Kid-Approved Rainy Day Guide to SF

Here's the thing nobody tells you before you travel to San Francisco: it's probably going to be cloudy. Maybe drizzly. And here's the other thing: it doesn't matter one bit. We just did a full day in the city with the kids on a rainy day, and it turned out to be one of those days you want to bottle up and keep. No sunscreen panic, no melting down in the heat, no squinting at anything. Just a really good day. Here's how it went.

Start with a Hotel Breakfast. A Real One.

We were staying at the Hyatt Centric Fisherman's Wharf, which made the morning easy. It's right on the waterfront and the breakfast is the kind that actually keeps kids full. We took our time. Nobody rushed. It was a great start to the day.

Musée Mécanique | Pier 45

We had heard about this place and still weren't prepared for it. Free to walk into, Musée Mécanique is a massive collection of antique coin-operated arcade games, some dating back to the 1890s. Fortune tellers, player pianos, vintage racing games, a working contraption from 1896 that we still can't fully explain. Both the kids and adults were obsessed.

Bring cash and get quarters from the change machine inside. Budget at least an hour, maybe more. This is the kind of place that reminds you why you travel. You simply cannot replicate this at home.

A Treat at the Ferry Building

A short walk down the Embarcadero, the Ferry Building is one of those places that makes you feel like you're doing San Francisco correctly. We stopped in for a treat on a rainy morning, the hot chocolate at Dandelion Chocolate is genuinely one of the better decisions you can make and let the kids soak in the marketplace energy. Don't linger too long. There's more day ahead.

The Exploratorium | Pier 15

This is the one. Enormous, interactive, and fascinating for literally every age, the Exploratorium is a hands-on science museum that covers light, sound, biology, engineering, the environment, and somehow also art. You can spend two hours here easily and still feel like you missed half of it. The kids will be learning things without realizing they're learning things, which is the dream.

Book tickets ahead of time, especially on a rainy day when every other parent in the city has the same idea.

~Nap Break~

Cable Car Ride

After a nap, we hopped on a cable car, which, even when you've ridden one before, still feels like something. The hills, the bells, the fog hanging over the city. The kids thought it was the greatest form of transportation ever invented, and they're not entirely wrong.

Pick up a Muni day pass ahead of time to skip the ticket line.

California Academy of Sciences | Golden Gate Park

Four things under one roof: a full aquarium, a four-story living rainforest dome with free-flying butterflies, a natural history museum, and a planetarium. You could spend an entire day here and not run out of things to see. We did the aquarium (the kids pressed their faces against every single tank), walked through the rainforest dome (warm and lush and a little surreal on a grey day), and caught a planetarium show. It's worth every penny.

Dinner in Japantown | Conveyor Belt Sushi

We ended the day in Japantown, which is one of those neighborhoods that earns its own visit. Dinner was at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, which was an unqualified hit with the kids. Plates rolling past, everyone grabbing what they want, nobody arguing about the menu. After dinner we wandered through the Japan Center, picked up snacks and a few things we didn't need, and called it a perfect day.

Day at a Glance

San Francisco is genuinely one of the best rainy day cities in the world if you know where to go. And now you do!