Individual listings can be found in San Francisco's district articles
The best way to find a good bar or club is to ask the advice of a local; but barring that a copy of The SF Bay Guardian or the SF Weekly will help you find something suited to your personal taste.
San Francisco is very much of a "scene" town. Head to the Marina for mid-20s to mid-30s professionals (and those visiting from Los Angeles). Haight-Ashbury, famous for the "Summer of Love" and hippies, is still a place for alternative lifestyle and now has many neo-punks and hipsters in the mix. South of Market (SoMa) and the Mission District have left-over dot-commers and hipsters hanging out on every corner. The Castro primarily serves San Francisco's gay men, with The Lexington, Wild Side West, and Stray Bar in the Mission serving as lesbian bars. With a large Irish population, San Francisco has a number of very good Irish pubs extending out into the Sunset neighborhood. North Beach is home to several dance clubs and strip clubs.
If you like soccer (football) and all things English, you should stop into the Kezar Pub, at the edge of the Haight-Ashbury District, or Lower Haight's Mad Dog In the Fog. The pub quiz and bar food are good. Swill some pints and stay in the dark. Good for an entire day's worth of drinking.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about San Francisco
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in San Francisco - updated May 2024
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San Francisco Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.