The best unique sights and experiences that San Francisco has to offer.

By plane, train or car, all you need to know about getting to San Francisco.

Out of 1,000's of possible choices here are our top ones for tourists.

Don't skip this section - it is filled with important tips for a smooth trip.

San Francisco can be a kid-friendly place if you know where to go .

This section is a guide for making sense of SF's entertainment options.

Hotel rooms are not cheap. Here is how to be sure you don't overpay.

Here is a guide to SF's main boutique shopping and dinning districts .

Once in the city, you will need to get around. Here is how.

What is Happening...

Being the cultural center of a major metropolitan area, San Francisco has a vast variety of entertainment diversions, including everything from the high brow offerings of the War Memorial Opera House and the San Francisco Ballet to sing-alongs with old musicals at the Castro Theater to indie bands and the underground fringe at the clubs. San Francisco has it all. To help you sort out this fast changing scene there are three main listing broadsheets.

 

To find out what is happening in the more cultured and main stream events, consult the Sunday edition of the San Francisco Chronicle (the city’s main newspaper) “Datebook”.  The online version is at:

sfgate.com/eguide. 

 

The other two entertainment listings are the SF Weekly and The San Francisco Bay Guardian.  Both are published weekly and distributed free on just about every street corner in the high traffic districts and every coffee house in the city. Their online event listings can be found at SFWeekly.com and SFBG.com.

 

If it is live theater that you are interested in, visit TheaterBayArea.org. They have one of the best organized and most comprehensive theater listings in the city.

 

 

Across the street from the St. Francis Hotel on Union Square there is an easy to overlook ticket booth that sells half- price (half price plus a service charge) same-day theater tickets. It is a bit of a grab bag because you don’t know what will be available, but if you are open minded and have a somewhat flexible schedule, it is possible to get some great deals. The shows they have are usually in the smaller, lesser known venues (but not always) but they will give you a map showing all the theaters and have descriptions of all the shows. There is usually someone standing around the booth handing out flyers to the shows. This person is almost always an actor in the know and will be happy to give you the lowdown on the different shows.

 

The name of this half-price ticket operation is TIX and as well as their ticket booth on Union Square, they also have a web site at TIXBayArea.org  that lists the day’s available shows. They put the online list up at 11:00 am and don’t add to it throughout the day. However, it is not unheard of for the ticket booth to get more tickets throughout the day and often tickets for the better seats.

 

Tuesday - Thursday 11am - 6:00pm
Friday 11:00am - 7:00pm
Saturday 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sunday 10:00am - 3:00pm

 

Neighborhood: Union Square
350 Powell Street
(between Geary St & Post St)
San Francisco, CA 94102

(415) 433-7827 / TIXBayArea.org

 

Major Performing Arts Venues

 

 

Neighborhood: Civic Center
War Memorial Opera House
301 Van Ness Ave

(across from City Hall)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 861-4008 / sfopera.com

 

 

 

Neighborhood: Civic Center
201 Van Ness Ave

(across from City Hall)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 864-6000 / sfsymphony.org

 

 

 

Neighborhoods: Civic Center, Tenderloin
401 Van Ness Ave

(across from City Hall)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 392-4400

 

 

 

Neighborhoods: Civic Center, Tenderloin
1 Taylor Street
(between Golden Gate Ave & Market St)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 551-2000

 

 

 

Neighborhoods: Civic Center, Tenderloin
1192 Market Street
(between Hyde St & Grove St)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 551-2000 / shnsf.com

 

 

 

Neighborhoods: Tenderloin, Union Square
415 Geary St
(at Mason St)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 749-2228 / act-sf.org

 

 

 

Neighborhoods: Civic Center,Tenderloin, Union Square
445 Geary St

(between Mason and Taylor St, next door to the Geary Theater)
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 551-2000 / shnsf.com

 

 

 

Neighborhood: Nob Hill
1111 California St
(between Taylor & Jones Streets)
San Francisco, CA 94108
(415) 776-7042 / masonicauditorium.com

 

 

 

Neighborhood: SOMA
701 Mission St at 3rd street
San Francisco, CA 94103
(415) 978-2787 / ybca.org

 

View Major Preforming Arts Venues in a larger map