It’s hard to be bored in the Bay Area. Between the fantastic food, shopping, museums, music, art, coffee, hiking trails, parks, and the simple pleasure of meandering around City streets, there’s always something going on.

Here is a list of starting points to help get you inspired. We encourage you to write in, and add your own favorite activities.

Entertainment

Depending on your mood,the entertainment options are varied. Our local news aggregator SFGate.com is a great resource — check SFGate.com/movies for theaters and show times, and SFGate.com/entertainment for music, art, performance, and literary events. The alt-weekly websites — SFWeekly.com, SFBG.com and EastBayExpress.com – also have good information.

Food

Check out our Where to Eat page for close-to-campus spots. To go farther afield, we recommend local blogs like Mission Mission and SF Eater for inspiration and SFGate.com/food and Yelp for updated listings.

Sports and Recreation

USF has 14 men’s and women’s sports teams with games and matches scheduled throughout the academic year. The Koret Health and Recreation Center is the hub for intramural and club sports as well as all fitness classes and individual workout options. You’ll find Golden Gate Park within walking or biking distance from campus with trails and open spaces for both relaxation and exercise.

Professional sports teams — Golden State Warriors (basketball), San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s (baseball), San Jose Sharks (hockey), Oakland Raiders and San Francisco 49ers (football) often have student ticket packages.

California state parks — like Yosemite — make great weekend camping destinations. For day hikes, try Muir Woods and Mount Tamalpais, or head to the Berkeley’s Tilden Park.

Transportation

For a guide to public transport around the USF campus, look at our Getting Around page. The closest airports to USF are San Francisco International (SFO), San Jose International and Oakland International. Bus and train line MUNI and underground train BART have useful websites with maps. For boat rides to places like Sausalito and Angel Island, consult Golden Gate Ferry, Oakland Alameda Ferry and Baylink Ferry schedules. Caltrain and Amtrak go around Northern California via train, and bus lines can be found through Golden Gate Transit and Greyhound.

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