The best speakeasies and hidden bars in San Francisco

a semi-hidden Mission tapas bar, live jazz and DJ sets

speakeasy + escape room hybrid, Middle Earth-inspired

8-seat Horsies bar inside Royal Cuckoo Market, Western aesthetics with contemporary art

hidden behind a door in the back of Dalva bar — door is only unlocked Thursday through Saturday, front bar (Dalva) has a desert-inspired aesthetic; the back room is textbook speakeasy

from the Bon Vivants (Trick Dog) team — Scott Baird and Josh Harris, unassuming exterior, impeccably designed interior

a sleek, cellar-style wine bar, a long list of hard-to-find wines

a plant-filled tropical hideaway, tiki drinks made with care

dim, sofa-strewn SoMa lounge, an excellent tequila selection

hidden behind bookcase in The Cavalier, vintage rock'n'roll vibes inspired by Marianne Faithfull

members-only — $10 one-day membership or monthly, reservation only via Tock

a little slice of France on Broadway, wine flights, beer, cheese & charcuterie

down a hidden alley off Broadway, former speakeasy and brothel space

walls covered in decades of oddities and memorabilia, down a tiny alley

bar, pool hall, and rotating art gallery in one, free pool always

Future Bars group — apothecary-style bar paying tribute to the Barbary Coast era, cocktails made with extinct and revived ingredients

a cheap, friendly Geary Street bar, great inexpensive drinks

a modern lounge in the elegant Hotel Adagio, shareable punch bowls

a hidden speakeasy inside Son & Garden, an opulent flowers-and-velvet room

password-entry speakeasy, 90-minute time limit

detective agency theme inside Bourbon & Branch, Scotch flights

walk-in side of Bourbon & Branch, password is 'books'

beautifully lit second-floor hidey-hole, where 'furtive making out is tacitly accepted'

no signage out front, second-smallest bar in SF

disguised as pawn shop, pick up gold phone outside to negotiate with 'pawn master'

below-street former speakeasy, indie music venue

a password-required speakeasy, TLC cocktails (and ~$18 prices)

entrance through a framed photo door downstairs, neon red lights, big yellow booths

tucked down a Union Square alley, intimate dim digs designed in the Japanese kissa tradition

max capacity ~15 — genuine speakeasy scale, not a gimmick, cocktail program by Patrick — ask for his off-menu favorite

former Polynesian-themed space — bamboo and fabric flowers still linger in the nooks, bean bag lounges and orange half-circle booths that seat seven

tucked-away alley location for 24+ years, candlelit intimate wine bar

tucked down Rose alley off Market — easy to miss entirely, not a hotel — just shares the name with the Paris hotel where Rilke lived

unmarked door next to Bus Stop sports bar, velvet chairs

underground basement bar — descend a staircase under a neon Persona sign, inspired by SF's erotic cinema culture of the 1960s–70s: dark textures, metallic accents, neon

concealed behind Fiorella's Inner Sunset rooftop dining room, intimate cocktail bar

a Chinatown alley lounge, good for events and groups

hidden behind bat-painted door on 2nd floor of China Live, scotch-centric

open since 1967 — San Francisco Legacy Business, originally owned by Henry 'Mr. Bing' Grant until 2017, now Irish-owned

a real jazz kissa — six to eight seats total, vinyl only — 'we will never stream music'

San Francisco's first sake brewery, small-batch unpasteurized nama sake (most sake you've tried is pasteurized — this changes that)