Ready to dive deeper into the more hidden things to do in San Francisco? If it’s your first time in the city, check out my other article on the main things to do in San Francisco. Maybe you have a few days in the city, or maybe you just want to see less crowded sights. Either way, read on.

Angel Island

Angel Island is a local state park that makes for a perfect day of hiking while absorbing great views of the Bay and Sausalito. Like Alcatraz, you have to take a ferry out to the island. They usually depart from the Ferry Building and perform round trips out to the island a few times a day.

Angel Island houses an old military base (among other things). You can hike around the perimeter or climb to the peak of the island. Additionally, you can read about the military operations, the immigration station, and what everyday life was like for a military man stationed there. You can also spend time on the water – swimming in the various coves is allowed. Keep in mind that the Pacific Ocean is very cold even in the summer months! There is also great fishing from Angel Island, and you will see locals with their poles at the docks. Over 60 species of birds frequent the island, so bring your binoculars!

You could spend anywhere from an hour to most of the day hiking, picnicking, and visiting the museum. Angel Island is a great option for anyone who enjoys the outdoors and wants to avoid the crowds of the city.

Try an Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista!

Part cozy, warm smelling cafe, and part salty dog bar, the Buena Vista serves up both delicious breakfast and lunch fare and their specialty: Irish coffee. I had one of their famous Irish coffees. If I told you that the bartender whipped it up in about 10 seconds flat, would you believe me?  (There are several videos out there of the Buena Vista bartenders lining up 10 or so glasses and just dropping in the sugar, pouring the coffee, whiskey and cream in these smooth, long passes.) The drink itself was excellent, the coffee was exactly the right temperature. It was hot, but drinkable right away. The drink balances bitter coffee with rich sweet cream, that is then enhanced with the complexity of the whiskey. For someone who doesn’t even like coffee, this is high praise.

The bartenders were kind and happily told me how the special shape of the glass (I’ve sketched it below) helps keep the layers of coffee and cream separated. Ironically, while I liked the flavor, I found the inherent combination of alcohol and caffeine to be unpleasant. I would describe the feeling of taking both an upper and a downer at once as kind of a… sleepy heart attack. But for those who regularly drink coffee, are looking for a warm pick me up, or just want something to sip while watching the cable cars rattle by, I highly recommend it. The food also smelled wonderful!

Take a ride in a Waymo

In the near future, this may not be as unique of an activity as it is now. But for now, this is a really easy way to get a kick and feel like you are in a sci-fi movie. San Francisco has been honing autonomous vehicles and conducting beta testing for years. Waymo, a driverless, automated taxi service has an app and vehicle fleet that are open for public use. (Fear not, the cars only make trips inside the city on the streets. They are not permitted on the freeways when there is no driver).

Waymo functions much like Lyft or any other rideshare app: You create an account, open the app, then input your destination. The app pairs you with the closest open vehicle. When the Waymo arrives, it projects your initials on its top sensor, and the car will only unlock when the app user approaches. Once inside, you buckle up and listen to a short automated spiel on how the car works. The spookiest part is watching the steering wheel turn of its own accord! (I was bummed to see that the gas and brake pedals do not depress on their own). Another great option is Zoox, a ‘robotaxi’. Their double-ended cars can fit up to 4 people. Zoox is still in testing in SF; it will be open to the public very soon. 

Play in the Musee Mecanique

If I had to a single thing to recommend from this list, it would be visiting Musee Mecanique. My passion for this place knows no bounds. Museum (or musee) is a misnomer for this location. The Musee Mecanique is more of an arcade, carnival, or playland with a focus on antique fair games and other coin-operated machines. The best part? Everything is playable.

Come to the museum with a pocket full of change and spend hours cranking out souvenir pennies, making elaborate music boxes sing, consulting animatronic psychics, and watching mechanized puppets dance. Or immerse yourself in the games of the past with pinball, old racing and boxing games, and Atari arcade games. There are also some more modern pinball and arcade games in the mix.

