Looking for the best things to do in Oakland? Sunnier and more diverse than its neighbor across the bay, Oakland has a booming food scene, a beautiful urban lake, and redwoods in the hills. Locals point to Lake Merritt, the waterfront at Jack London Square, the Oakland Museum of California, and the dining of Temescal and Uptown.

Things to do in Oakland

Lake Merritt

The tidal lagoon at the city’s heart — a 3-mile loop for walking and running, gardens, birds, boating, and the lively Grand Lake and Lakeshore districts nearby.

Jack London Square & Uptown

Waterfront dining and nightlife at Jack London Square, and the restored art-deco Fox and Paramount Theatres and bars of Uptown (home of the First Fridays art walk).

Redwoods in the Hills

Redwood Regional Park and Joaquin Miller Park offer old-growth-feel redwood trails and bay views minutes from downtown.

Food, Art & Family

The Oakland Museum of California, Chabot Space & Science Center, the Oakland Zoo, and one of the best, most diverse food scenes in the Bay Area (Temescal, Fruitvale and beyond).

Things to do in Oakland at night

Uptown and Jack London Square lead for bars, music and dining, with Temescal and Grand Lake close behind — a lively, diverse night out and a quick BART ride from SF.

Free things to do in Oakland

• The Lake Merritt loop and gardens
• Redwood trails at Joaquin Miller and Redwood Regional Park
• The First Fridays art walk and Uptown murals

What Oakland locals actually recommend

The best food across the neighborhoods, redwood trails, the lake spots — that comes from people who live here. On Neighborhood Nurturers’ Oakland community, real neighbors answer “what should I actually do this weekend?” Join your Oakland neighbors free →

The Oakland angle

The best days here mix the well-known spots with the places only locals frequent. Half the fun of a full day out in Oakland is stringing it together with the places nearby. Lake Merritt is the landmark most people orient around, but neighbors will tell you Jack London Square and Mountain View Cemetery are where the town really shows its character, with Redwood Regional Park worth a look if you have the time. Use those as your reference points and this guide slots neatly into a day that feels like Oakland, not a checklist.

Keep exploring Oakland

If this was useful, these companion guides cover Oakland from angles that pair naturally with it: Free things to do in Oakland, Best restaurants in Oakland, undefined Oakland. Together they add up to a full weekend without leaving town.

Ask a Oakland neighbor

The best tips never make the guidebooks — they come from neighbors who know which spot is worth it this week. That is what the Oakland community on Neighborhood Nurturers is for. Ask Oakland locals what they would do, or join free and get honest answers from people who actually know Oakland.

Lake Merritt — and the fact almost nobody knows

Lake Merritt is the centre of Oakland and it holds a genuine national distinction: it was designated the first official wildlife refuge in the United States, in 1870.

It began as a tidal lagoon called Laguna Peralta. Samuel Merritt, mayor from 1867 to 1869, had it dammed to create a stable saltwater lake and in 1869 donated the lake and surrounding land to the city as a wildlife preserve.

The Necklace of Lights that outlines it comprises 176 lampposts and 4,000 lights, installed in 1925, switched off during the Second World War, and restored in 1987. See the lake at dusk at least once.

The 3-mile path around the water is what Oakland actually uses, and The Gardens at Lake Merritt in Lakeside Park hold eleven themed gardens on 7 acres, free, including a bonsai collection that is one of the best known in the United States. Full detail in the Lake Merritt guide.

Jack London Square and the oldest bar in Oakland

Heinold’s First and Last Chance Saloon on the waterfront was opened by Johnny Heinold in 1883, in a building from 1880 that was constructed from the remnants of an old whaling ship and originally housed oyster-bed workers.

It is known as “Jack London’s Rendezvous” — Heinold let the poverty-stricken young writer sell newspapers from a stool there, and it inspired scenes in The Call of the Wild and The Sea-Wolf. Designated a Literary Landmark in 1998. Ten minutes inside it is the most atmospheric thing you can do in Oakland.

