10 Things to Do in San Francisco in Winter

Throughout the winter you'll find a variety of things to see and do in San Francisco. Although these are the coldest and wettest months, the city offers a huge variety of activities for the whole family. In addition to the great views, you'll be able to walk around and experience the city and its surroundings in a variety of ways.

San Francisco offers a variety of contrasts when it comes to sightseeing. You'll find fun amusement parks, excursions and an intriguing visit to what was once the world's most famous prison. You'll probably remember many of the sights you see in this city from a film. It's not for nothing that the city is so close to Hollywood. In winter, these landscapes become even sharper, so do you want to see them?

Winter is an ideal season to see the gray whales, better known as California whales, during their southern migration, and this occurs in late December and January. At that time the Bay Area is not cloudy as it usually is in the warmer months. To find these marine animals I recommend you look for a point halfway between Chimney Rock and the Lighthouse at Point Reyes.

There are two options for you to get to these points:

• One is to walk along the cliffs. If you choose this option, I advise you to bring a warm coat and sturdy, non-slip shoes.
• The second and better option is to take a boat from Bodega Bay, located 60 km northwest of San Francisco, in Sausalito, off the San Francisco Peninsula or San Francisco Bay. These boats make a trip to the Gran Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

Practical information

• Location: in San Francisco Bay or in Bodega and Sausalito Bays. They can also be seen in the Farallon Islands.

• When to go: late December or January.

• Price: The cost of the boat ride is around €40 or less.

• Hours: During the day.

One of the things to do in San Francisco in three days is a trip to Yosemite National Park. These trips usually take place in winter to appreciate the beautiful snow cover.

Another activity that tourists love to do is ice skating near the base of Half Dome. You will also have time to take in the scenery of the snow-capped mountains. In the evening, you'll head to a hotel at Yosemite Valley Lodge, where you'll already have your reservation. These are heated cabins with tents.

The next day you can continue to enjoy nature. I recommend stopping by Bridalveil Falls and checking out the Tunnel View overlook. On site you will find several places to enjoy good food. If you love to try new flavours, I recommend you to take a food tour in San Francisco.

Practical information

• Location: Yosemite National Park.

• When to go: Any time in winter, preferably when the snow falls.

• Price: around €580.

• Time: The tour lasts 2 days.

To visit Lake Tahoe you can take a tour from San Francisco. This trip can last between 1 and 3 days, depending on the package you choose. The tour costs approximately €70.

Upon arrival you can head to Lake Tahoe for skiing, snowboarding, snowmobiling and snowshoeing. This activity is available from November to early April when snow is most abundant.

Other activities include evening entertainment at local venues. You can visit the Hard Rock Café, Harvey's, Harrah's, among others. You can also enjoy Heavenly Mountain, the South Lake Tahoe resort. Activities at the resort are not usually included in the tour.

Practical Info

• Location: Lake Tahoe

• When to go: November to early April.

• Price: around €70.

• Time: The tour lasts between 1 and 3 days.

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition is the world's largest wine tasting competition. This event is conducted by professional wine tasting judges who taste and score each of the wines submitted. Afterwards, the public wine tasting begins and you can participate.

To complete this experience, I recommend you to learn more about the best wine tastings in San Francisco or take a short break, for example, book a wine tour to Muir Woods from San Francisco. In addition to wine, you can sample food that you can buy on site. These dishes feature meats, artisanal cheeses and exotic oils. You will also find different types of desserts and sauces.

The Public Tasting event is the one that involves the general public and is usually held at the Fort Mason Center in February. Information on ticket prices and opening hours can be found on their website.

Practical Information

• Location: Fort Mason Center

• When to go: Usually on a Saturday in mid-February.

• Price: between €75 and €100.

• Hours: usually between 1.30pm and 5pm.

If you want to welcome the New Year in a fun and unforgettable way, I recommend you to visit one of the most emblematic places in the area and buy your tickets to Universal Studios Hollywood, located in Los Angeles. There are about 1000 km between these two cities so you will have to consider how to make the trip:

• By private or rented car: you can do it by the Pacific Coast Highway, the coastal highway, and drive it in about 2 days to enjoy the trip. And if you want to do it non-stop, you will have about 6 hours of driving on the I-5 highway.
• By bus: it will take about 8 hours...
• By plane: the journey takes about 2 hours and the price starts at 89€.

