You can do just about anything you want to in San Francisco. In fact, outlandish activities are really encouraged here. There’s an app for any convenience. Dinner can be $1 oysters and $3 tacos if you know where to look. You can join Sound of Music sing-a-longs, catch stellar views from unassuming hills, and wander into nearly-naked street fairs on accident. It’s like one ongoing costume party here. Be your weird self, and you can probably find a whole community of people as weird as you are. I guess what we’re really saying is that you don’t have to look very far at all to find fun and unique things to do in San Francisco.
When I moved here 4 years ago, I had no idea just how much fun I was in for. I’ve never been able to pinpoint exactly what makes San Francisco so unique to me, but it definitely has something. And since I’ve made lists of “51 things to do” in cities where we’ve only spent a long weekend, I figured I owed San Francisco more. 50 more, to be exact.
Are you on your way to SF? Please don’t call it San Fran or Frisco. And check out our list of 101 fun and unique things to do in San Francisco – one of the most dynamic cities in the USA.
101 weird+ fun things to do in San Francisco
very San Francisco experiences
1. Wander the best street art in San Francisco or take a food tour in the Mission
2. Go for a run through Golden Gate Park (or hop on a bike for a self-guided tour)
3. Go thrifting in the Haight
4. Bring a picnic to Dolores Park
5. Rent a bicycle to cross the very foggy Golden Gate Bridge
6. Catch the sunset and Golden Gate Bridge views from Baker Beach
7. Grab a bag of fortune cookies at Chinatown’s Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory
8. Rent a Scoot and ride it around the city for the day
9. Take in the view from Bernal Heights
10. See a concert at The Independent
11. Get lost in the woods of the Presidio
12. Wander the impressive collection of fine arts and take in the view from the De Young Museum
13. Pay a visit to the iconic City Lights Bookstore to browse one of the world’s largest collections of banned books
14. Enjoy San Francisco summer with a Movie in the Park at Dolores
15. Drop in for a donation-based yoga class at Yoga to the People
16. Bundle up for a windy San Francisco Giant’s game
17. Host a barbecue in Chrissy Field
18. Appreciate the living wall and modern art at newly renovated SFMoMA (get tickets)
19. Find the hidden stone labyrinth at Land’s End
20. Take in the city view from iconic Sutro Tower
21. Catch the cable car at California + Drumm for a more local route
22. Spend the day playing Japanese arcade games and noshing on ramen in Japantown
23. Grab a beer and some truffle popcorn while catching a movie at the Alamo Draft House
24. Head to the Castro Theater for a sing-a-long to your favorite film
25. Venture to the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market for a taste of local produce
eating San Francisco
26. Dine in style at Foreign Cinema
27. Get a scoop of Secret Breakfast (bourbon and cornflake) ice cream at Humphry Slocombe
28. Eat all the sourdough bread you can get your hands on
29. Taste too many tacos and join the debate over the best tacos in San Francisco
30. Grab some killer Southern-style brunch at Farmer Brown
31. Pick up a sandwich at Cheese Plus for a picnic at the park
32. Head to Off-the-Grid at Fort Mason for some serious food truck grubbing
33. Chow down on an “animal-style” burger at In-n-Out
34. Grab a slice of the pizza-of-the-day from Arizmendi
35. Get a taste for Burmese cuisine at Burma Superstar
36. Enjoy the simple pleasures of well-made toast at Trouble Coffee
37. Stuff yourself full of dim sum and shop for cheap souvenirs in Chinatown
38. Sit down for an inexpensive 5-course meal at Mr. Pollo
39. Grab a very cheap bahn mi or fried fish sandwich at Duc Loi
40. Order a bunch of Asian-style wings at San Tung
41. Sample local oysters and gooey raclette at the Ferry Building
drinking San Francisco
42. Drink too many tall cans on the back patio of El Rio
43. Sip on one of the deadliest margaritas amongst creepy piñatas at Latin America Club
44. Keep your bags close and go dancing at Badlands
45. Grab some upscale cocktails, supreme charcuterie, and $1 oysters at Hog & Rocks
46. Order up a mai tai at Li Po — even Anthony Bourdain has voted it one of his favorite unique things to do in San Francisco!