The Square also has a ferry terminal with service to San Francisco — arriving by boat is the best way to reach it. See the Jack London Square guide.

The Oakland Museum of California

The city’s major cultural institution, sitting just south of Lake Merritt. Check its current hours and admission directly rather than through a third-party listing — both change, and a wrong figure costs you a morning.

The two weekend markets

Grand Lake Farmers Market — Saturdays 9am to 2pm, year-round, rain or shine, in Splash Pad Park (designed by Oakland’s own Walter Hood) at Grand Avenue and Lake Park Avenue, with around 100 vendors.

Jack London Square Farmers Market — Sundays 11am to 4pm, year-round, at Webster Street and Embarcadero West, around 30 vendors, running since 1989.

They are on different days, so a weekend can take in both.

The food neighborhoods

Temescal — Telegraph Avenue between 40th and 51st, plus Temescal Alley, which was built as stables in the horse-and-buggy era and which Condé Nast crowned, with Alley 49, the East Bay’s hippest street. Bakesale Betty at 5098 Telegraph Ave is the famous counter — Thursday to Sunday, 10:30am to 2pm only.

Rockridge — over 80 eateries on College Avenue, anchored by Rockridge Market Hall at 5655 College Ave, open 9am to 7pm daily. Rockridge BART is on the street itself.

A half-mile creekside path from FROG Park connects the two, which means both strips in one walk.

A day in Oakland

Morning: BART to Rockridge, walk College Avenue, lunch at or from Market Hall.

Midday: the creekside path to Temescal and the Telegraph strip.

Afternoon: Lake Merritt — the full 3-mile loop, and the Gardens.

Dusk: stay at the lake for the Necklace of Lights.

Evening: Jack London Square, and ten minutes in Heinold’s.

On a Saturday, start at Grand Lake Farmers Market instead; on a Sunday, finish at the Jack London Square market. Almost all of it works on BART and on foot.

Being straight about Oakland

Oakland is not a checklist city and a guide that pads one out is not helping. It has a handful of genuinely distinctive things — a lake that was the first wildlife refuge in America, a waterfront saloon from 1880 that shaped a major American writer, two excellent weekend markets, a major art museum, and two of the best food streets in the East Bay — plus a diversity of neighborhood eating that very few American cities match.

What it does not have is a dense cluster of ticketed attractions, and visitors who arrive looking for one leave underwhelmed. The city rewards walking a neighborhood properly far more than it rewards moving between sights.

It also rewards being here at the right time of day. Lake Merritt at dusk, the Telegraph strip at lunch, the waterfront on a Sunday morning — these are different experiences from the same places at other hours, and timing matters more here than in a city organised around opening times.

Getting around

BART does most of the work. Rockridge station sits on College Avenue itself; MacArthur and Rockridge both serve the Temescal strip; Lake Merritt station is a short walk from the lake; downtown stations put you within walking distance of Jack London Square. The ferry from San Francisco lands directly at the Square and is the most enjoyable way to arrive in the city.

Driving is workable but street parking on the food strips and around the lake is competitive at exactly the times you would want it. For a day of the kind described above, a car is a liability rather than an asset.

Frequently asked questions

What are the top things to do in Oakland?

Walk the Lake Merritt loop, enjoy the waterfront at Jack London Square, visit the Oakland Museum of California, catch First Fridays and the historic theaters in Uptown, and hike the redwoods at Redwood Regional and Joaquin Miller Parks.

What is Oakland known for?

Its diversity and food scene, Lake Merritt, Jack London Square, the redwoods in its hills, a vibrant arts scene (First Fridays), and being a sunnier, more affordable neighbor to San Francisco.

What are free things to do in Oakland?

The Lake Merritt loop and gardens, the redwood trails at Joaquin Miller and Redwood Regional Parks, and the First Fridays art walk are all free.

Is Oakland worth visiting near San Francisco?

Yes — for the food scene, Lake Merritt, Jack London Square, and the redwoods, plus better weather, all a quick BART ride from SF.