tiki style — palm-frond wallpaper, hanging ferns, cane furniture — as does Louie’s Gen-Gen Room below the Liloliho Yacht Club. Marianne’s at The Cavalier is “a nod to the ‘70’s rock ’n’ roll haunts frequented by Marianne Faithfull, style icon and Mick Jagger’s former flame,” says designer and stylist Stacie Flinner, who’s a big fan of the hidden hotspot (and The Hideaway, for that matter). Upstairs from Asian-street-food eatery Hawker Fare in the Mission is new-ish drinking den, Holy Mountain. We can’t mention secret bars without winking at the OG speakeasy, Bourbon & Branch, which holds, nesting-doll style, a second secret bar called Wilson & Wilson Detective Agency.
Golden Gate Bridge
What the Eiffel Tower is to Paris, the Golden Gate Bridge is to San Francisco. Sporting its signature “International Orange” paint job, it is the city’s gleaming icon, bridging San Francisco with beautiful Marin County to the north. First opened to traffic in 1937, the bridge can be walked, biked, or driven, preferably with the windows down, music up, hair whipping in the wind.
Dominique Crenn’s World
Culinary tour-de-force Dominique Crenn (just named the World’s Best Female Chef on San Pellegrino’s World’s 50 Best Restaurants list), has two superb restaurants in the city. First, there’s Atelier Crenn, where the seafood-heavy tasting menu, written as a poem — “Unraveled, in dulcet dreams of falling leaves” — highlights the chef’s French countryside upbringing (and two Michelin stars). Then there’s Petit Crenn; soulful, more casual, with a chalkboard menu, rope lights and homey, grandmother-inspired dishes that range from a gratin of Brussels sprouts to a whole fire-roasted trout.
Onsen SF
A lush oasis in a transformed auto-body garage, this brand-new urban bathhouse comes to San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin District by way of Japan. Come for a massage or to relax in the communal bath, redwood-cedar sauna and steam room, then snack on light bites including skewered veggies and meats, rice porridges and sashimi in the restaurant and tea house.
Mr. Holmes Bakehouse
“We’ve all heard of the cronut,” says photographer Erin Fong, one half of letterpress-shop Western Editions, “but Mr. Holmes has created the cooler younger brother of the cronut: the cruffin. It’s a combo of a croissant and muffin filled with cream with flavors that change daily. If sweets aren’t your thing, choose from savory pastries including the California croissant (a salmon sushi roll inside a croissant served with a packet of soy sauce). You can also feed your Instagram feed with their glowing neon-pink ‘I got baked in San Francisco’ sign. (How very SF…) Get there early as lines snake well outside of this tiny establishment and the cruffins sell out quicker than hotcakes.”
Phoenix Hotel
This mid-century motor lodge turned hipster haunt in the Tenderloin has long been the choice of visiting rockers (including the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the late, great David Bowie). The heart of the hotel is its central egg-shaped pool sporting a cheeky mural of 6s and 9s by Francis Forlenza. And while you need a room key to pool it up here, the hotel restaurant, a vibey spot called Chambers Eat + Drink does host the occasional poolside party.
Chinatown
Though Chinatown is a tourist-circuit stop, there’s something magically transporting about passing under the Dragon Gate at Bush and Grant. Wander streets hung with red lanterns, taking in the jade shops, fish markets, and dim-sum joints–its century-ago heyday hovering like some thinly veiled time warp. Dine at the new high-profile Mister Jiu’s, reviving a stretch of Chinatown with chic design and modern Cantonese (dutch crunch pork buns, tea-smoked duck). Then dip into glamorously gritty Li Po Cocktail Lounge, an Anthony Bourdain favorite, for one of their famous mai tais (don’t even bother with the menu).
Ampersand
A former wood garage down an alleyway in the Mission is where you’ll find this pint-size flower shop, a favorite of style-setters of all stripes including YouTube star Ally Chen of Fashion by Ally. “From the bright teal doorway to the beautiful flowers to the overwhelming floral aroma, this dreamy flower shop and design studio is San Francisco’s best-kept secret,” she says. Picture a vintage carpet on the floor, strung lights twinkling above, shelves holding vintage vessels, and flowers, herbs, and foliage spilling out of dozens of silver buckets lining all walls.
Coit Tower
Crowning Telegraph Hill, this 210-foot tower was built using a bequest from cigar-smoking, pants-wearing, gambling socialite and all-around early #girlboss, Lillie Hitchcock Coit. It’s a favorite for locals and visitors alike — before Victoria Smith of SFGirlbyBay traded her City by the Bay for Shangri-L.A., it was her go-to with guests for the views and provocative 1930s political murals. One more fun fact: Telegraph Hill is the roosting spot of choice for SF’s famous flock of wild parrots.
