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Let’s Glow SF
Let downtown buildings become the canvas for a winter night of projected light and animation.
NEIGHBORHOOD DAYS. BAY-SIDE POSSIBILITIES.
Things to do in San Francisco
Discover free finds and affordable local experiences.
REAL PLACES. GOOD DAYS.
Start somewhere beautiful.
Free browsing · purchases extraStories around every corner.
City Lights Booksellers
Lose a little time among poetry shelves and independent voices in a literary landmark.
Explore this place
Free self-guided walk · guided tours extraA neighborhood with something to say.
Balmy Alley Murals
Look closely at murals that tell stories of neighborhood identity and social change.
Explore this place
Free trail accessLet the coast lead the way.
Lands End Coastal Trail
Follow the edge of the continent through cypress trees, coastal bends and bridge glimpses.
Explore this placeGOOD PLANS START HERE
October 2026–January 2027Good plans, coming up.
October 2026–January 2027
View event calendar More reasons to get out.
A market morning. A hilltop detour. A little more city in your day.
115 local plans
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Lightscape at San Francisco Botanical Garden
Follow a mile-long garden trail of light, color and sound after the daytime visitors go home.
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Nature Exploration Station
Look at nature through magnifying glasses, then use drawing tools to record what you discover.
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Fort Mason Night Market
Mix a waterfront evening with food makers, independent design and a browse through an outdoor night market.
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San Francisco Ballet: Nutcracker
Make a December tradition your own with Clara, a growing Christmas tree and a journey into the ballet’s magical world.
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Museum of the African Diaspora
Explore art and ideas across the African diaspora, with a monthly free community day to make discovery easier.
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Bhangra & Beats: Diwali Night Market
Dance into the evening with live drumming, DJs and a South Asian cultural celebration at Yerba Buena.
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Brook Thompson: I Love Salmon and Lampreys
Meet author Brook Thompson for a picture-book reading about salmon, lampreys and the Klamath River.
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Walk the Golden Gate Bridge
See the towers up close and feel the scale of the bay from the bridge sidewalk.
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Downtown First Thursdays
Turn a Thursday into a street-party night with music, dancing and discoveries across three blocks.
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Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
A market morning with California fruit, fresh flowers and the bay just beyond the stalls.
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Día de los Muertos & Diwali at Tunnel Tops
Spend an afternoon with cultural performances, storytelling and hands-on activities in the park.
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Palace of Fine Arts Lagoon
Walk around the lagoon and let the monumental rotunda do the scene-setting.
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Renegade Craft: San Francisco Winter
Meet independent makers and build a holiday gift list that feels personal.
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Mission Dolores Park
Bring a picnic and let the hillside skyline view become the afternoon’s main event.
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Union Square Holiday Ice Rink
Swap your usual city walk for an hour on the ice in the middle of Union Square.
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de Young Museum
Pair a gallery afternoon with a garden walk in the middle of Golden Gate Park.
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West Coast Craft: Winter
Discover the work of hundreds of contemporary makers in a light-filled bayside pavilion.
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Cable Car Museum
See the giant wheels and cables that keep a city icon moving beneath the streets.
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Lands End Coastal Trail
Follow the edge of the continent through cypress trees, coastal bends and bridge glimpses.
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Halloween Hoopla
Costumes, circus surprises and a lively parade turn the Children’s Garden into a family Halloween outing.
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Japanese Tea Garden
Slow your pace among stepping stones, sculpted trees and pond-side paths.
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SFMOMA
Make space for a bold painting, a surprising installation and a different perspective.
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City Lights Booksellers
Lose a little time among poetry shelves and independent voices in a literary landmark.
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Presidio Tunnel Tops
Bridge views, generous lawns and a nature play space make room for an unhurried day.
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Ferry Building Marketplace
Follow your appetite from a bayside coffee to a small-batch treat beneath the clock tower.
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Clarion Alley Murals
Read a changing wall of community voices in one of the Mission’s best-known mural alleys.
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The Great Dickens Christmas Fair
Step into an indoor Victorian London filled with performers, small shops and festive scenes.
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Exploratorium
Touch, test and tinker your way through hands-on science on Pier 15.
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PIER 39 Sea Lions
Watch the waterfront’s loudest residents turn floating docks into their own stage.
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Musée Mécanique
Trade a screen for a mechanical marvel in a waterfront arcade full of character.
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Aquatic Park Cove
Slow down beside historic ships, a curved beach and an open view of the bay.
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Ghirardelli Square
Make a small chocolate stop in a historic brick square above the waterfront.
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Crane Cove Park
Picnic beside an industrial landmark where the city meets a sheltered slice of bay.
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Crissy Field
Take the easy waterfront route toward the Golden Gate, with beaches and marsh birds along the way.
