San Francisco nightlife is as varied as San Francisco, and San Francisco bars, clubs and lounges are for the most part localized in different areas. For electronic music clubs, hip hop and chill art lounges, try San Francisco's SOMA. For bar-hopping with hipsters and rockers, Mission district rules. More elegant (though just as debaucherous) bars can be found in the Marina district. Gay-friendly bars and clubs exist all over San Francisco and are not necessarily quarantined in the Castro. San Francisco's North Beach is open until the wee hours with neon strip joints and cool hideaway bars.

San Francisco's Mission District offers visitors unparalleled foods and flavors, bars that range from downright nasty to secret gems, impromptu mariachi bands, Coca Cola in bottles, vintage clothing "by the pound" and interesting people by the carload. Funk, soul, jazz, indie rock, & authentic Hispanic music are more common in the Mission than are big beats and huge sound found in the San Francisco's larger nightclubs. The same goes for the people; there is not a lot of Bling! Bling! in the Mission. Instead, you get underground and thought-conscious San Francisco bar patrons who are more impressed by that obscure cocktail you ordered rather than the car that you have parked out front (although, parking is scarce).