This is a family party that starts at approximately 9pm and lasts until 2am. During this time you can enjoy live music and a variety of food and drinks. You can choose from cocktails, champagne or beer. There are several options available for purchase.

Practical Info

• Location: Universal Studios Hollywood, 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, Los Angeles.

• When to go: You can go any time of the year, but in December you can appreciate the Christmas decorations and welcome the New Year during their party.

• Price: around €150.

• Hours: The party starts at 9pm and ends at 2am.

If you are travelling with children, this is a perfect plan for the whole family, and if you are travelling with adults only, you will surely enjoy becoming children for a few hours. Booking tickets for the Walt Disney Museum in San Francisco is a very good option for the winter months as you will be sheltered from the cold while you remember your earliest childhood.

You will discover the life and work of the creator of films such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and you will have access to unpublished material such as his sketches, drawings, filming... It also has a permanent exhibition of the film "The Jungle Book" and Walt Disney himself telling his own story in a series of recordings. A perfect plan for a day full of magic!

Practical Info

• Location: 104 Montgomery St, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA.

• When to go: You can go any time of the year.

• Price: around €25.

• Hours: 10am to 5:30pm.

To better withstand the low temperatures of the city while sightseeing without missing anything, how about buying tickets for the San Francisco Big Bus Tourist Bus?

This bus goes around the most touristic places of the city with free stops, that is to say, you can get on and off at the stops you want and explore the neighbourhoods you are most interested in: Chinatown, Haight Ashbury, the Financial District area. The bus is also double-decker with an open top floor, so if it's a sunny day you can take advantage of the opportunity to see San Francisco from the top floor, or if the weather is bad, you can take shelter on the ground floor.

Practical info

• Location: 99 Jefferson Street

• When to go: You can take it any time of the year.

• Price: around €54.

If you decide to book a film tour of San Francisco you won't regret it for several reasons:

• You will experience about 2 hours of interactive, family-friendly sightseeing.
• You'll tour the city through film locations
• You will recognise the sets of more than 55 famous films and TV series.
• During the tour you will be accompanied by an actor-turned-guide who will tell you all the details.

It's a perfect tour for the whole family and the best thing about it is that you'll also get to see some of the city's landmarks such as Union Square, Lombard Street, the Italian heritage neighbourhood of North Beach and Nob Hill, San Francisco's most elegant area.

Useful Information

• Location: 43 The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA.

• When to go: You can take it any time of the year.

• Price: around €65.

What better plan while in the United States than going to see an NBA game? You can make the most of your stay in San Francisco and buy tickets for Golden State Warriors

Experience first-hand the atmosphere at one of the best basketball games in the world and meet the stars of basketball in the flesh. You'll love the experience!

Practical info

• Location: Chase Center, San Francisco

• When to go: league months, between October and June

• Price: from €130

Visiting California's Chinatown during January or February is a good opportunity to see the Chinese New Year celebration. Each year the celebration changes its date, but it always takes place during these winter months. During this celebration, you can see the iconic parade featuring spectacular floats, dancers, Chinese acrobats, marching bands and the famous Golden Dragon.

Another activity you can participate in is the Flower Fair held the weekend before the New Year. There you will see beautiful traditional Chinese flowers and plants that families buy as part of their decorations or as gifts to give to friends and family.

You can also go to the Street Fair held the week of the New Year, which features traditional art and performances. The Chinese New Year Race, the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant and the Chinese New Year Treasure Hunt are other celebrations held during this time. Whatever time you go, there will be something to enjoy.

Practical Info

• Location: California's Chinatown

• When to go: Winter months.

• Price: Free.

One of the best ways to celebrate Christmas in San Francisco is to attend the Winter Festival at California's Great America Park. The average general pass costs €100.

You can ice skate in front of the Columbia Carousel and enjoy the iconic views here. At this park you can also enjoy a delicious artisan hot chocolate while watching the live winter shows.

In addition, you can choose from 60 Christmas attractions that I know you'll love. Many of them are perfect to include among the things to do with kids in San Francisco. These include writing letters to the North Pole, visiting Santa's workshop and baking biscuits in Mrs Claus' kitchen.

