Things to Do in San Francisco

People like straightforward lists, but there are way more than 101 things to do in San Francisco.

Open spaces like Golden Gate Park offer go-to spots for outdoor activities and relaxed contemplation and also host music festivals like Outside Lands, while the spires of the landmark Golden Gate Bridge demarcate the border of SF’s biggest backyard playground – the bay itself.

It’s a major event all over the Bay Area whenever the Giants are playing at AT&T Ballpark, and tourists lose themselves in Chinatown’s hustle as easily as in the bustling promenades and plazas of Fisherman’s Wharf, where cable cars amble past piers overlooking Alcatraz prison and the famous herds of lazy sea lions.

No day would be complete without a shopping excursion in Union Square, home to a massive assortment of department stores, upscale boutiques, tourist trinket shops, art galleries, and salons.

And if all that wasn’t compelling enough, San Francisco boasts miles of beaches, soaring redwood forests nearby in Marin, and some of the best skiing in the country a few hours away in Lake Tahoe.

If you have anything left once the sun goes down, Happy Hour beckons from all over town, providing a budget-minded jump into a gloriously vivid nightlife scene...read less