Freda Salvador
This would be San Francisco’s resident cool-girl shoe brand designed by resident cool girls Cristina Palomo-Nelson and Megan Papay. Loafers, booties, oxfords and mules with just the right amount of adornment — a perfectly placed tassel, stud, or cutout — handmade in a tiny Spanish factory. They’re the shoes of the girl you want to be. Pro tip: The shop hosts a killer sample sale every year.
The Midway
On a street crossing that feels like the middle of nowhere, this revamped warehouse is now a 40,000-square-foot creative complex envisioned by party legend Jeff Whitmore (the NYC native that brought us The San Francisco Mint and Public Works). His vision: a collision of creative communities dedicated to arts, music, gastronomy and emerging tech under one collaborative roof. The center of the complex is the contemporary-art-focused Midway Gallery, while outlying spaces range from artist studios to an experimental 3D sound space to an open-floor music venue to Madame Zola’s Fortune, an in-house cafe that will open its doors as a culinary school in 2017.
Camera Obscura
A little-known San Francisco novelty, this 1950s throwback in the shadow of the Cliff House draws on Leonardo da Vinci’s 15-century camera obscura design — only it’s lifesize. Step inside the working “camera” for a 360-degree view of the surrounding area — waves crashing on rocks, birds in flight — projected from a lens on the roof onto a 6-foot parabolic focusing table. Quirky doesn’t begin to cover it.
Legion of Honor
A near replica of Paris’s Palais de la Légion d’Honneur plunked down in the forested Presidio, this museum holds masterworks from European greats — sculptures by Rodin, Impressionist works by Monet — and a revolving roster of special exhibits, currently a goodie on Mummies and Medicine.
Brenda’s Soul Food
Every city has those places that locals moon over and tourists stumble into — if they’re lucky. Sandwiched between a Taco Bell and a car tune-up shop in the Tenderloin, Brenda’s Soul Food is one such spot. “Brenda’s is a total hidden gem,” says fashion blogger and girl around town, Jennifer Henry-Novich of Just Add Glam. “They do amazing variations on traditional eggs benedict — think fried chicken and crawfish. And you can purchase their peach-cinnamon jam, which makes your typical Monday-morning toast so much better.”
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
After a three-year closure and ambitious expansion, SFMOMA has reopened. Bigger even than its New York cousin, the building, reminiscent of rolling white fog, holds works by a who’s who roster of modern superstars — there are the suspended Calder mobiles, the Diane Arbus photos, the abstract Picassos and the iconic Warhols. Terraces provide views where the city becomes art, and an immense living plant wall is selfie central for visiting Instagrammers. If you’re looking for a convenient stay, the excellent St. Regis with its plush rooms, famous Bloody Marys, and 50-foot indoor infinity pool is right next door.
Cavallo Point
Technically it’s not San Francisco proper, but this historic hotel (built within former military officers’ quarters) is just over the Golden Gate Bridge. Stately red-roofed buildings ring a green lawn, and the top-notch Murray Circle restaurant serves up black-garlic tamales, seafood stew, and braised shortribs, which taste even more delicious if you’re able to snag one of the tables on the gracious Southern-style front porch, oriented oceanward. It feels like a find, with the seats occupied by as many locals as guests.
Folsom Street Fair
Every September, this infamous, show-em-whatcha-got “granddaddy of leather events” stretches more than a dozen blocks in all its sex-positive, subculture-embracing glory. It’s an exhibitionists’ free-for-all that will titillate wide-eyed first-timers. Come with an open mind — and a whip.
Mission District Murals
Gritty, artful, soulful and provocative, the Mission District is known for its rich Latino heritage, restaurants thrumming with energy, and the city’s best street art — on fences, sidewalks, the sides of businesses and even the front of houses. Turn any corner in the Mission and you’re likely to lay eyes on some fantastically intricate mural, but a handful of alleyways serve as permanent alfresco galleries. Look for Balmy Alley off 24th, Clarion Alley between 17th and 18th, and two-block-long Orange Alley between 24th and 26th.
Musée Mécanique
One of touristy Fisherman’s Wharf’s more obscure attractions, this gem of a museum could be a shoo-in for the opening scene of a magic-tinged romcom. It holds a rare collection of more than 200 vintage arcade games from mystical fortune-telling wizards to racy peep shows to all-American ball games — all playable with a quarter or two.
General Store
This shop is one of those brick-and-mortar treasures that’s aesthetically on-point, champions independent designers and is bonkers for all things artisanal—from hand-tooled leather goods to woven wall hangings. Celebrated local photographer Madeline Lu goes for the “carefully curated clothes, books, magazines, food, and objects made by local California artists,” she says. “And I love their little garden, too.”
