Monday, September 28 · San Francisco
Things to Do in San Francisco, Checked.
What's on this weekend, where to eat, drink coffee and see art, and which places have actually closed. Every date, price and address is checked against the source.
This weekend
What's on, Oct 2–4
Friday, October 2
Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch
Oct 2–31 · Clancy's Pumpkins & Christmas Trees
Sunset DistrictVaries
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Oct 2–4 · Golden Gate Park (Hellman Hollow, Lindley & Marx Meadows)
Golden Gate ParkFree
Saturday, October 3
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Oct 2–4 · Golden Gate Park (Hellman Hollow, Lindley & Marx Meadows)
Golden Gate ParkFree
African Arts Festival
Sat · 11 am · Great Lawn, Yerba Buena Gardens
SoMaFree
Art as Resistance: Emory Douglas, Dread Scott and Orlando Smith
Sat · 1 pm · SFMOMA, Floor 1, Phyllis Wattis Theater
SoMaPay what you choose: $0 (free RSVP), $10, $20 or $30
Sunday, October 4
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Oct 2–4 · Golden Gate Park (Hellman Hollow, Lindley & Marx Meadows)
Golden Gate ParkFree
Asian Art Museum Free First Sunday
Sun · 10 am · Asian Art Museum
Hayes ValleyFree
52nd Annual Castro Street Fair
Sun · 11 am · Castro Street
CastroSuggested donation $10–$20 (nobody turned away)
Litquake Out Loud + Book Fair
Sun · 11 am · Great Lawn, Yerba Buena Gardens
SoMaFree
On All Weekend
Treasures of the Pharaohs
de Young Museum
Golden Gate Park$40 adults (kids discounted)
Sunset Fridays at the SF Zoo
San Francisco Zoo & Gardens
Lakeshore$14 (kids 11 & under free)
Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
Ferry Building Plaza
Financial DistrictFree
Heart of the City Farmers Market
Fulton Plaza, Civic Center
Hayes ValleyFree
SF State Observatory Public Nights (Wed–Fri, Through Dec 4)
SF State Observatory, Thornton Hall
San FranciscoOpen to the public; no admission price listed
Dillon Forte Residency at Analog Tattoo Arts Kolectiv
Analog Tattoo Arts Kolectiv (ATAKSF)
Nob Hill
Civic Center Soundtrack: Free Lunchtime Concerts (Tue & Thu, Through October)
Sep 29–Oct 22 · Fulton Plaza
Civic Center & TenderloinFree
Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch
Oct 2–31 · Clancy's Pumpkins & Christmas Trees
Sunset DistrictVaries
Find your thing
San Francisco, by What You Love
Plan my day
A Day Out, Built in One Tap
Pick a neighborhood and a mood. We put together a day from the places in our directory and the events on our calendar: coffee, something to see, lunch, a walk and something for the evening.
Your day will appear here. Every stop links to a page we have checked. Opening hours change, so tap through before you go.
- Coffee in 6 shops
- Museums and galleries in the directory
- Events from our calendar
Neighborhoods
Explore the City, Block by Block
Boundaries: DataSF Analysis Neighborhoods. Pins mark the neighborhoods we cover.
Tap a neighborhood
28 Neighborhoods, One City
Hover or tap a pin to see what's on and what's worth it there.
Neighborhood
SoMa
SoMa, short for South of Market, is downtown's engine room: the convention center, the ballpark, the big museums, and the headquarters of several companies you have heard of, all on wide blocks that were industrial a century ago and are half construction site now.
Neighborhood
Financial District
The Financial District is the city's office core, a canyon of towers between Market Street and the waterfront, built on Gold Rush landfill over what used to be Yerba Buena Cove.
Neighborhood
Hayes Valley
Hayes Valley is what happens when you take down a freeway.
Neighborhood
Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate Park is 1,017 acres of what used to be sand dunes, laid out from 1871 and planted into existence by hand.
Neighborhood
Marina
The Marina is flat, which in San Francisco is close to a miracle.
Neighborhood
Mission District
The Mission is the warmest, sunniest neighborhood in San Francisco, and that is not a marketing line: Twin Peaks and Bernal Hill physically block the fog, so this side of town can run ten to twenty degrees warmer than the Sunset on the same afternoon. It grew up around Mission San Francisco de Asís, founded in 1776 and still standing on 16th Street, and it has been the heart of the city's Latino community for generations.
Neighborhood
Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill is a sunny hilltop of small houses and big views, a neighborhood that grew up around shipyards and light industry and was settled by Russian and Slovenian families after 1906, when the hill's bedrock spared it from the worst of the quake.
