This might be, perhaps, the best month to be in San Francisco weather-wise. It’s usually the warmest it ever gets here (which can be pretty hot, it is Cali after all) and the elements are just a tiny bit more predictable. When the Bay Area climate gets like this you just have to make the most of the opportunity and do something outdoors. For that reason our list this month is weighted towards street festivals, National Parks and neighborhood music festivals, with the objective of helping YOU make the most of your time and the great weather. These are the 10 best things to do in SF in September. Enjoy and stay safe!

Events & Activities in San Francisco This Month

1. VISIT A NATIONAL PARK (ALL MONTH OR SEPTEMBER 26)

At any time one of the best things to do in the US is to visit one of our amazing array of National Parks, they’re almost like the country’s crown jewels. California is particularly blessed with them – Lassen, Yosemite, Sequoia, Muir Woods (just outside San Francisco), Joshua Tree and Death Valley – and that’s only thinking of the best known (and Lassen isn’t nearly as well-known as it should be).

Make the most of National Parks Day (September 26) and visit one, it’s gotta be one of the single best things to do in SF in September. More information here.

2. GO ON A TRUE CRIME TOUR OF SF (EVERY SATURDAY NIGHT)

San Francisco has a very interesting history, and much of that (if we’re honest) is because of the city’s connection to crime.

From the Gold Rush era, when Vigilance Committee’s took charge of law and order (which is where the term ‘vigilante’ originates), to the red light districts scattered through downtown during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, via opium dens and gambling hell-holes in old Chinatown and the infamous Barbary Coast (where unwary sailors could be shanghaied onto waiting merchant ships headed to Asia), the list is long. And we haven’t mentioned the Fatty Arbuckle Scandal, which was the very first ever celebrity sex scandal. The criminal history of San Francisco is a fascinating subject that would be well-worth its own multi-episode Netflix show.

Join us as we go on a cold-case true crime investigation into San Francisco’s dark past – with the opportunity to get cocktails in a couple of historic bars. Every Saturday night, at 6pm. More information here.

3. GO TO A CONCERT (VARIOUS DATES)

Seeing an artist that you really like perform live can be a really rewarding experience. We’re lucky in that we get a lot of great musicians and performers coming though the Bay Area. This month Jack Johnson, Chance the Rapper, Thievery Corporation, Andrea Bocelli, Mötley Crüe and Jack White, are all performing in the Bay Area. More information here.

Don;t forget about the Portola Music Festival too (September 26-7), at Pier 80. More information here.

4. VISIT AN AMAZING MUSEUM (ALL MONTH)

For several days of the month (and for some special people on every day of the month) many SF museums are free. We have some great museums in the Bay Area (partly because of all the rich people that have lived here) – you should make the most of these opportunities.

Exploratorium: free admission for EBT cardholders and San Francisco Medi-Cal or CalFresh recipients. Also free for California public school teachers.

SF Botanical Gardens: free admission second Tuesday of every month.

Japanese Tea Gardens: free Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 9-10 am.

De Young Museum: free first Tuesday of every month, also free every Saturday for Bay Area residents.

SFMOMA: free first Thursday of the month for Bay Area residents.

Legion of Honor: free Saturday’s for Bay Area residents and free Tuesday’s for all.

Cable Car Museum: free everyday and one of the most interesting museums in San Francisco.

Other museums well worth visiting:

The Walt Disney Family Museum

California Academy of Sciences

Museum of the African Diaspora

5. SF CHINATOWN AUTUMN MOON FESTIVAL (SEPTEMBER 19-20)

Visit San Francisco’s Chinatown (the oldest in the U.S.) for this famous Fall Festival. It’s always a great time to visit the neighborhood, but in September you can get some special mooncake too.

In ancient Asian mythology, there is a strong relationship between the moon and water. The moon is said to regulate reservoirs and supplies of water. There is a suggestion that the moon produces fertility and freshness in the soil. The moon’s role in bountiful harvests is widely recognized during autumns around the world.