Food-Truck Squads
Throughout the city you’ve got your regularly scheduled food-truck-park pop-ups and your permanent, marketplace-style powwows. On the pop-up side, check Off the Grid to see where their coalition will be turning up — generally for lunch, special Friday-night gatherings and summer-weekend shindigs. On the permanent side, the SOMA Streat Food Park has a covered metal barn for sampling those honey-sriracha chicken wings and flaky empanadas, and the new Spark Social, with a vintage double-decker bus and fire pits, still feels undiscovered (read: fewer crowds).
Japanese Tea Garden
At this tranquil oasis of ponds, bridges and winding paths within Golden Gate Park you can take a break with matcha and rice cakes at a custom irori (farmhouse-style family table) within a traditional tea house. The cherry blossoms bloom in March and April, and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, admission is free if you’re in by 10a.m.
Alamo Square’s Painted Ladies
When you think of quintessential San Francisco architecture, these six Victorians come to mind thanks partially to their pastel uniformity, but mostly to their starring role in the opening sequence of Full House. Built from 1892–1896 across the street from Alamo Square Park, they’re a popular photo-op and a several-block stroll from Hayes Valley, a tree-lined neighborhood of solid restaurants and serious shopping.
Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory
Come to this easy-to-miss Chinatown factory for a tour and to sample a fortune cookie like you’ve never had it before: fresh and warm.
Mission Rock Resort
This is your no-wait, brunch-on-the-water spot. Though it does feel like a getaway from the pavement-pounding bustle of the city, Mission Rock is not a resort, but a two-story restaurant. And while its location — a bayfront former industrial park — is unfamiliar to many San Franciscans, its seafood-leaning menu swings effortlessly from raw bar to fish and chips. Here, the cocktails are clever, and the service is cheerful and charming. Hit it now before the new Warriors stadium is built nearby.
Palace of Fine Arts
Originally opened as part of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition world fair and never meant to be permanent, the Palace of Fine Arts is a dusky ochre structure of Greek-Roman influence deemed too beautiful to destroy — so it wasn’t. Today it holds a theater, adjacent to a colonnaded rotunda, and is fronted by a tranquil swan lagoon. All in all, the stuff postcards are made of.
Union Square
Union Square is the Times Square of San Francisco, only less flashy and frenetic. There’s no neon, but there are chic hotels and shops and a festive ice-skating rink come winter (though the temps still feel June-like). If you’re in the area, fashion blogger Tina Phan of Phasionable suggests dropping by Cafe de la Presse. “It is absolutely perfect for any mood you’re in,” she says. “The food is French-cafe fare and incredibly tasty, and it’s next door to the Dragon’s Gate entrance to Chinatown and a few steps from Maiden Lane, Hermes, and Prada for some amazing window shopping.”
Tea Time
You have the minimalist sanctuaries of rare, hand-picked teas: Chamalyn in boho Bernal Heights with its black shelves of tea-filled glass canisters, and Song Tea, one of the handful of places recognized in Cuyana and Cereal Magazine’s new Guide to San Francisco. You have Samovar Tea Lounge, a favorite of cult jewelry designer Meghan Kanodia of Svelte Metals. “Perched above street level (almost hidden!) on the edge of Yerba Buena Gardens, it’s a serene oasis of creative, inspired bites and speciality teas. My favorite is the masala chai.” And, in their mod, lively “tea room,” Boba Guys specializes in bubble tea. “I grew up on boba milk tea — if you haven’t had boba yet, it’s chewy tapioca balls and delicious doesn’t even cover it!” says Everlane creative producer Cristina Viseu. “And I love what Boba Guys has done with the aesthetic of their shop. It feels like a grown-up version of the shops I used to frequent as a child. You can even get classic Hong Kong toast, with whipped butter-cream and condensed milk.”
Albion Castle
Originally built alongside a brewery in 1840, this tucked-away “castle” in the Hunter’s Point neighborhood has a six-story tower and a pair of 200-foot underground fresh-water cisterns. It’s been home to a bottled-water company and sculpture studio, and is now available for a cool $950/night via VRBO. While the price is steep, it’s decorated like a dream with lush fabrics warming up the raw stone and wood trim, a modern kitchen, an outdoor patio with firepit, and expansive gardens.
San Francisco Botanical Garden
Within Golden Gate Park, the Botanical Garden provides a lush respite for a stroll whether through its redwood grove or Mediterranean habitat. The garden’s a place for lovers, friends, families and anybody looking for something new to do. Come in winter for magnolias, in spring for rhododendrons and in summer for the pale pastels of the Zellerbach Garden of Perennials.
