Monday, October 12 · San Francisco 19 days to Halloween
Things to Do in San Francisco, Updated Every Week.
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 16–18
Friday, October 16
Fort Mason Night Market
Fri · 5 pm · Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture
MarinaFree
Sundown Cinema: Beetlejuice (1988) at Crane Cove Park
Fri · 6:30 pm · Crane Cove Park
Potrero HillFree
SF Fiction Society
Fri · 7 pm · Rincon Hill (address shared after approval)
Financial DistrictFree
Saturday, October 17
San Francisco Old Car Picnic in Golden Gate Park
Sat · 7 am · Hellman Hollow, Golden Gate Park
Golden Gate ParkFree for spectators
Filipino American International Book Festival
Oct 17–18 · San Francisco Main Library
Hayes ValleyFree
Potrero Hill Festival
Sat · 10 am · 20th Street, Potrero Hill
Potrero HillFree
Bay Area Science Festival 2026
Sat · 11 am · UCSF Mission Bay (Koret Quad)
Mission BayFree
ZYZZYVA Movie Matinee: Ingrid Rojas Contreras and Andrew Sean Greer
Sat · 12:30 pm · Roxie Theater
Mission District$16 (free or discounted for Roxie members)
Joe Bataan at Yerba Buena Gardens
Sat · 2 pm · Yerba Buena Gardens
SoMaFree
Sunday, October 18
Filipino American International Book Festival
Oct 17–18 · San Francisco Main Library
Hayes ValleyFree
Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile
Sun · 9 am · Outer Sunset Farmers Market & Mercantile
Sunset DistrictFree
Family Studio: Spiders at SFMOMA
Sun · 10 am · SFMOMA, Koret Education Center (Floor 2)
SoMaFree (no museum admission required)
Sunday Streets Excelsior
Sun · 11 am · Mission Street, Excelsior
ExcelsiorFree
Truong Tran: How to Exi(s)t Launch Party
Sun · 2 pm · City Lights Bookstore
North BeachFree
Foodwise Sunday Supper: A Farm to City Feast
Sun · 4:30 pm · Ferry Building Grand Hall
Financial District$421.95 reception and dinner; $185.24 reception only (incl. fees) · 21+ only
On All Weekend
Treasures of the Pharaohs
Tue–Sun 9:30am–5:15pm · through Jan 31 · de Young Museum
Golden Gate Park$40 adults
Ferry Plaza Farmers Market
Tue & Thu 10am–2pm, Sat 8am–2pm · through Dec 31 · Ferry Building Plaza
Financial DistrictFree
Heart of the City Farmers Market
Wed & Sun 7am–4pm · through Dec 31 · Fulton Plaza, Civic Center
Hayes ValleyFree
SF State Observatory Public Nights (Wed–Fri, Through Dec 4)
Wed–Fri 7pm–9:30pm · through Dec 4 · SF State Observatory, Thornton Hall
San FranciscoOpen to the public; no admission price listed
Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch
Daily 9am–9pm · through Oct 31 · Clancy's Pumpkins & Christmas Trees
Sunset DistrictVaries
Syd Mead: Future Pastime
Wed–Sun 11am–6pm · through Dec 17 · Transamerica Pyramid Annex Gallery
Chinatown
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
32 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
Hayes Valley
Hayes Valley is what happens when you take down a freeway.
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
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
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
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
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
Glen Park
Glen Park is a small, village-like neighborhood around Diamond and Chenery streets, with Glen Park BART station at its edge.
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
Lakeshore
Lakeshore wraps around Lake Merced in the southwest corner of the city.
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.
Neighborhood
Mission Bay
Mission Bay is San Francisco's newest neighborhood, built on former rail yards south of Mission Creek.
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
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
Castro
The Castro centers on Castro Street between Market and 19th streets, with Harvey Milk Plaza at the Castro and Market corner.
Neighborhood
West of Twin Peaks
West of Twin Peaks is a group of quiet residential neighborhoods on the west slope below Twin Peaks, including West Portal, St.
