Richmond District

A relaxed, fog-kissed neighborhood where Clement Street’s bakeries, bookstores and dessert shops sit near clifftop museums and lakeside parks.

About 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. It has been home to Chinese and Russian communities for generations, and Clement Street is the result: one of the best eating streets in California, with almost no tourists on it.

Golden Gate Park is on one side and Lands End on the other, which makes this the greenest-edged neighborhood in the city. It is also properly foggy, and the further west you go the colder it gets.

Quiet, residential, family-heavy, and a place where dinner is the main event.

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How far is it?

Golden Gate ParkImmediately south · a 5 minute walk
Ocean Beach2.5 mi · 20 min on the 38 or 5
Golden Gate Bridge4 mi · 12–18 min drive
Union Square5 mi · 30–40 min on the 38-Geary
SFO airport16 mi · 30–40 min drive; no direct transit

Getting here: The 38-Geary and 38R are the spine, with the 1-California, 2, 5, 31 and 44 crossing. The 28 runs north to the bridge. No BART on the west side. Street parking is mostly free and generally findable, except around Clement on weekend evenings.

What to see

Lands End

A cliff trail through cypress with the bridge in view and shipwrecks visible at low tide. The lookout has restrooms and parking.

Trailhead at 680 Point Lobos Ave · Free

Sutro Baths ruins

The concrete bones of an 1896 bathhouse that once held six saltwater pools, at the edge of the Pacific. Slippery; keep children close.

1004 Point Lobos Ave · Free

Legion of Honor

A colonnaded museum in Lincoln Park with a cast of Rodin’s Thinker in the courtyard and an ocean view behind it.

100 34th Ave · $25 adult, free under 18

The Columbarium

A domed 1898 neoclassical rotunda full of stained glass and stories, one of the strangest beautiful buildings in the city.

1 Loraine Ct

Clement Street

Bakeries, dim sum, Russian delis and one of the best independent bookshops in the city.

From Arguello to about 12th Ave

Mountain Lake

A rare natural lake with a flat loop path and a renovated playground on the Presidio boundary.

Near Lake St and 8th Ave · Free

Things to do

Walk the Lands End Coastal Trail

About three miles round trip, with a paved accessible section from the Merrie Way lot.

Free

Mountain Lake Park playground

Sand-floor play, an accessible area and an easy lakeside loop.

Free

Green Apple Books

Three floors of new and used books with creaking stairs, open late.

506 Clement St

Legion of Honor with kids

Smaller and calmer than the de Young, with a café and lawns outside.

Free for under 18

Eat your way down Clement

Dim sum, a Russian bakery, boba and a burger, in eight blocks.

Free to walk

Where to eat

Good Luck Dim Sum

Dumplings and bao by the piece for pocket change. Takeout only, and there is usually a line.

736 Clement St · about $8–10

Burma Superstar

The tea leaf salad that made Burmese food a Bay Area staple. No reservations, expect a wait.

309 Clement St · about $20–25

Ton Kiang

Hakka cooking and cart dim sum, and a room big enough for a family.

5821 Geary Blvd · about $15–20

Cinderella Bakery

A Russian bakery and café since 1953: piroshki, borscht and pastries.

436 Balboa St · about $10–15

B Star

The Burma Superstar sibling, with a back patio and an easier wait.

127 Clement St · about $20–30

Arsicault Bakery

Croissants that have been called the best in the country. Go early; they sell out.

397 Arguello Blvd · about $6–10

Pizzetta 211

A tiny, cash-friendly pizzeria with a weekly-changing menu. Worth the wait on a cold night.

211 23rd Ave · about $20–25

Local tip: The fog line often sits around 25th Avenue. For a sunny lunch stay between Arguello and 15th; for moody coastal photographs keep going west to Lands End, where the fog is the point.