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Fort Point
Look up at the bridge from a brick fortress tucked directly beneath its southern span.
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The Walt Disney Family Museum
Discover the drawings, experiments and family story behind an animation pioneer.
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Goldsworthy in the Presidio
Follow a trail of wood, stone and landscape art through a very different side of the city.
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Baker Beach
Find a wide beach and a dramatic Golden Gate angle on the city’s Pacific edge.
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Legion of Honor
European art and a grand courtyard meet a coastal landscape at Lincoln Park.
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San Francisco Botanical Garden
Wander between plant collections from around the world without leaving the city’s green heart.
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Conservatory of Flowers
Step inside the park’s white glasshouse for a close-up look at tropical plant life.
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California Academy of Sciences
Reef life, a living rainforest and big questions about our planet share one roof.
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Blue Heron Lake
Circle the lake, cross a stone bridge and take a short detour onto Strawberry Hill.
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Sutro Baths Overlook
Read the outlines of a vanished seaside swimming palace against the Pacific.
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Asian Art Museum
Travel across centuries of Asian art in a Civic Center museum that rewards a slower visit.
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Yerba Buena Gardens
A green pause between museums, with public art, open lawn and the waterfall memorial.
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Salesforce Park
Take your lunch above street level into a rooftop garden with a distinctly urban view.
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Main Library & Exhibitions
Browse an exhibition, settle into a reading corner and give a busy day a quieter chapter.
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San Francisco City Hall
Step into a monumental civic interior beneath one of the city’s most impressive domes.
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Heart of the City Farmers Market
Make a neighborhood produce stop beside Civic Center and fill a bag with what is in season.
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SFJAZZ Center
Choose an intimate listening night in a venue built around the energy of live jazz.
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San Francisco Symphony
Turn an evening in Hayes Valley into an orchestral escape at Davies Symphony Hall.
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Balmy Alley Murals
Look closely at murals that tell stories of neighborhood identity and social change.
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Mission Dolores Basilica & Cemetery
Look beyond the neighborhood name at a historic mission, quiet courtyard and cemetery.
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GLBT Historical Society Museum
Explore LGBTQ history through objects, photographs and stories rooted in the Castro.
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Castro Rainbow Honor Walk
Follow sidewalk plaques honoring LGBTQ pioneers through the neighborhood’s everyday streets.
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Washington Square
A neighborhood square, a church silhouette and a bench for watching North Beach go by.
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Coit Tower & Telegraph Hill
Climb toward Telegraph Hill for city views and a closer look at the landmark tower.
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Chinatown: Grant Avenue & Waverly Place
Leave room for side streets, a temple façade and a bakery stop in a living neighborhood.
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Chinese Historical Society of America
Go deeper than the postcard view with stories of Chinese American lives and communities.
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Ocean Beach
Find a horizon-wide pause on the Pacific, with room for a long shore-side walk.
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Twin Peaks
Put the city in perspective from a pair of windswept hills above the street grid.
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Bernal Heights Park
Follow the hilltop path for a city view that feels more neighborhood than postcard.
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Alamo Square & the Painted Ladies
Find the classic Victorian row, then explore the rest of a hillside neighborhood park.
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16th Avenue Tiled Steps
Follow a sea-to-sky mosaic up a residential stairway that turns a climb into an art stop.
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Randall Museum
Make a small-scale science and nature stop above the Castro, with city views outside.
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Alemany Farmers Market
Pick up seasonal produce at one of the city’s long-running Saturday market traditions.
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Stern Grove
Find a wooded pocket of the city for a quiet walk away from the traffic.
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SF Zoo: Resident Free Day
Make a wildlife day more affordable if you qualify for the zoo’s resident admission program.
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The Nightmare Before Christmas: In Concert
Hear Danny Elfman’s score performed live alongside the film for a different kind of holiday night.
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Hook: In Concert
Rediscover Neverland with John Williams’s music played by a live orchestra.
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Deck the Hall
Give a December day a musical lift with the Symphony’s family holiday concert.
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Frankie and The Witch Fingers
A loud, guitar-led Sunday night for anyone who wants to trade the sofa for a live room.
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Los Gaiteros de San Jacinto, Fruko, & Carmelo Torres
Start the week with a cumbia gathering that brings Colombian rhythms into a historic San Francisco room.
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Pain of Truth
Make room for a high-energy hardcore bill at Great American Music Hall.
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Danny L Harle
An electronic night with Danny L Harle turns a Thursday into a reason to stay out.
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City Surf Project Presents Dark N Stormy
Catch a live benefit show and turn your Friday music plan into support for City Surf Project.
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Foy Vance
Choose a Sunday listening night with Foy Vance, Bonnie Bishop and Ryan McMullan.
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Rio Amor
Bring a friend for Rio Amor & Friends and make a Tuesday feel less ordinary.
