The 24 Best Things To Do In San Francisco In Winter (2023)
Want to know all the best things to do in San Francisco in Winter? We’ve got you covered with everything you need to know!
San Francisco is a huge city and it’s nearly impossible to see and do it all.
This guide below features all the best spots you must visit in the city, plus a few suggestions if you want to take day trips outside of the city.
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Best Things To Do In San Francisco In Winter
There’s a lot in here, but it can all be done in a 7 day trip or less.
Here are all the best things to do in San Francisco in Winter.
1. Ghirardelli Square
Address: 900 N Point St, San Francisco, CA
Did you know there are THREE Ghirardelli shops in Ghirardelli Square?
Making it nearly impossible to not stop in for a treat!
There are plenty of restaurants and retail shops too, but you really can’t pass up some ice cream from Ghirardelli when you go to Ghirardelli Square.
It’s only a few blocks from Fisherman’s Wharf!
2. Pier 39 / Fisherman’s Wharf
You may consider this a “tourist trap”, but it’s iconic and worth your time.
An always entertaining activity is the sea lions that hang out here.
They are always noisy, fighting, playing, etc.
There’s a good mix of free and paid entertainment, so you don’t have to spend money at all to visit this area.
The Boudin Bakery is just across the street and is known for their sourdough bread – especially soup in a sourdough bread bowl.
We visited this area a few times on our trip and had a few meals in the area, which I highly recommend.
This is definitely where you want to try Clam Chowder.
3. Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is probably the most recognizable bridge in the entire world.
It’s not enough to just look at it, you need to drive across it!
Fair warning though, there is a small toll that is billed to you in the mail when you drive South on the bridge back into the city.
There is no toll to go North though.
But, you can also take a double decker bus and not pay any toll!
Check out the video below where we sat on the open air upper deck of this bus to ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.
This also happened to be a perfectly clear and sunny day, so we got great views of the city and the bay.
👉 Click Here To Book Your San Francisco Double Decker Bus Tour + Attractions Bundle Today!
4. Umbrella Alley
Location: 757 Beach St., San Francisco, CA
This is a cute little spot between the wharf and Ghirardelli Square.
It was created to be “Instagrammable” day or night!
I believe it’s local artists that design and maintain the area.
It’s completely free to go in and explore the alley, but be sure to tag them in your Instagram post so they can get some credit!
(@umbrellaalleysf)
5. Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum San Francisco
Location: 145 Jefferson St, San Francisco, CA
This is another activity that is included with the Go City San Francisco pass!
One of my most watched YouTube videos of all time is the wax museum in Las Vegas, so when I saw that this location was included with our pass, I knew we had to go!
Every wax museum is different and highlights the history and culture of each city.
As you’ll see below, San Francisco has quite an interesting and diverse history.
Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum is another attraction that is between the Wharf and Ghirardelli Square.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Tickets To Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum + Attraction Bundle Today!
5. USS Pampanito
Location: 2-54 Pier 45, San Francisco, CA
ANOTHER activity included with the Go City San Francisco pass is a self-guided tour through the USS Pampanito, which is an old submarine.
There are definitely some tight spaces and stepping through high thresholds, so it might not be for everybody, but the vast majority of people can manage.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Tickets To USS Pampanito + San Francisco Attractions Bundle Today!
6. Chinatown San Francisco
Moving away from the Wharf area, the next must visit area is Chinatown!
This area is full of authentic shops and restaurants.
We ate here a couple times during our visit since it was so close to our hotel.
When we were passing through, there were a few instrumentalists playing some traditional Chinese music and we even saw a group practicing the lion dance with their costumes.
7. The Escape Game
Location: 150 Kearny St, San Francisco, CA
When it’s too cold or too rainy, an escape game is the perfect activity!
We enjoyed it so much that we did two escape rooms and even bought 3 games that we can do at home.
With the Go City San Francisco pass, you can even do an escape room for free, which is what we did!
Our first room was Special Ops and the second room we did The Heist.