Neighborhood
Chinatown
San Francisco's Chinatown is the oldest in North America, established in the 1840s and rebuilt after 1906 in a deliberately ornamental style that was partly a survival strategy: make it a destination and the city cannot push the community out.
Neighborhood
Fisherman's Wharf
Fisherman's Wharf is the most visited and least beloved part of San Francisco, and both facts are fair.
Neighborhood
Richmond District
The Richmond runs from the Presidio to Ocean Beach in a flat grid of Edwardians and stucco houses, built after 1906 on what maps used to call the Outside Lands.
Neighborhood
North Beach
North Beach is the old Italian quarter and the city's literary neighborhood, the place where the Beats read poetry upstairs at City Lights and where you can still buy a salami from a counter that has been selling them since 1896.
Neighborhood
Sunset District
The Sunset is the city's biggest residential district: mile after mile of pastel rowhouses laid over sand dunes between the park and Lake Merced, built mostly between the 1920s and 1950s, and now one of the most diverse and family-heavy parts of San Francisco.
Neighborhood
Nob Hill
Nob Hill is the summit the railroad barons built on, and then lost: the 1906 fire took every mansion but one, and the grand hotels and Grace Cathedral went up in their place.
Neighborhood
Presidio
The Presidio is not really a neighborhood, it is a 1,500-acre national park inside the city that happens to have houses, restaurants and a bowling alley in it.
Neighborhood
South Beach
South Beach is the newest neighborhood on this list: a stretch of the waterfront south of the Bay Bridge that was rail yards and piers until the 1990s, and is now mid-rise apartments, a ballpark and a promenade.
Neighborhood
Noe Valley
Noe Valley sits in a bowl behind Twin Peaks, which is why it gets sun when half the city does not, and why it filled up with families.
Neighborhood
Pacific Heights
Pacific Heights is the grand one: mansions on a ridge between Union and California Streets, built from the 1870s by people who wanted to be above the city and stayed there.
Neighborhood
Russian Hill
Russian Hill is steep, quiet and residential, a hill of Edwardian apartment buildings and hidden garden lanes with some of the best free views in the city.
Neighborhood
Castro
The Castro centers on Castro Street between Market and 19th streets, with Harvey Milk Plaza at the Castro and Market corner.
Neighborhood
Lakeshore
Lakeshore wraps around Lake Merced in the southwest corner of the city.
Neighborhood
Mission Bay
Mission Bay is San Francisco's newest neighborhood, built on former rail yards south of Mission Creek.
Neighborhood
Civic Center & Tenderloin
The Main Library and the Asian Art Museum face Civic Center Plaza, across from City Hall, and host some of the city's best free events for families.
Neighborhood
Bayview-Hunters Point
Bayview-Hunters Point is the city's southeastern corner, along the bay south of Islais Creek.
Neighborhood
Excelsior
The Excelsior sits in the southern part of the city, with Mission Street as its commercial main street.
Neighborhood
Glen Park
Glen Park is a small, village-like neighborhood around Diamond and Chenery streets, with Glen Park BART station at its edge.
Neighborhood
Haight-Ashbury
Haight-Ashbury centers on Haight Street, known around the world for the 1967 Summer of Love, and sits beside the eastern end of Golden Gate Park and the Panhandle.
Neighborhood
Western Addition & Fillmore
The Western Addition lies west of Van Ness Avenue and takes in the Fillmore, once called the Harlem of the West for its jazz clubs, and Cathedral Hill.
Neighborhood
Lone Mountain & USF
Lone Mountain/USF is the hilltop campus of the University of San Francisco and the blocks around it, just north of the Panhandle.
- SoMa19 events · 8 places
- Financial District10 events · 7 places
- Hayes Valley12 events · 4 places
- Golden Gate Park10 events · 4 places
- Marina9 events · 5 places
- Mission District2 events · 9 places
- Potrero Hill4 events · 6 places
- Chinatown4 events · 5 places
- Fisherman's Wharf4 events · 4 places
- Richmond District4 events · 4 places
- North Beach3 events · 4 places
- Sunset District4 events · 3 places
- Nob Hill1 events · 5 places
- Presidio1 events · 4 places
- South Beach1 events · 4 places
- Noe Valley0 events · 4 places
- Pacific Heights0 events · 4 places
- Russian Hill0 events · 4 places
- Castro3 events · 0 places
- Lakeshore2 events · 1 places
- Mission Bay3 events · 0 places
- Civic Center & Tenderloin2 events · 0 places
- Bayview-Hunters Point1 events · 0 places
- Excelsior1 events · 0 places
- Glen Park1 events · 0 places
- Haight-Ashbury1 events · 0 places
- Western Addition & Fillmore1 events · 0 places
- Lone Mountain & USF0 events · 0 places
Guides
Local Know-How, Freshly Checked
Halloween in San Francisco for Families (2026 Guide)
Where to trick-or-treat in San Francisco, free family Halloween events for 2026, pumpkin patches in the city and tips for a fog-proof Halloween night.