Bell’occhio
A whimsical little find down an easy-to-miss Tenderloin street, this store (a favorite of Martha Stewart’s and stylists nationwide) sells bits and bobs,curiosities and notions, many of them unearthed in Europe by owner Claudia Schwartz. Come for wee scissors shaped like storks, paper carrots holding candies, faux-bois vases, or only to be engulfed in the fantastical setting — from the flower-strung chandelier to the four-poster daybed to the racks of spools fat with French ribbon.
Breweries
A spate of artisanal breweries are upping the style quotient of the San Francisco beer game. Magnolia, operating out of a 1940s cannery in the trending Dogpatch neighborhood, pairs sky-high ceilings with crumbling walls painted pale pink and weathered-wood accents. Light filtering in from multiple skylights and indoor trees gives the Mission District’s Southern Pacific Brewing a breezy, indoor-outdoor feel. And at the brand-new Barebottle Brewing Company, you can ask the bartender for a flight at the tiled bar under mod pendant lights fashioned after hop flowers.
16th Avenue Tiled Steps
San Francisco is littered with hidden staircases that snake down hills and link up winding streets. They often feel like a find, are overgrown with lush vegetation, and sometimes take you past the city’s most picturesque cottages. But these steps are special. They’re covered in a community-created mosaic of sea and sky that’s punchy with bright colors by day and catches the moonlight by night so it actually glows.
Original Joe’s
“This restaurant is classic San Francisco,” says blogger Kathleen Ensign, the brains behind KatWalkSF. “It is North Beach’s version of Cheers. I can walk in and sit in the bar solo and there is a 90 percent chance I will know someone there. It has a true neighborhood feel and the bartenders know your drink — I rarely have to actually order. The food is solid, too. They do one of the best burgers in the city.” The Italian joint is a Little Italy legend — and it shows — from the bracing martinis to the baseball-size meatballs to the tuxedoed waiters and mafioso undertones. In a fun twist, Little Italy was the epicenter of the Beat Generation. Kerouac himself used to hold court at nearby Vesuvio Cafe.
Presidio
In past lives, this storied national park has been a Spanish outpost, a Mexican fort, and a U.S. Army base. Most of the military buildings and officers’ quarters have been reimagined, and now hold a variety of diversions for the modern urbanite including a rock-climbing wall, bowling alley, boutique hotel (the Inn at the Presidio)and several superb (and rarely packed) restaurants–from upscale Mexican at Arguello to California comfort food at the Presidio Social Club.
Goorin Brothers
The longtime milliners’ North Beach flagship is worth a stop for its old-world stylings complete with mahogany shelves and antique cabinets. The wide-brim fedoras and gauchos are what Instagram selfies were made for.
Rooftop Bars
If underground bars, those bastions of subterranean cool, sit one end of the drinking-establishment spectrum, their counterpart is none other than the rooftop drinkery, an open-air fun house of jubilant good times. In San Francisco, rooftop spots are best enjoyed in the sunshine of early fall (summer can be hit or miss). El Techo de Lolinda does Mexico City-style small plates and pitchers of margaritas, the sleek firepits and stylish crowd of Dirty Habit wouldn’t feel out of place in Miami, Jones bar has a huge landscaped outdoor patio and you can take in the views of Yerba Buena Gardens with happy-hour oysters at B Restaurant & Bar.
Paxton Gate
Here, a scene that could have been spun up from the imagination of Pan’s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro comes to life in shop form. A trip to this little shop of oddities feels like a trip to the natural-history museum–only the taxidermy (ethically sourced), skulls, live plants, and glass display cases can be purchased.
Tartine Manufactory
Opened in August 2016, Tartine Manufactory is the latest ambitious evolution of Tartine Bakery. In one corner there’s a wine bar; in another, a coffee kiosk, and there’s also a bakery, restaurant and ice-cream parlor. Better yet, it’s in the same building as Heath Ceramics. “Go for the bread and stay for all the other goodness it holds,” says photographer June Kim, who counts this as one of her favorite places in the city.
California Academy of Sciences
With its aquarium, four-story, glass-domed rainforest and planetarium, the California Academy of Sciences is an impressive ode to natural history. But its living rooftop of rolling hills and fields carpeted in wildflowers is the stunning, sustainable cherry on top. On Thursdays, the Academy hosts “Nightlife,” an after-hours event that lets you take in the exhibits, cocktail in hand, to tunes spun by a guest DJ.