We didn’t complete either one, but maybe with at least a couple other people we could’ve done it.
It definitely helps to have more people, but we had fun anyway!
It’s only a couple blocks away from the center of Chinatown, so it’s easy to group these two things together.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Escape Room + San Francisco Attractions Bundle Today!
8. The Painted Ladies
Location: Steiner St & Hayes St, San Francisco, CA
Now for some famous filming locations around San Francisco.
You’ll probably need a car or to take public transportation to get around to all of these at the same time since they’re spread throughout the city.
But they’re great to do first thing in the morning before it gets too busy!
If you’re like me, you probably first saw these houses when watching Full House re-runs on Nick at Nite.
To get this awesome view, you’ll want to go across the street to Alamo Square Park!
It’s hilly, but there’s lots of benches.
Or bring a blanket and have a picnic!
There are lots of other houses in this area that look similar, most of which have been kept up very nicely.
Some I even noticed were bed and breakfasts.
I have quite a few photos saved of other houses that were just nice to look at.
Since there’s several dining options in the area, it doesn’t hurt to do some window shopping before or after lunch or dinner here.
9. The Full House House
Location: 1709 Broderick St, San Francisco, CA
Of course after seeing the iconic opening scene from Full House in person, you have to go see the actual house!
Fun fact, it is not one of the “painted ladies” and is located several blocks away.
It’s been re-painted over the years, but you can definitely tell it’s the same house!
People actually live here, so do not disturb them, but definitely feel free to take a photo from the street.
10. The Princess Diaries San Francisco Film Locations
Obviously the other iconic filming locations in the city that are a must-visit are from The Princess Diaries!
The first stop is 2601 Lyon Street, which is the facade for Grove High School.
Fun fact, this is just somebody’s house!
The area it’s in is San Francisco’s version of the Hollywood Hills, so there are some amazing mansions in this area.
It’s worth circling around a few blocks to admire them.
Next up is 724 Brazil Avenue, the address of the converted firehouse Mia and her mom lived in.
This one isn’t near anything else and is in the middle of a very packed neighborhood.
There are a few other locations to check out in San Francisco, but many other iconic places are actually in LA.
You can Google the film locations for the movie to find more details.
11. San Francisco Zoo
Location: Sloat Blvd and the Great Highway, San Francisco, CA
When you’re out in this direction, you might as well stop in to the San Francisco Zoo.
Surprise, it’s ALSO included in the Go City San Francisco pass.
We went soon after it opened in the middle of the day on a somewhere drizzly day and saw maybe a dozen other people the entire time we were there.
One of my favorite things about traveling is visiting places in the off-season so that I can enjoy it without the crowds.
This zoo had one of the best personal pizzas I’ve ever had in my life and it was just in the zoo food court!
Served hot and fresh, with a great mix of seasonings, it’s the perfect comfort food on a cold and rainy day.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Tickets To The San Francisco Zoo + Attractions Bundle Today!
12. Lombard Street
As you make your way back into the city, Lombard Street is an iconic drive you have to do at least once in your lifetime.
It’s a long and windy downhill drive that you’ve probably seen in many shows and movies.
Pro tip, going first thing in the morning is probably the best time to visit because there’s nobody out and there won’t be a line to drive down the street.
13. Aquarium of the Bay
Making our way back over to the Wharf, the Aquarium of the Bay is a great indoor attraction for cold and rainy days.
You may have noticed there are a lot of indoor attractions for those cold and rainy days – that’s because that’s almost every day of the year in San Francisco.
Also, another fun fact, this is another attraction included in the Go City San Francisco pass.
It’s not the largest aquarium, but it’s unique to the type of aquatic environment that is present in the San Francisco Bay and surrounding area.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Aquarium Of The Bay + San Francisco Attractions Bundle Today!
14. Alcatraz Island Night Tour
We’ve previously shared all you need to know about this must-do tour, and you can check out all the details in our Alcatraz Island Night Tour blog post.
