Rainy Day Date Ideas in San Francisco

Crawl through the pitch-dark Tactile Dome together at the Exploratorium, a hands-on science and art museum on the Embarcadero.

The galleries and the Tactile Dome are indoors, with a few exhibits outside. Buy advance tickets, which the museum strongly recommends. On Thursdays, After Dark runs from 6pm to 10pm for ages 18 and up.

Wander SFMOMA, a large modern and contemporary art museum in SoMa, at an unhurried pace.

Yerba Buena Gardens, hotels, and restaurants are steps away if you want to stretch the afternoon. The museum is open until 8pm on Thursdays and closed Wednesdays. Get tickets through the museum's website.

An aquarium, a planetarium, a four-story rainforest, and a natural history museum all sit under one roof at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park.

Thursday NightLife is for ages 21 and up, with ID required, and runs from 6pm to 10pm most Thursdays.

Take your time with Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Himalayan, and Persian art at the Asian Art Museum in Civic Center, home to a collection among the biggest of its kind outside Asia.

The museum is open Friday through Monday from 10am to 5pm and Thursdays from 1pm to 8pm, and it is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On the first Sunday of every month, entry costs nothing, though walk-up spots that day are limited.

Sit in complete darkness while 176 speakers move sound around a 49-seat room at Audium, a sound theater.

It is open most weekends, and each month's schedule goes up on the ticket site about two weeks ahead. Audium V: Rewind runs October 9 to 24, 2026.

Catch a film at the Roxie Theater, a historic nonprofit cinema in the Mission that has operated since 1913. Prints are screened in 35mm and 16mm, and tickets are bought online for each screening.

Twelve lanes anchor Lucky Strike San Francisco, a boutique bowling alley with a lounge, a sports bar, and an arcade. Reserve a lane online up to 8 days ahead, for up to 8 guests per lane.

Make date night a bowling night at Mission Bowling Club, a six-lane boutique alley in the Mission District that also has a restaurant with full table service and a cocktail lounge.

The lanes and bar are indoors, and a covered patio is there too. Lane sessions run $58 to $78 per lane. Try the Mission Burger with caramelized onions, caper aioli, and Monterey jack, or come for weekend brunch with mimosa pitchers, chicken and waffles, and breakfast enchiladas.

Drinks come with an indoor rain storm at the Tonga Room, a tiki bar and restaurant inside the Fairmont San Francisco on Nob Hill.

Live entertainment and dancing fill the room, and the menu is Pacific Rim Asian cuisine. We'd start with the Mai Tai. Use the Book a Table button on the hotel's dining page to reserve.

Spend an afternoon at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. Its galleries are indoors. The ninth-floor Hamon Observation Tower is free to visit, and the final 45 minutes of each day are free.