If you don’t feel like spending money, other interesting pieces adorn the inside of the building (the world’s only steam-powered motorcycle, matchstick amalgamations). You just might have to search have to find them all. I have never once visited and felt like I had enough time, or saw everything. The moderately sized building but is absolutely packed full of games, displays and plaques to read. Kids will love it, antiquarians will love it, anyone with a pulse will love it.

Take a Ghost Tour

Can you really say that you have seen a place if you haven’t looked at its dark side? San Francisco has an enormously interesting past, which can only be properly appreciated on a dark, cool autumn night on a ghost or crime tour. I went on the Haunted Haight Walking Tour and had a blast. It is worth noting that I love odd, weird, supernatural things so this was an activity particularly up my alley. In my time with them, I explored SF’s most haunted street, had a drink at a haunted pub, and peered down at the curbs and gutters of Buena Vista Park to read the birth and death dates on the repurposed tombstones.

I remember a few of the standout stories: a loyal ghost dog looking endlessly for his owner, and the mysterious fate of Alcatraz’s only escapees. The tour was also very kid friendly, so feel free to bring the little ones. (At the time I went on the tour, it was around Halloween and the local neighborhoods put out bowls of candy so we got to do a bit of trick or treating as we walked along!)

If the paranormal isn’t your favorite, San Francisco has plenty of grisly crime in its history as well. The Zodiac killer, Richard Ramirez ‘the Night Stalker’, the Doodler, and the Unabomber were all active in the Bay Area at one time or another. On my ghost tour I got to hear the stories of these hardened killers and stop outside the homes of Jim Jones (the prolific suicide cult leader) and Charles Manson (musician turned criminal or criminal turned musician?) Normally, a ghost or crime tour is something that can be done in any city and I wouldn’t recommend it so strongly, but SF has such a grisly history that you really can’t miss out. San Francisco and New Orleans, in my opinion, have the laid claim as the top spots to explore the darker side of human nature.   

See the Japanese Tea Gardens

Just north of the expansive botanical gardens, the Japanese Tea Garden is much smaller, but presents a more carefully and intentionally sculpted experience. Beautiful and serene, you amble along its paths. It features wooden boardwalks, pagodas, arched drum bridges, and traditional Japanese statuary. There is even a tea house where you can enjoy a hot cup of tea or buy small snacks while you gaze out over the Koi ponds.

I quite enjoyed the Japanese Tea Gardens and have visited multiple times. Unlike the botanical gardens, which are wonderful in their own right, I can visit the Tea Gardens and feel like I saw everything. The gardens are also very private, which feels like such a relief compared to the crush of the city.

Listen to the Music of the Wave Organ

Considering I usually condemn esoteric art pieces, it is odd that I enjoyed this one so much. The Wave Organ looks like it could flood at a moment’s notice; a jumbled pile of old cemetery stone. You go there for solitude, to listen to fog horns echo across the water. But if you stand there long enough, you may notice another noise, a dull hum that ebbs and flows with the water. The Wave Organ is a unique sculpture and instrument that emits low resonant tones that shift with tides and the crash of the waves.

A series of pipes of various lengths and elevations run into the ocean, and when the waves hit a submerged end, the pipe vibrates, which creates the sounds you hear. The wave organ’s music is subtle. It is best to come during the high tide or the full moon when it is the loudest. I can best describe the music like the rushing, low-pitched roar that fills your ears when you put your head underwater. I sat for about 10 minutes, and in that time, I was able to separate the sound of the ocean waves crashing and the low tones underneath it that match the ebb and flow of the water.

The walk to the Wave Organ is also very nice. As you wind your way around the Marina, you can look at all the fancy boats, and watch them sail in and out of the Bay. This is a very restful, peaceful experience. A great breather for a day full of touring and walking.

Climb the Hidden Staircases

Hidden in the nooks and crannies of the city and climbing the hills between neighborhoods lie the many hidden staircases of San Francisco. You have probably read or heard about them. Stumbling upon these little surprises is a lot of fun, but so is searching them out! These stairs offer convenient passage, but also great views and a few…unique attributes.

