Halloween 2026 · family guide
Chinatown, the Fillmore and the Ferry Building all run free trick-or-treat events, and the big museums hold not-too-spooky days in late October. Our family guide has what is on, what it costs and what to skip with small kids.
Neighborhoods
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Every neighborhood has its own personality. Pick one to see upcoming events, local guides and favorite spots nearby.
Map
Darker areas have more events and places on Project SF right now. Tap a pin or a name for the details.
Boundaries: DataSF Analysis Neighborhoods. Pins mark the neighborhoods we cover.
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Hover or tap a pin to see what's on and what's worth it there.
Neighborhood
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
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 is what happens when you take down a freeway.
Neighborhood
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 is 1,017 acres of what used to be sand dunes, laid out from 1871 and planted into existence by hand.
Neighborhood
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
The Marina is flat, which in San Francisco is close to a miracle.
Neighborhood
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
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
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
Fisherman's Wharf is the most visited and least beloved part of San Francisco, and both facts are fair.
Neighborhood
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
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
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 is a small, village-like neighborhood around Diamond and Chenery streets, with Glen Park BART station at its edge.
Neighborhood
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
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 wraps around Lake Merced in the southwest corner of the city.
Neighborhood
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 is San Francisco's newest neighborhood, built on former rail yards south of Mission Creek.
Neighborhood
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 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
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 is a group of quiet residential neighborhoods on the west slope below Twin Peaks, including West Portal, St.
Neighborhood
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 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 is the city's southeastern corner, along the bay south of Islais Creek.
Neighborhood
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
The Excelsior sits in the southern part of the city, with Mission Street as its commercial main street.
Neighborhood
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
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
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.
Murals, taquerias & Dolores Park
Galleries, nightlife & laptop-friendly cafes
Museums, gardens & a vintage carousel
Chestnut St., brunch & Crissy Field
Pizza, playgrounds & Coit Tower views
Fortune cookies, alleys & living history
Power lunches & after-work spots
Sea lions, sundaes & vintage arcades
Bridge views, beaches & nature play
Fillmore St. shopping & park views
Cable cars, grand hotels & classic bars
Lombard St., Polk St. & hidden stairways
Indie boutiques & destination dining
Clifftop art, bookshops & sweet treats
Beach days, zoo trips & treehouse play
Stroller-friendly shops & sunny playgrounds
Sunny streets & skyline views
Oracle Park & the Embarcadero
Third Street, bay-shore parks & festivals
Rainbow crosswalks, a landmark cinema & street fairs
Main Library, Asian Art Museum & Civic Center Plaza
Mission St., family blocks & McLaren Park
A village high street, Glen Canyon & BART
Haight Street, Buena Vista Park & Duboce Park
Chase Center, UCSF campus & the waterfront
Fillmore jazz history & Cathedral Hill
Hosting something?
Shows, pop-ups, markets, openings, meetups. Submitting is free, and our editors review every event.
Cite this page: Project SF, “San Francisco Neighborhoods”, projectsf.com/neighborhoods/ (updated ).