Updated Sep 27
San Francisco Holiday Lights 2026: Lightscape, the Bay Lights, Union Square and What Is Free
Updated Sep 27
Thanksgiving Weekend in San Francisco 2026: What’s Open, What’s On and Getting Around
Updated Sep 27
Chase Center with Kids: Warriors and Valkyries Games, Bags, Transit and Tips
Updated Sep 27
Where to See Animals in San Francisco with Kids
Updated Sep 27
The Best Museums in San Francisco for Kids
Updated Sep 27
Riding Muni, BART and the Cable Cars with Kids
Updated Sep 27
San Francisco Beaches and Waterfront Walks with Kids
Updated Sep 27
Cheap Family Eats in San Francisco
Updated Sep 27Original data
San Francisco, by the Numbers
Our own datasets, built from city open data and venues' own pages. Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0.
Original research
1.42
Openings & Closings Index
businesses opened in SF for every one that closed in 2025, up from 1.30. By neighborhood, from the city register.
Tracker
39
Closed & Moved
places are not where the guides say. Every closure checked by address against the city register, dated and sourced.
Original research
52%
Museum & Attraction Transparency Index
of 40 SF museums and attractions publish all five basics a family needs: price, hours, access, directions and child prices.
Calendar
10
Free Museum Days
SF museums and attractions with a regular free day for everyone, plus 8 that are always free. Checked on each venue's own site.
Tool
6
Day-Out Cost Calculator
SF attractions don't publish a price you can see without booking. Build a day out and see what it costs, and what nobody tells you.
Dataset
93%
Every SF Park, Compared
median city maintenance score. From 71% to 100%: every park's score, play areas and dog areas in one table.
Calendar
29
Street Fair Calendar
street fairs, festivals and night markets with a city street-closure permit through December. Confirmed, not rumored.
Tracker
5
SF Gallery Index
galleries closed their spaces in the past year, 4 at Minnesota Street Project. 71 still open, with what is on now.
Seasonal
27
Halloween by the Numbers
blocks with a city permit to close for trick-or-treating on Halloween night. Counted by neighborhood, never listed.
Closed & moved
39 Places Are Not Where the Guides Say They Are.
We check closures against the city business register, by address, and record what is at the address now.
- MovedHaines GalleryUnion Square
- MovedScott Nichols GalleryUnion Square
- ClosedCartoon Art MuseumFisherman's Wharf
- ClosedDel PopoloNob Hill
- DemolishedVaillancourt FountainFinancial District
- ClosedJack Fischer GalleryDogpatch
- MovedInstitute of Contemporary Art San FranciscoFinancial District
Latest
New on Project SF
- New guideThanksgiving Weekend in San Francisco 2026: What’s Open, What’s On and Getting Around
- New guideChase Center with Kids: Warriors and Valkyries Games, Bags, Transit and Tips
- New guideSan Francisco Local Legends: Ghost Stories, Myths and What’s Actually True
- EventSep 29 - Civic Center Soundtrack: Free Lunchtime Concerts (Tue & Thu, through October)
- EventOct 1 - Museum of Craft and Design Free First Thursday
- EventOct 1 - Free Movie Night: Kung Fu Panda
Around town
- KQED ArtsThe Best Fan Fits and Hot Looks at Portola Festival 2026
- SFistHaight Street Bar Owner Accused of Hitting Employee at Nearby Store With Baseball Bat
- SF StandardOpinion: Dear Chobani billionaire, bring back our beer or we boycott your yogurt
- Mission LocalValkyries win first playoff game in franchise history in blowout fashion
- 48 HillsDrama Masks: There’s a flesh-eating alien plant inside the queer theater!
How we work
Checked, Dated, Independent.
From the Source
Dates, prices and addresses come from the organizer's, venue's or agency's own page. If it isn't published, we say so.
Dated, and Re-Checked
Guides show when they were last checked, and our calendar is reviewed twice a week.
Free to Be Listed
Listings are free, and no recommendation has been bought. When we get something wrong, we correct it in public.
Running Something in San Francisco?
Send us your event. It's free, and we list what's open to the public.