For example, the Esmerelda Slide Park on the west end of Bernal Heights Park has a 40 foot long slide in the middle! There are several sets of stairs, starting with the Esmerelda Stairs, The Esmerelda Slide Park and the Esmerelda Corridor. Just keep heading uphill (or down).

The 16th Ave stairs and the Hidden Garden steps (also located on 16th Ave, slightly farther north) are decorated with intricate tile-work and mosaics, which can be appreciated every time you stop to catch your breath. These staircases are fun to discover and also help shortcut some of the daunting summits around interested in discovering more? hidden stairs check out this article by Tyler Cohn.

Explore Sutro Baths

Need to get a little sun and sand? Northern California is known more for its cliffs and rocks than its sandy beaches, but Sutro Baths proves to be one of the Bay Area’s exceptions. The baths are part hiking trail, part beach, and part ruins. You have the option to take a number of wonderful hiking trails, go for a seaside stroll, wander down to the beach, to look at the baths themselves and read about their history, or poke around in a cave.

If you really want to make a day of it, the Sutro Baths Upper Trail connects nicely to the Coastal Trail, which runs north through Lands End. From there you can skirt the coastline and link back up into parkland and continue on the Batteries to Bluffs trail all the way up to Golden Gate Park. I cover this in more depth in another article. 

Peruse the Cable Car Museum

The Cable Car Museum is entirely unique – San Francisco has the last manually operated, functioning, cable car system in the world. A cable car is a lot like a trolley or tram – it’s an open air public transit system. Unlike the others, it moves by connecting to a moving looped cable that lies beneath the street. This tows the car along. 

At the Cable Car Museum, you can see the enormous grooved pulleys that power the cable lines for all of the routes in SF. The museum has something for everyone: old antique cable cars, local history, mechanical diagrams, models, a gift shop, and more. The museum is small but dense, with the main level containing the museum and the view over the shop floor and drive sheaths. You can descend to a basement level where you can see the cable lines run out under the street. Additionally, there is a garage/mezzanine up the block where all the cable cars are stored when they are off the track, or need maintenance and repair.

The cars come in all colors and manner of adornment – and the workers did not seem to mind me wandering about their garage. One even had me climb up into various cars and took photos for me! A great way to spend an hour, whether transportation is your thing or not.

Experience the Presidio

San Francisco enjoys a very temperate Mediterranean climate, and without a harsh winter the greenery sticks around all year. The Presidio is the sprawling park that engulfs one end of the golden gate bridge. Like Golden Gate park, it contains several things worth doing/seeing. In particular I would recommend the Walt Disney Family Museum (great for families and Disney fans) and Lucas Film Studios.

I stumbled upon the latter by pure chance, and as a fan of the series, I couldn’t believe the studio was in SF! It is still a functioning studio and features tons of Star Wars memorabilia. You can spy C-3PO in a window, or enjoy a moment communing with the force in front of the Yoda fountain. The lobby is open to the public and has full statues, costumes, lightsaber and blaster props, along with an awards shelf featuring, among others, an Emmy for the Clone Wars animated series. 

One thing you may have seen suggested elsewhere is “hiking” the Woodline, a trail that winds through a eucalyptus grove. It climbs the slope of a hill, zigzagging back and forth as it ascends. Andy Goldsworthy created an art installation: a continuous log border along the path which speaks to the concepts of decay and time. I found all of this to be a bit of a stretch. The “art” struck me as pretentious, the walk is strenuous if you are going uphill, and the path is short. It was a pleasant environment with the smell of eucalyptus and the light falling between the trees, but this was not a life changing hike or something going out of your way for.

Right next to the Woodline is Lover’s Lane, a paved trail that climbs the same hill in a more straightforward fashion. It got its name because it led from the military housing (still visible along the side of the trail) into town, where soldiers would meet their sweethearts. Both hikes are short, about 0.6 miles, and border the edge of the park.

Hopefully this article was helpful, especially if you are planning a trip to San Francisco!