Litmaps · Discover SF

Vietnamese combo plate of rice, charred chicken and imperial roll for $9.90.

Burmese garlic noodles and tea-leaf salad around $8 a plate.

The benchmark Mission burrito, no rice and all attitude, well under $15.

The super burrito all others measure against, cheap and open late.

Under-the-radar burrito favorite; get the al pastor, easily under $15.

30-year taqueria with cheap burritos feeding late-night and student crowds.

Best cheap dim sum in Chinatown, point-pay-eat for a few dollars.

Takeout window for cheap, generously stuffed char siu bao and pineapple buns.

Onigiri combos under $15 with a buy-four-get-one-free deal.

Two-pupusa deal with curtido and salsa, cheap and filling.

Vietnamese counter with $7 banh mi on perfectly soft rolls.

BBQ pork wonton noodle soup, a cheap and hearty bowl.

Pocketful of quarters buys hours on antique coin-op arcade machines. Pure cheap bang-for-buck.

40-plus pinball machines behind a screen-print shop. A few bucks a game, oddball thrill.

Playland-style barcade stuffed with games. Cheap tokens, big silly fun.

Cavernous barcade with pinball, skee-ball and pool. Tiny ticket, outsized fun.

Roller disco in an old church. About $15-22 with skates for a giddy night.

Tiny admission to watch the coast projected live onto a parabolic table. Oddball bargain.

Wildly themed indoor mini-golf with a cocktail bar. Small spend, big goofy fun.

Cheap paddleboat rental to drift a wooded island lagoon. Big fun, small spend.

Rent a paddleboat, find the waterfall and pavilion. A few dollars for a peaceful spin.

About $10 buys a bracing cold-water bay swim and sauna at a historic club.

Glow bowling with blacklights and lasers, plus 45 beers. Cheap lanes, loud fun.

Small admission for koi, a drum bridge, and tea in the oldest US Japanese garden.

Free to peek at a giant Victorian pinhole camera projecting the live coast onto a table.

A free, little-known acoustic sculpture on a bay jetty that gurgles with the tides.

Surprise: this neo-Gothic cathedral and its walkable labyrinths cost nothing to enter.

163 neighbor-made mosaic steps climbing to a hidden summit, free and easy to miss.

A second, lesser-known 148-step mosaic staircase tucked into quiet Sunset slopes, free.

Free concrete slides hidden in a tiny park, fast enough to need a cardboard sled.

A free open-air gallery of ever-changing political murals down one Mission block.

The densest free mural alley in the city, decades of Latino political art.

A free garden stairway down Telegraph Hill past cottages and wild parrots.

A hidden rocky outcrop with a stunner view and almost no one on it, free.

A free local picnic knob with a rope swing and a postcard skyline view.

A free 666-foot sand-dune summit reached by the famous 16th Avenue tiled steps.