47. Experience how good coffee can really be at Sightglass
48. Head to Zeitgeist for a craft beer or a bloody mary
49. Join the twenty-something crowd for drinks and a night at the museum with California Academy Nightlife
50. Learn to love rum at the kitschy Smuggler’s Cove
51. Enjoy a craft cocktail with weird ingredients – herbs, eggs, miso – anything goes!
52. Stand in line at Boba Guys for an Asian-style bubble tea
53. Sip watermelon beer at 21st Amendment
54. Nurse any ailments with freshly squeezed juice from Sidewalk Juice
55. Taste the outstanding cocktail list at ABV or Trick Dog
events + festivals in San Francisco
56. Get glittery for San Francisco Pride
57. Join the Carnival Parade in the Mission
58. Wander the alters at Garfield Square in honor of Día de Muertos
59. Get down at Treasure Island Music Festival or Outside Lands
60. Find a tutu or a gorilla suit for the very epic Bay to Breakers
61. Head to Golden Gate Park for the free outdoor bluegrass festival, Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
62. Celebrate Christmas early by donning your best Santa suit for Santacon
63. Experience Japanese culture at the J-Pop Summit or Cosplay Festival
64. Tour all of the city’s best beer bars for SF Beer Week
65. Catch the latest indie films at the San Francisco International Film Festival
keeping San Francisco weird
66. Get your bootie to the Pirate Store
67. Tour the armory-turned-adult-film-studio at the San Francisco Armory
68. Browse the exotic taxidermy, rare plants, and other oddities at Paxton Gate
69. Get your skates on for some Burning Man-worthy fun at Church of 8 Wheels
70. Order a beer at San Francisco’s smallest bar – Black Horse London
71. Try to find the secret slides of Bernal Heights
72. Head to the Castro for a drag show
73. Play some seriously old-school arcade games at Musée Mécanique
74. Watch dachshunds race in the annual Weiner Dog National
75. Find your way out of a Real Escape Room in Japantown
76. Be nice to the sassy waiters (or else) at Red Door Café
77. Check out the herd of bison that call Golden Gate Park home
78. Work out the kinks at the Russian-style Archimedes Banya
79. Play Big Buck Hunter over some IPAs at Barcade
80. Make your way to San Francisco’s very own cat café
81. Tour some of San Francisco’s famous TV & movie houses – Full House, Mrs. Doubtfire, Vertigo, The Real World, and more
82. Join in on a hack-a-thon and create the next big thing
83. Drop into a coworking space for a day of remote work in a startup-like space
84. Learn how to DIY a terrarium, bread, jewelry, or whatever the hell else you want to make with one of San Francisco’s many workshops
85. Go for a jump alongside energetic 10-year-olds at the House of Air trampoline park.
San Francisco + beyond
86. Head to Yosemite National Park for some of California’s best scenery (here’s a one-day tour from San Francisco)
87. Venture to Berkeley for dollar days at the horse racing track
88. Go for a hike in the Marin Headlands
89. Take the ferry out to Angel Island
90. Spend the day spotting whales off the coast in Pacifica
91. Take a day trip to whale watch or experience other fun things to do in Monterey (see tours)
92. Spend a long weekend at the grand Lake Tahoe
93. Go wine tasting in the unpretentious Sonoma town of Healdsburg
94. Take a road trip on down the Pacific Coast Highway (no car? Here’s a tour)
just because
95. Explore San Francisco’s many unique neighborhoods one-by-one
96. Swipe right for your very own San Francisco Tinder/Bumble date
97. Ride in a Lyft/Uber instead of calling a cab
98. Take the MUNI across town and enjoy all the people watching
99. Stay in an unusual Airbnb
100. Download some of the apps that make everyday in San Francisco a whole lot more convenient
101. Follow @KarltheFog on Twitter
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