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Jake Xerxes Fussell
Settle into a live folk evening with Jake Xerxes Fussell and supporting guest Dougie Poole.
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The Lemon Twigs
Close the year with live music at The Chapel instead of the usual countdown bar.
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Squirrel Flower
Find your next midweek favorite with Squirrel Flower and Sour Widows in the Mission.
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An Evening With Legend Zeppelin
A Friday tribute night puts familiar Led Zeppelin songs back into a live setting.
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Club Kid in 35mm at the Castro
Catch SFFILM’s 35mm screening in a landmark movie palace.
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Frameline presents Elsinore
Give a Thursday night to cinema with a Frameline screening at the Castro.
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SYML with Olivia Vedder
Spend an evening with SYML and opening guest Olivia Vedder in the Castro.
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PJ Morton: Saturday Night Sunday Morning Tour
Put live music at the center of your Saturday with PJ Morton and DJ Arie Spins.
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Edward Said: Between Worlds
Make a film discovery through the Arab Film Festival’s Castro screening.
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Goblin: Tenebre with a Live Score
Pair a horror-film screening with a live score performed by Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin.
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Ólafur Arnalds at the Castro
Choose one of two published evenings with Ólafur Arnalds at the Castro Theatre.
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Día de los Muertos Spoon Calaveras
Decorate a calavera spoon to take home in a family craft afternoon at Ortega Branch.
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Changing Commons Walking Tour
Walk through the cityscapes that echo Susanna Kwan’s imagined San Francisco, with Shaping San Francisco.
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Photograph History, Care & Conservation
Give family photographs a longer life by learning about historic processes, handling and storage.
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Annalee Newitz in Conversation with Soleil Ho
Talk food, technology and imagined futures through Annalee Newitz’s novel Automatic Noodle.
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Rosanna Xia in Conversation with Marina Psaros
See California’s coast through a new lens with journalist Rosanna Xia and climate researcher Marina Psaros.
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Print Kwanimals with Arion Press
Hand-ink a plate, pull a letterpress print and take home your own Kwanimals creation.
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Susanna Kwan: Awake in the Floating City
Hear Susanna Kwan and Becca Prowda explore art, memory and belonging in a changing San Francisco.
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ZooLights at San Francisco Zoo
Walk a glowing after-dark zoo route with animal-shaped lights, colorful zones and winter scenes.
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San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest
Experience dance companies from several countries sharing one stage in a weekend devoted to hip-hop movement and culture.
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HEAD WEST at the Ferry Building
Browse small makers and local finds beside the Ferry Building, then make time for a bayside snack.
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San Francisco Coffee Festival
Taste your way through a gathering of specialty roasters, coffee shops and live entertainment.
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Museum of Craft and Design
Find a fresh perspective on everyday materials and design in a compact Dogpatch museum.
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Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Pair a downtown afternoon with visual art that asks questions about the world around us.
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Children’s Creativity Museum
Build, animate, make music and follow the kids’ curiosity through a hands-on museum day.
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Aquarium of the Bay
Go beneath the surface of the local bay through aquarium exhibits, aquatic life and river otters.
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Dear San Francisco at Club Fugazi
Discover a love letter to the city told through live acrobatics in a historic North Beach theater.
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Chinatown with San Francisco City Guides
Go beyond a quick photo stop with a neighborhood history walk led by a volunteer guide.
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Aquarium of the Bay: Access Hour
Explore the aquarium with smaller crowds, extra seating and a sensory-friendly activity.
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Aquarium of the Bay: Fish or Treat
Bring a costume for an aquarium Halloween weekend with seasonal animal activities.
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A.C.T.: John Proctor Is the Villain
A classroom confrontation becomes a sharp night of theater about heroes, power and who gets to tell the story.
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Free Yoga at Outpost Meadow
Move, stretch and reset your Sunday morning in an outdoor class for all experience levels.
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Presidio Ranger Campfire Talks
Gather at the Campfire Circle for a short ranger-led introduction to the people and history of the Presidio.
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250 Years on the Presidio: Guided Walk
Take a guided park walk that connects the Presidio’s layered past with the landscape around you.
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RusLan Biryukov: Free Cello Recital
Make a Saturday music discovery with a free cello recital in the Presidio Chapel.
Local guides
THE BUDGET GUIDEBig city. Small budget.
A few thoughtful ways to go out without turning every stop into a ticket purchase.
THE FAMILY GUIDELittle people. Big discoveries.
Hands-on science, waterfront wildlife and room to play. Choose one neighborhood and keep the day easy.
THE OUTDOOR EDITTake the scenic way.
Coastal paths, hilltop views and a little fresh air between city stops.
THE CULTURE GUIDEA city with something to say.
Murals, museums, independent books and live music: follow what makes you curious.