Ferry Building
Right on the water, San Francisco’s late-1800s Ferry Building is the place locals take visitors (and enjoy the hell out of themselves, too). The marketplace inside is bustling — always — with as many people taking pictures of the vaulted ceiling as shopping. Stalls lining the corridor sell kitchenwares, pottery, apothecary goods, freshly baked breads, charcuterie, artisanal jams and all the fresh produce your heart could desire. Interspersed with the stalls are mini-me versions of beloved Bay Area restaurants — Hog Island Oyster Co. for briny oysters and your bowl of SF clam chowder; Gott’s Roadside for cheeseburgers, onion rings and milkshakes; and the Slanted Door (frequented by celebs like Gwyneth Paltrow and Jon Hamm) for classic Vietnamese with a twist. Free walking tours are offered on Saturdays and Tuesdays by San Francisco City Guides.
Piccino
You can’t miss the yellow Victorian house that holds Piccino, the Dogpatch staple that nails that home-of-a-friend feel. “It’s such a good neighborhood restaurant,” says blogger Kate Ogata of The Fancy Pants Report. “You can order something different every time and never be disappointed.” The menu, a dip into rustic Italy, centers on pizzas, some topped with housemade sausage and mozzarella and others sprinkled with garlic confit and thinly sliced potatoes.
Beach Blanket Babylon
At this camp-tastic musical revue — the longest-running in live-theater history — all things current pop culture are up for lampooning via satirical songs and enormous, elaborate hats (a signature prop). Think of it as an SNL and Broadway lovechild raised by RuPaul.
Design Shops
Some of the Bay Area’s most lauded interior designers have opened up impeccable shops dealing in items they’ve designed and treasures they’ve unearthed around the world. Inspired by a curiosity shop you’d discover down a quiet Paris alley, designer Jonathan Rachman’s new J. Rachman shop is filled with antiques and his own line of leather goods and linens.
Housed in a 1910 warehouse, Jay Jeffers — The Store specializes in pieces that Jeffers has created in partnership with Arteriors, as well as an eclectic assortment of designer goods including acrylic trays by Alexandra von Furstenberg and resin skulls covered in an exquisitely patterned feathers by Laurence Le Constant. Scot Meacham Wood is known for his bold designs and love of tartan, which comes full circle in his Home store where his signature plaid makes an appearance on pillows, scarves, and even slippers.
Zuni Cafe
Start with Champagne and oysters; then put in your order for the legendary roast chicken for two — served atop warm Tuscan-style bread salad — and order another glass while you wait. In this San Francisco mainstay, meals inevitably turn into the kind of lively, hours-long affairs that will have you plotting your return trip before the check has even hit.
City Views
Those rolling hills, ocean views on three sides, a glittering downtown, bridges in the background — San Francisco is nothing if not picturesque, and best taken in from a far-off vantage point. The views from Twin Peaks are tremendous, and the fact that you can drive or hike up is fun. But all guide books will point you there, and tour buses deposit dozens at a time. Further afield is Bernal Hill, topping the boho Bernal Heights neighborhood, which has incredible views plus a meandering car-free path around the top. Another off the beaten option is Tank Hill, a 650-foot-high mini-park from which you can spy the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, downtown, and the Bay Bridge, amidst wildflowers (like blooming California poppies) in spring.
San Francisco Champagne Society
A secret Champagne society? Yes, please. This reservation-only Champagne lounge can be found behind a coded door in a SOMA apartment building. To access this Champagne sanctum, you’ll need to book a tasting, an effervescent small-groups event that generally includes a flight of three Champagnes–all from small-batch producers. Pro tip: Proprietor Bill Marci will also ship bottles of bubbly on-demand anywhere in the city via Postmates or UberRush.
Sutro Baths
In 1896, Tropic Beach Sutro Baths was a paradise — the world’s largest pool complex when it opened — and oceanfront no less. The kind of place an Esther Williams synchronized-swim extravaganza would have been filmed. But to the chagrin of all generations of San Franciscans who came after, it burned down in 1966. The ruins remain — visible after a short hike down — offering a glimpse into the aquatic follies of yesteryear. (Also: Instagrammers love this spot.)
High Tea at The Palace Hotel
The city’s high-priestess of high tea is The Palace Hotel where the Saturday signature tea will see you plied with scones, pastries, petit fours and fresh sandwiches under the chandeliered glass-atrium ceiling of the hotel’s famous Garden Court restaurant.
Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival
This is the raucous jam-packed August music festival that runs for three days, has seen the likes of Elton John, Kanye West, and Pearl Jam perform and is equally bemoaned (some leave town) and beloved (some hit all three days with gusto) by locals. Love or hate it, it’s San Francisco’s own, in the heart of the city. Expect beer gardens and wine bars and a grab bag of eats from donut-bun burgers to a prix-fixe sit-down four-course meal serenaded by a brass band.
