Hidden gems in San Francisco
Skip the tourist circuit. These San Francisco spots are the ones locals actually send their out-of-town friends to.
Top spots in San Francisco
Golden Gate Bridge Walk
OutdoorsPresidio
Walk or bike the 1.7-mile span — best from Crissy Field side.
Golden Gate Park
OutdoorsSunset
1,000+ acres with bison, windmills, the de Young and free Sunday roads.
Ferry Building Marketplace
Food & DrinkEmbarcadero
Saturday farmers market with the bay's best oysters and bread.
Mission Murals
CultureMission
Balmy Alley and Clarion Alley — decades of political street art.
Alcatraz Island
CultureBay
Ferry over for the famously eerie cell-house audio tour — book weeks ahead.
Lands End Trail
OutdoorsOuter Richmond
Cliffside coastal walk past Sutro Baths ruins to the Bridge view.
Where to eat
Tartine Bakery
$$Bakery · Mission
Country bread + morning buns that started a city-wide craze.
State Bird Provisions
$$$Dim sum-style new American · Fillmore
Stuart Brioza's dim-sum carts of inventive small plates.
La Taqueria
$Mexican · Mission
James Beard winner — order the carnitas burrito 'dorado'.
Swan Oyster Depot
$$Seafood · Polk Gulch
18 counter stools, Dungeness crab and clam chowder since 1912.
Zuni Café
$$$California / Mediterranean · Hayes Valley
The famous brick-oven roast chicken for two — a 1-hour ritual.
Frequently asked
- Locals' under-the-radar picks include Golden Gate Bridge Walk, Golden Gate Park, Ferry Building Marketplace. These are the places that don't show up on the first page of mainstream travel guides.