How to Spend 6 Hours in San Francisco: SFMOMA and a Rooftop Park
Updated October 3, 2026
6 hours in San Francisco gives art lovers a SoMa afternoon: stroll a rooftop park above the bus terminal, spend real time at SFMOMA, then rest beside the waterfall memorial at Yerba Buena Gardens.
South of Market was warehouses and rail yards a generation ago, and today it is home to the city's modern art museum. Ride the escalators up to a garden on the roof of the bus terminal, then walk a couple of blocks to SFMOMA, whose seven floors of modern and contemporary work can fill a whole afternoon. Finish across the street in leafy gardens, where a waterfall honors Martin Luther King Jr. Remember the museum is closed on Wednesdays.
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The 6 hour plan, stop by stop
Stops and travel: 3 hr 22 min to 4 hr 57 min of 6 hours
Laid out across the roof of the Salesforce Transit Center, this 5.4 acre park runs for roughly four city blocks above the street. It has gardens arranged by region of the world, a walking loop and a small amphitheater. Its Bus Fountain is the clever touch: 247 jets along a long channel fire in sequence when sensors detect buses moving in the terminal below. Entry is free, and the gates open early in the morning and close in the evening.
Tip: Wait by the Bus Fountain until a bus passes underneath and the jets erupt.
- Time here
- 20 to 35 min
- Website
- tjpa.org
NaviTime to head out from Salesforce Park for SFMOMA. It's a 6 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art reopened in 2016 with a rippled white wing by Snøhetta that nearly tripled its galleries. The collection runs from Frida Kahlo and Mark Rothko to Andy Warhol, plus a deep photography collection. Richard Serra's huge steel Sequence sits in a glass gallery on the ground floor that anyone can enter free. As of October 2026, adult tickets cost $30, and the museum is closed on Wednesdays.
Tip: Step onto the third floor sculpture terrace to see the living wall of native plants.
- Time here
- 2 hr 30 min to 3 hr 30 min
- Website
- sfmoma.org
NaviTime to head out from SFMOMA for Yerba Buena Gardens. It's a 1 minute walk if you leave now. Here's the link
This green block in the middle of SoMa is ringed by museums and theaters, and its centerpiece is the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, a broad waterfall with glass panels behind it carrying quotations from his speeches. Lawns and terraces make it a favorite lunch spot for office workers. Across Howard Street, a carousel built by Charles Looff in 1906 still turns Wednesday through Sunday afternoons. The gardens are free and open from early morning until late evening.
Tip: Walk behind the falling water to read the quotations up close in the spray.
- Time here
- 25 to 45 min
- Website
- yerbabuenagardens.org
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