Tosca Cafe
A couple years ago, famed New York restaurateurs Ken Friedman and chef April Bloomfield restored this North Beach staple to its retro glory, paying homage to its Little Italy surrounds with red-vinyl banquettes, Italian-family-style dinners, and stiff cocktails. Bey and Jay frequently grab a table here when they’re in town — no surprise considering that Jay-Z backs another of Friedman and Bloomfield’s ventures: The Spotted Pig in NYC’s West Village.
Minnesota Street Project
The Minnesota Street Project is a collective of ten commercial art galleries housed in a former cabinet-maker warehouse in the Dogpatch district. While the airy space is art itself (steel girders and trusses washed by light through extensive skylights), within you’ll find big-player galleries including sculpture at Rena Bransten and fine-art paintings at Nancy Toomey side-by-side with showings from contemporary photography startup Casemore Kirkeby. Gallery hours are extended every first Saturday each month to host artist talks and cocktails.
Tiki Bars
Tiki is having a moment in San Francisco, where amidst palm fronds and bamboo siding, the bar is tended by rum revolutionaries, swapping bitters for fresh fruit juice, carved ice for crushed. If you want to tiki-bar hop, the holdouts are Trad’r Sam’s, a pioneer opened in 1937, and Bamboo Hut, opened in 1999. Newer additions include Smuggler’s Cove, intensely decorated as if you were inside a ship, and Pagan Idol, a buzzy new haunt with a night-sky ceiling. But the granddaddy of all is the Tonga Room & Hurricane Bar in the ground floor of the Fairmont Hotel, where a band plays on a floating barge in a pool, and frequent rain showers (complete with thunder) punctuate your meal. A full menu is served.
Beach Time
San Francisco’s fog is so legendary, it even has a Twitter handle — @karlthefog — with a cool 180K+ followers and counting. Ironically, the city’s north and west coastlines are edged with beaches that cruelly taunt bundled-up passersby on chilly days (most of them). But when the sun strikes, ahhhh. Karl be damned. Baker Beach to the north provides a straight-shot view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Ocean Beach to the west is where surfer brahs and beach babes convene (and where you bonfire at night). If you’re looking for an afternoon stroll, Fort Funston, pictured here, is doggy-walking heaven backed by immense cliffs.
Lombard Street
The so-called “crookedest street in the world” (technically — it’s not) is San Francisco’s most notorious, complete with eight hairpin turns edged by mansions and separated by elaborately landscaped medians. Expect slow-going traffic in the surrounding neighborhood as cars queue up for the trip down, but you can also park nearby and take it by foot (better for picture-taking at the bottom).
Hotel G
A block from shopping mecca Union Square, this cool hotel has 153 rooms but the intimacy and style of a spot that’s a whole lot smaller, hence the clued-in crowd who calls it their home away from home. Original white-and-green hex tiles and exposed concrete add character to the lobby, and denim headboards, vintage furniture, floral wallpaper, and hits of marble outfit the rooms. After you drop off your bags, press onward to the hotel’s tiny, clandestine Benjamin Cooper bar for oysters and the kind of drinks that cocktail geeks, well, geek out over.
Anthony’s Cookies
Anthony Lucas started baking as a San Francisco State student, and grew his hobby into a mini confectionary empire with a storefront on Valencia and a thriving online business. Along the way, he’s picked up a cult following including local blogger Arnelle Lozada of This Beautiful Life. “They’re the best cookies in town, hands down,” she says. And: “He’s the only one who’s mastered a true cookies ‘n cream flavor,” about their signature offering.
Stow Lake
At this pretty-as-a-picture Golden Gate Park lake, you can rent boats and pedal or paddle alongside flotillas of swans and geese. Stone bridges, a small central island named Strawberry Hill and a gingerbread-style boathouse-slash-cafe complete the storybook vibe. Landlubbers can stick to the easy meandering trails that surround it.
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Live jam sessions, a family-friendly crowd and a beautiful Golden Gate Park setting? What could be better? That this annual three-day bluegrass (mostly) festival is totally free. Pack a picnic, stake out a spot early, and get ready for some serious music. Chris Isaak, KT Tunstall (pictured), Emmylou Harris, Earl Scruggs and Cyndi Lauper have all graced the stage.
Mission District Burritos
Know now that there’s no shame in entering a brief, impassioned love affair with a burrito the size of your head; they’re a San Francisco rite of passage popularized in the Mission District in the 1960s. And though their ingredients rarely differ — mounds of rice, beans, the meat of your choice, cheese, guac and salsa heaped into a huge tortilla and wrapped in aluminum foil — locals fervently debate the best burrito shop. Almost always in the running are El Farolito, La Taqueria, and Taqueria Cancun, which means that you could do right by any of them and feel very wrong afterwards.