15. The Walt Disney Family Museum
We’ve also previously shared all the details about visiting this museum, which you can check out in our Walt Disney Family Museum blog post.
This is another attraction included with the Go City San Francisco pass!
16. Muir Woods National Monument
This one is about 10 miles outside of the city, just across the Golden Gate Bridge.
We’ve shared our full itinerary for visiting Muir Woods, which consists of an easy half day hiking itinerary which you can check out in our Muir Woods blog post.
17. Santa Con
Santa Con is a yearly event in San Francisco that takes place each December.
Anybody that wants to participate can dress up like Santa and take to the streets of San Francisco.
Many like to bar hop their way through town.
This year’s Santa Con is on Saturday, December 9th.
There is no cost to participate in Santa Con, but it is encourages to bring a new, unwrapped toy for the San Francisco Fire Department Toy Program.
In 2021, we happened to be in San Francisco during Santa Con and had no idea it was happening.
Finally an Uber driver told us about it once we realized how many people dressed like Santa we saw in just one day.
Day Trips From San Francisco In Winter
Another fun activity when visiting San Francisco in Winter is to take day trips out to surrounding areas.
There’s so many different things with a couple hours of the city.
18. Napa v Sonoma: Which Is Better To Visit?
There are so many great places in wine country to go, but I highly recommend making Sonoma and Napa wineries part of your itinerary.
They’re always beautifully decorated for the holidays and several wineries are actually castles!
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19. Napa Valley Wine Tasting Day Trip
Napa is probably the most popular of the wine tasting towns in wine country.
They have highly rated wines that are world-renowned, with amazing tasting rooms like the one pictured below.
20. Find All The Best Things To Do In Calistoga
Calistoga is known for a lot more than just it’s wine, so if you want to see this area but you’re not into wine, there’s still plenty to do.
21. California’s Great America Theme Park
California’s Great America is a theme park about an hour south of San Francisco in Santa Clara.
It’s part of the Cedar Fair parks along with other theme parks like Cedar Point, Knott’s Berry Farm, and Kings Island.
So you’ll definitely notice the similarities between these, but they’re all distinctly different.
Weekend Trips From San Francisco In Winter
If you’re looking to venture a little further out and stay overnight somewhere, then we have some great weekend getaway ideas that are only 2, 4, and 7 hours away from San Francisco in Winter.
22. Take A Weekend Getaway To A Nearby Destination
The post above lists all the best itineraries!
Where To Eat In San Francisco In Winter
A big part of visiting San Francisco is definitely centered around the food!
We’ve compiled the best places to go with the best clam chowder, Chinese food, Italian food, and more.
23. The Complete San Francisco Food and Drink Guide
We tried all the best restaurants throughout San Francisco with a variety of cuisines for every palette.
These are all the best ones we found.
24. Best Restaurants in San Francisco With A View
There are plenty of city views and bay views to be found in restaurants around the city.
These are the best ones!
Go City San Francisco Pass
Go City attractions cards offer included admission to over 400 top attractions, activities, tours, and museums for one low price!
Save up to 50% compared to buying separate tickets at the attractions and receive a free full-color guide book with your purchase.
Choose from two options: Go City’s All-Inclusive Pass offers admission to top attractions and activities for one low price with a savings of up to 50%.
Build Your Own Pass allows you to customize a pass and save up to 20% on top attractions!
Learn More About The San Francisco Go City Pass.
Where to Stay in San Francisco
Check out the video below for a room tour of the Standard King rooms at Club Quarters.
For the complete details of everything you need to know about this affordable and conveniently located hotel, check out our Club Quarters San Francisco king room review blog post.
👉 Click Here To Book Your Stay At Club Quarters San Francisco Today!
Conclusion: Best Things To Do In San Francisco In Winter
Despite the cold and rainy weather, San Francisco is actually an amazing place to visit in Winter.
We stayed for an entire week in December 2021 and did the vast majority of these activities on just that one trip.
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