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
Dogpatch
Dogpatch is a small, flat, former-industrial neighborhood on the bay side of Potrero Hill, running along Third Street between Mission Bay and the 22nd Street Caltrain station.
Neighborhood
Bayview-Hunters Point
Bayview-Hunters Point is the city's southeastern corner, along the bay south of Islais Creek.
Neighborhood
Bernal Heights
Bernal Heights is a hilltop neighborhood in San Francisco's 94110 ZIP code, centered on Bernal Hill and Bernal Heights Park off Bernal Heights Boulevard.
Neighborhood
Excelsior
The Excelsior sits in the southern part of the city, with Mission Street as its commercial main street.
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
Portola
San Bruno Avenue is the Portola's commercial corridor, and Muni's 8 and 9 lines stop along it at Silver Ave, Felton St, Bacon St and Paul Ave.
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.
- SoMa13 events · 8 places
- Hayes Valley14 events · 4 places
- Sunset District15 events · 3 places
- Financial District10 events · 7 places
- Golden Gate Park10 events · 4 places
- Marina7 events · 5 places
- Mission District3 events · 9 places
- Potrero Hill3 events · 6 places
- Chinatown3 events · 5 places
- Fisherman's Wharf4 events · 4 places
- Richmond District4 events · 4 places
- North Beach3 events · 4 places
- Presidio3 events · 4 places
- Pacific Heights2 events · 4 places
- Russian Hill1 event · 5 places
- Glen Park2 events · 3 places
- South Beach1 event · 4 places
- Lakeshore3 events · 1 place
- Lone Mountain & USF1 event · 3 places
- Mission Bay4 events · 0 places
- Nob Hill0 events · 4 places
- Noe Valley0 events · 4 places
- Castro2 events · 1 place
- West of Twin Peaks0 events · 3 places
- Civic Center & Tenderloin2 events · 0 places
- Dogpatch0 events · 2 places
- Bayview-Hunters Point1 event · 0 places
- Bernal Heights1 event · 0 places
- Excelsior1 event · 0 places
- Haight-Ashbury1 event · 0 places
- Portola1 event · 0 places
- Western Addition & Fillmore1 event · 0 places
Guides
Local Know-How, Kept Fresh
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 Oct 12
San Francisco Holiday Lights 2026: Lightscape, the Bay Lights, Union Square and What Is Free
Updated Oct 12
Fleet Week 2026 with the Family: Blue Angels, Ships & Where to Watch
Updated Oct 12
Litquake and Lit Crawl 2026: Dates, Free Events and How Lit Crawl Works
Updated Oct 11
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 2026 (Oct 2–4): Schedule, Stages, Bag Rules
Updated Oct 11
SF Ballet Nutcracker 2026 (Dec 4–27): Dates, Times, Kids and Getting There
Updated Oct 11
San Francisco Pride 2027: Dates, Parade Route and the Civic Center Celebration
Updated Oct 11
Chase Center with Kids: Warriors and Valkyries Games, Bags, Transit and Tips
Updated Oct 11
San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade 2027: Date, Route, Tickets and the Street Fair
Updated Oct 11Original 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
4
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 guideHungry Ghost Festival in San Francisco: Chinatown’s Ghost Festival
- New guideSF Ballet Nutcracker 2026 (Dec 4–27): Dates, Times, Kids and Getting There
- New guideBay Area Science Festival 2026 for Kids: What to See and When
- EventOct 12 - Bistro Moustache at Scopo Divino
- EventOct 14 - CYC Fall Youth Job Fair at Stonestown Galleria
- EventOct 14 - Books & Big Ideas SF
Around town
- SF StandardTwo Snail Bar veterans are opening a Mexican wine bar in the Richmond
- 48 HillsBest of the Bay 2026 Editors’ Pick: Far Out Gallery
- Mission LocalBlack culture is still growing in the Bay Area and these artists are out to prove it
- SFistThis Week In Food: Bentornato, Che Fico
- Eater SFNew San Francisco Restaurant Shinka Blends Japanese Flavors With French Technique
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.