Wave Organ
On the very tip of a jetty east of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, you’ll find this unusual musical instrument — one that few city dwellers even know about. Built from scrap stone in 1986 as part of the Exploratorium, it produces subtle, musical sounds as the ocean’s waves flow in and out. High tide is best.
First Thursdays at 49 Geary Galleries
Union Square’s 49 Geary is a multi-floor venue holding a collection of well-known contemporary-art galleries — Fraenkel, Haines, Koch. Every first Thursday of the month since 1993, all two dozen galleries host wine-accompanied openings until 7:30 p.m. Come to meet local art stars and to experience a range of multidisciplinary work from prints by Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand and Edward Weston to a humbling exhibit of NASA’s lunar photographs to politically charged installations by Ai Wei Wei. (For more galleries participating in First Thursdays, check out the San Francisco Art Dealers Association.)
Ferry to Sam’s Anchor Cafe
On weekends, sun-seeking locals flock to Sam’s, a seafood joint known as much for its epic waterfront patio as it is for its oysters, burgers, beer and Bloody Marys. It is the answer to those “we’ve done everything in the city” conundrums that inevitably pop up in even the most vibrant metros. Round-trip ferries depart from Pier 41 and the Ferry Building.
de Young Museum
Behind the museum’s perforated-copper facade, you’ll find a serious fine-arts collection defined by its American masters’ works, extensive textile collection and finger-on-the-pulse special exhibits hitting names in art, fashion, and design–from Oscar de la Renta to David Hockney.
State Bird Provisions & The Progress
Splitting the 100-year-old building of a former theater, these sister restaurants are two of the city’s best. Snug, buzzy State Bird has a James Beard Award and a cult following for its small plates served dim-sum style from roving trays and carts. Right next door is its bigger little-sister The Progress, one of SF’s most visually stunning restaurants from the vaulted ceilings to the lathe walls to the plant-draped bar. And the food — served family-style on gorgeous ceramic bowls and platters — is dynamite.
Live Music
On one hand you have Beyonce selling out AT&T Park, but on the other you have a rotating roster of homegrown acts and big-name bands playing regularly at San Francisco’s more intimate music venues. With finely tuned sound systems, skilled bartenders and vibes ranging from retro cabaret to all-out rock hall, The Independent, Bimbo’s 365, The Chapel, The Fillmore, and the Great American Music Hall are all solid options for a good time.
War Memorial Opera House
Home to the legendary San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Ballet, the stately Beaux Arts-style opera house also hosts an eclectic mix of performances by top-notch groups including Chinese-ballet Shen Yun, award-winning radio man Garrison Keillor and folk-rock band Jethro Tull.
Outerlands
When a well-known restaurant photographer shares one of her personal favorites, you know it’s going to be good. And photog Katie Newburn says this about Outerlands: “When I walk in, I feel like I’m at my best friend’s house — like part of the family. The atmosphere is warm and cozy, especially out in the cold, foggy Outer Sunset. And the food is the same. It’s a bit rustic, no fuss, delicious, local, and really warms your soul.”
Everlane
In their open-to-the-public office-slash-”lab,” this San Francisco born-and-bred fashion line turns out modern cuts on classics that will stand the test of time. A good loafer, a cashmere turtleneck, a day-to-night collared silk shirt. More than just a fashion line, though, they’re a movement, steadfast in their elegant minimalist aesthetic and dedicated to total transparency about their sourcing, factories, and pricing.
Audium
Intimate and avant-garde, Audium is dedicated to sound sculpture. Venture here to amplify your auditory awareness — performances take place in total darkness, and you’re wholly enveloped in sound — it washes over, beneath, and through you.
The Ice Cream Bar
This 1930s-style soda fountain delights the young and young at heart with its elaborate floats and malts, specialty sodas (note the menu of boozy options) and decadent sundaes crafted by servers sporting bow ties and soda-jerk hats.
Pia
San Francisco’s tech and fashion A-list heralded in the recent Jackson Square opening of Pia, The Store, by Swedish lawyer Pia Oien Cohler who comes to the Bay by way of Paris. Within the airy gallery-like space, the goods — leather jackets, sexy-comfy rompers, statement bags, hand selected every season — are displayed as carefully as art. Pieces are pulled from big-name designers (Zac Posen to Nina Ricci) and lesser-known brands (Khirma New York and House of Dagmar).
Black Cat Jazz Club
Wrapped in leather and velvet, this new-to-the-scene Tenderloin venue is part supper club part cocktail lounge part jazz revue. Dinner — tomato panzanella salad, local clams, a signature patty melt — is served on street level, and down a flight of stairs, cabaret tables are oriented towards the corner stage commandeered by live jazz acts most nights.