In Chinese celestial cosmology, the moon represents the female principle, or yin. During ancient autumn Moon Festivals, women took center stage because the moon is considered feminine.

SF Chinatown Autumn Moon Festival

More information here.

6. CELEBRATE SAKE DAY (SEPTEMBER 26)

SAKE DAY is the largest and longest standing Nihonshu no Hi sake celebration outside of Japan. This year is the festival’s 21st anniversary, making it the perfect time to visit San Francisco’s Japantown.

SAKE DAY as an event has moved throughout San Francisco venues such as Fort Mason (Firehouse, Golden Gate Room), The Jewish Community Center, The Japanese Cultural and Community Center, The Armory, and at our current location Hotel Kabuki in JapanTown.

The event sells out every year, and a majority of guests are repeat customers. Each guest has the opportunity to autograph and make art on the signage board that is unique to each year and all boards dating back to 2005 are on display at each SAKE DAY.

Sake Day, SF

Kampai! More information here.

7. GO TO THE THEATER (VARIOUS DATES)

Live theatre certainly can be a special experience. If you’re a fan of the bard then Shakespeare in the Park is producing Antony and Cleopatra at the Jerry Garcia Auditorium (September 5-13). It’s a relatively rarely produced play and it’s one of Shakespeare’s most famous in influential plays. More information here

Bluey’s Big Play is appearing at the historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown September 26 and 27. It’s a great opportunity for the little ones to get the theater bug. More information here.

8. BECOME A RUM AFICIONADO (SEPTEMBER 19-20)

The annual San Francisco Rum Festival is returning for its 11th such anniversary. With tastings, talks by experts and cocktail books on sale, this just might be the time to become an expert on something that you love. The festival is being held at the iconic Trader Vic’s, in Emeryville in the East Bay.(it’s a lovely spot, right on the water).

More information here.

9. GO TO A BDSM STREET FAIR (SEPTEMBER 27)

San Francisco has a reputation for its residents being a little more relaxed when it comes to sexual proclivities, and nothing illustrates that better than the Folsom Street Fair. Every year many thousands of leather and BDSM lovers descend on SOMA, dressed in their best leather, latex, fishnets, harnesses, body paint and thongs. Or they just go au naturel. It’s definitely an eye-opener and soooo San Francisco!

One of the best things to do in SF in September? You let us know :-) . More information here.

10. HAIGHT ASHBURY STREET FAIR (SEPTEMBER 20)

Haight Ashbury is one of the most famous neighborhoods in San Francisco, since it became the center of the Flower Power Revolution in the 1960’s. It still wears a lot of that hippie vibe and it’s always a great place to visit.

Once upon a heady afternoon on April 30, 1978, the Haight-Ashbury Street Fair burst onto the scene like a psychedelic phoenix rising from the incense-scented ashes of a faded Summer of Love. Born from the minds and hearts of local merchants, artists, dreamers, and with a little help from District Supervisor Harvey Milk—yes, that Harvey Milk—the Fair was a love letter to a neighborhood that had given the world more than tie-dye and tambourines. It gave voice to revolution, resistance, and raw creative spirit.

Held every second Sunday in June, HASF transforms Haight Street into a living gallery of creativity, community, and counterculture cool. Two stages—Main Stage and Masonic Stage—anchor the festivities with a killer lineup that’s included the likes of Jefferson Starship, The Tubes, Metallica, and Noel Redding of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Alongside legends, we spotlight the next wave of musicians, from garage bands to groove collectives.

But the Fair is more than a soundtrack. It’s a day-long celebration of artistry, identity, and inclusion. Artisan vendors, handmade goods, vintage treasures, activist organizations, and local legends all share the asphalt runway of Haight Street.

Haight Ashbury Street Fair

More information here.

If you have any feedback on the 10 Best Things to Do in SF in September please email us or reach out on social media, we’d love to hear from you.

– By Damien Blackshaw (Twitter)