Climb the Mosaic Staircase at 16th Avenue and MoragaFind the 163 hand-mosaiced steps at 16th Avenue and Moraga in Golden Gate Heights, then huff your way up from sea creatures to outer space without stopping for breath.Photo HuntEasy40 min
BYO cardboard, ride a concrete slideBring a flattened box to the Seward Street Slides at Seward and Douglass, two 1970s cement chutes designed by a 14-year-old, and bomb down a hill at near-traffic speed in the Castro.ActiveMedium30 min
Listen to the bay play an organWalk to the end of Yacht Road past the Golden Gate Yacht Club to the Wave Organ jetty, built from a demolished cemetery, and press your ear to a pipe to hear the tide gurgle a tune. Go at high tide.WeirdEasy45 min
Get cackled at by Laffing SalSlip a quarter into the antique machines at free-entry Musee Mecanique on Pier 45, then stand before the six-foot laughing automaton Laffing Sal and decide if she is delightful or deeply cursed.Rainy DayEasy45 min
Peer Through the Peephole Gallery on Savernack StreetHunt down Savernack Street, a tiny art gallery on 24th Street in the Mission that you can only see by squinting through a single peephole in the wall. Blink and you miss the whole show.Hidden GemMedium20 min
Walk the Mural-Covered Balmy AlleyWander Balmy Alley between 24th and 25th Streets, where roughly 33 murals cover every garage door and fence with decades of Mission political art, and find the one that stops you cold.CultureEasy30 min
Sneak up a houses-only jungle stairwayClimb the Vulcan Steps between Ord and Levant above the Castro, a 1925 garden staircase where residents haul their groceries up by hand because no car can reach the front doors.Local DetailEasy35 min
Drink among sailors' souvenirsDuck into Specs' Twelve Adler Museum Cafe at 12 William Saroyan Place, a 1968 North Beach dive where the walls and ceiling drip with curios merchant sailors dragged home from the seven seas.SocialEasy45 min
Step Inside the Camera Obscura at Cliff HouseAt 1096 Point Lobos beside the old Cliff House, enter the Camera Obscura, a building shaped like a discarded giant camera that projects a live 360-degree view of the crashing surf onto a dish inside.WeirdEasy30 min
Bite the city's official ice creamTrack down an It's-It, the local 1928 invention of vanilla ice cream squished between two oatmeal cookies and dunked in dark chocolate, sold all over town, and eat it before the fog melts it.Food & DrinkEasy15 min
Run the Golden Gate Promenade at Crissy FieldLace up early and jog the flat waterfront promenade through Crissy Field toward Fort Point, with the Golden Gate Bridge glowing ahead the whole way. Beat the fog and you have earned your coffee.ActiveMedium45 min
Morning jog along the EmbarcaderoTake a sunrise run along the palm-lined Embarcadero promenade past the Ferry Building clock tower, dodging commuters and seagulls instead of tourists. Finish before the farmers' market crowd shows up.ActiveEasy30 min
Ride the 1914 carousel at Koret Children's QuarterSpin on the historic Herschell-Spillman carousel in Golden Gate Park and let the kids pick the dragon, camel, or rooster instead of a boring horse. The playground next door has a concrete slide built into the hill.FamilyEasy40 min
Ride the 1906 Carousel at Yerba Buena GardensPicnic on the lawns at Yerba Buena Gardens and let the little ones burn off energy near the waterfall, then hop the 1906 LeRoy King carousel beside the Children's Creativity Museum. The grass is free; the spin is a few dollars.FamilyEasy50 min
Make a stop-motion movie at the Creativity MuseumDuck into the Children's Creativity Museum and let your crew direct a goofy clay stop-motion animation or shoot a music video. You leave with a tiny film instead of just another fridge magnet.FamilyMedium1 hr 15 min