Al’s Place
It’s not every day your restaurant is deemed the best in the nation by multiple respected critics, but such is the case for this down-to-earth corner spot in the Mission. In a bright, spiffed-up dining room with the kind of staff you’d want as friends, chef Aaron London (“AL”) focuses on small plates like grits with goat’s milk curds, smoked brisket and brine-pickled French fries good enough to write home about.
Cable Cars
San Francisco’s iconic transportation system, a holdout from the late 1800s, is worth a spin if you’re new to town. Buy an all-day pass to hop on and off and transfer lines (there are three), and know that the Fisherman’s Wharf stop is generally the most crowded. There’s also a Cable Car Museum for history lovers.
Single-Spirit Bars
A specialization? Or an obsession? These one-liquor bars are temples of their booze of choice (though other options are, of course, available). Newly opened Mezcalito offers nearly 50 different mezcals paired with Oaxacan-style fare; at legendary Tommy’s you can get an honest-to-goodness diploma in tequila; sexy Japanese-style Nihon Whiskey Lounge features more than 500 single-malt whiskies (and lockers for storing your personal bottles); and Whitechapel is a gin palace styled like an abandoned London Underground station, vaulted ceiling, steel buttresses, and all. Coming soon is Rum & Sugar, dedicated to that sweet nectar of the Caribbean.
Cuyana
San Francisco-founded Cuyana(how you say “to love” in Quechua) excels in staples for the modern woman with a sly twist (leather lining, subtle ruching, smart cuts). A floor below their Union Square offices, their airy, elegant showroom is open for the shopping.
Artisanal Toast
The recent toast craze was born in San Francisco with a cinnamon-sugar version plated up at a little helter-skelter joint called Trouble Coffee (they also serve coconuts). Trouble’s take on the afternoon snack was further elevated by other local bakeries with each toast becoming more elaborate — and delicious — than the last. At The Mill you can get cream cheese, pesto and pine nuts on rye; at Jane on Larkin the ricotta-walnut-honey is a winner, and at Huxley, toast becomes a proper meal when topped with smoked trout, capers, fingerling potatoes and a poached egg.
Alcatraz Island
The approach alone is epic: A scenic boat ride carries you out into the bay as The Rock looms larger and larger. Once on the island, the audio tour is excellent detailing a life incarcerated, and introducing the history of some of the most notorious criminals held here. Alcatraz also frequently hosts large-scale installations by major artists. Check to see what’s on when buying your ticket.
The Ramp
“I love The Ramp,” says Erin Gleeson, Bay Area-based author of The Forest Feast cookbook series. “It’s this casual waterfront bar and restaurant with a great vibe.” She especially digs the divey eatery’s Taco Tuesday Happy Hour, where $3.50 tacos and $5 cervezas run until 7p.m. On Saturdays, things kick up a notch with live salsa music.
Antique Vibrator Museum
Yes, SF has a vibrator museum. The founder of San Francisco’s beloved Good Vibrations sex-shop chain, a sex educator herself, long collected antique vibrators. Spanning from the 1800s (when they were invented to treat “hysteria”) through the 1970s (when they were embraced as part of the sexual revolution), her collection is housed in a small museum in the back of Good Vibrations’ Polk Street location. Every third Sunday at 3p.m. is a free tour.
Dinner and a Movie
Forget Netflix and chill. These cures for the common cinema will get you out on the town. Sundance Kabuki in Japantown and the new Alamo Drafthouse in the Mission both look like standard-issue theaters, only you can dine on restaurant-quality food as you watch. Think an egg-topped breakfast burger at the Alamo and tikka-masala pizza at Sundance. And at restaurants Foreign Cinema(an atmospheric Mission mainstay) and Bernal Star (a little-known charmer hidden in Bernal Heights), movies are projected on the sides of neighboring buildings at night.
Brunch at Park Tavern
If local lifestyle blogger Ashley Kane of Brunch on Chestnut knows one thing, it’s brunch. “Park Tavern has become a staple,” she says of the spiffy North Beach brasserie. “It’s undeniably one of the best brunches I’ve ever had — order the Hummingbird cocktail and avocado toast and you will adore it as much as I do!” The restaurant looks out on Washington Square Park, one of the city’s oldest parks and worth an apres-brunch stroll.
Haight-Ashbury
The ’60s counterculture movement of peace, love, and flowers in their hair reached a fever pitch here in 1967, the Summer of Love for those lucky enough to have gotten a firsthand look. To be here now is to still feel vestiges of what once was, and strolling down memory lane means passing by slick coffee shops and chic cafes, but you’ll still see head shops, psychedelic murals, and musicians playing for spare change, feel the Eastern influence, and take in wafts of weed and patchouli.