Practical Info

• Location: 4701 Great America Pkwy, Santa Clara, CA 95054 (suburbs of San Francisco)

• When to go: December, especially at the end of the month.

• Price: General pass costs an average of €100.

• Hours: 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.

The Noise Pop Festival is a celebration of music that takes place every year at the end of February in San Francisco. If you like to enjoy all kinds of music, this is the event to attend. You'll hear jazz bands, electronic music, rock n' roll and much more.

This week-long festival features more than 160 bands. You'll always find something to suit your taste with over 80 events in more than 25 venues. To find out the price of each event and the venue, check the official website.

As well as concerts, you can enjoy art exhibitions of all kinds. Also, if you are interested in foreign cinema, you can see some screenings of independent films. You'll also find talks on artistic trends, parties and much more. In general, the festival is a tribute to and celebration of independent art.

Practical info

• Location: Noise Pop Industries. 849 Valencia St. San Francisco, CA, is the home base of the company that organises the festival, but each event has a different venue.

• When to go: late February.

• Price: Each event has a different price. However, it is possible to purchase a general admission ticket to all events which costs an average of €400.

• Opening times: Each event has a specific timetable

Do you like beer? If the answer is yes, you can't miss San Francisco Beer Week. It is a celebration that takes place the first or second week of February.

During this week, San Francisco breweries hold educational and promotional events, so the festival has no specific schedule or location. All activities are held at different venues and diners must pay for what they consume. People are usually only gathered during the opening and closing ceremonies.

To find out where each event is taking place, check their website once you have your travel dates.

Traveller Tip
Don't forget that your health comes first, so don't drink too much if you are unaccompanied or have to drive to your hotel. It's best not to overdo it with alcohol.

San Francisco has several ice skating rinks that are only open during the winter. The outdoor facilities allow you to breathe in the fresh air while you skate. You can choose between the Holidays Ice Rink, located at Embarcadero Center or Union Square.

The first rink is the largest rink in the Bay Area. You can visit from the first week of November through the first week of January. It is located in Justin Herman Plaza, across from the San Francisco Ferry Building. Tickets cost approximately €10 and skate rentals average €5.

The other skate centre is located in Union Square. The most attractive thing about this rink is that you can see the festive decorations around it. In addition, you can stroll through the shops on site and admire the huge Macy's Christmas tree. Ticket prices are similar to the rink installation at Justin Herman Plaza.

Practical Information

• Location: Justin Herman Plaza and Union Square.

• When to go: from November.

• Price: around €10.

• Hours: during the day or at night until 9pm.

Winter in San Francisco is not too cold, but it does tend to be rainy and a bit cloudy. This is why December is not considered peak season in the city as it's constantly raining, and it's also cold and a bit dark. Despite this, you won't freeze as it rarely snows.

If December is a rainy month, January is even more so. It is also known for being the coldest month of the year. However, this weather helps whales to appear in the surrounding waters. So it might be a good plan to take a boat around San Francisco to see these amazing animals.

February is the wettest month of the year and is also still a cold month. Therefore, there are not too many visitors during this month. If this kind of weather doesn't bother you, then you will be able to stroll around all the attractions.

Although many people don't like the weather during these months, in February it is possible to appreciate the mustard flowers that appear in the vineyards.

In addition to admiring the beauty of nature, I invite you to enjoy a hot drink and a cold but beautiful holiday. Be sure to enjoy the view of the snow-capped mountains and explore the city.

Don't worry about bringing heavy coats to San Francisco, just a mackintosh or comfortable jumper that can keep you warm. As I mentioned before, this season of the year is a bit cold and wet, as well as rainy. That's why I advise you to take with you, in addition to the clothes I mentioned before, an umbrella.

If you are planning to practice any snow sport, don't forget to bring your equipment. Some places will provide you with the necessary equipment, but if you want to practice it outdoors, you'd better go prepared.

Although I mentioned before only a few warm clothes, keep in mind that this is only if you're walking in San Francisco. There are other plans that include excursions to the colder areas near San Francisco. In case you are planning to go there, you'd better bring extra warm clothes and special clothing.