🆓 Free & actually good

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.

A craggy red outcrop above the Castro with a bay-to-downtown view, free.

A free grassy summit with a 360 view and fewer tourists than Twin Peaks.

A free cliffside park of statues and a parapet over Ocean Beach.

A free wooded island summit inside Stow Lake with a waterfall and overlooks.

A free park slope where an open drum circle has gathered since the 1960s.

A free wild creek-cut canyon with hawks, hidden in the middle of the city.

A free sheltered secret cove below Sea Cliff with bridge views, calmer than Baker.

A free hike-down beach with maybe the best straight-on bridge view in the city.

A free misty cloud forest of towering eucalyptus laced with quiet trails.

A free reclaimed industrial spit turned wild tidal wetland and birding spot.

A free leafy park around a restored natural lake on the Presidio's edge.

The city's oldest park, a free steep wooded hill above the Haight with bay views.

Free sandy bluffs where hang gliders launch over the Pacific and dogs run wild.

The city's free highest point, cloaked in eucalyptus and fog with a summit cross.

Free new park decks over the tunnels with lawns and Golden Gate overlooks.

A free clifftop park wrapping a golf course with ocean and bridge views.

SF's free second-largest park, 312 acres of trails, a lake, and an amphitheater.

Free Depression-era murals at the base plus a bay panorama from Telegraph Hill.

A free cliffside trail with cypress groves, shipwreck views, and the Sutro ruins.

A free flat waterfront lawn with kite-flyers and a Golden Gate backdrop.

A free flat shoreline path with the Golden Gate Bridge dead ahead.

A free climb to the city's center for the postcard shot of the whole grid.

A free wide beach with the Golden Gate Bridge framed at the north end.

Three free miles of wild Pacific, perfect for a bonfire and a sunset.

A free green hill for the Painted Ladies postcard with the skyline behind.

A free peaceful loop around Strawberry Hill to a waterfall and pavilion.

The city's free sunny backyard hillside with a skyline view.

A free 1,017-acre ribbon of meadows, lakes, and gardens across the city.