These are the 16 best nightclubs in San Francisco

The DJs at Club Raven, Raven Bar’s weekly Friday and Saturday night dance parties, specialize in dancey, feel-good nostalgia—billing it as a “night of throwbacks with a few future throwbacks.” Two dance floors are laid out across the venue’s upper and lower levels, with resident video DJs Mark Andrus and Jorge Terez showcasing music videos upstairs

Billed as a “community-minded nightclub and event space,” Public Works is an industrial-style Mission District nightclub that often partners with nonprofits and local acts. The crowd here is eclectic—anyone is welcome—and the venue hosts international DJs, underground artists and local musicians. Check out the sprung hardwood floors and Funktion-One sound system.

This sprawling SoMa lounge spans two stages, seven bars and four dance floors for your kinetic triumph. Here you’ll experience everything from burlesque dancers, live bands and experimental DJs spinning to… well, a lecture series. The attached restaurant and cafe called DNA Pizza is open late to fuel your clubbing.

Madrone isn’t a club every night. As its name suggests, the walls of this neighborhood bar on Divisadero Street showcase a wide variety of art, including paintings, mixed media, video and photography. That creative ethos spills over into the events, including Motown on Mondays and other dance parties on the tiny dance floor. We’re intrigued by the Live Model Tuesday Sketch (yep, sketch a live model while accompanied by Newman’s Cavalcade jazz-meets-mayhem). Sounds fun!

There’s a little something for everyone at the Cat Club located south of Market. Regular themed dance parties get people grooving to the music that most moves them—’80s pop and new wave, ’70s disco and funk, goth, hip-hop, Brit-pop and more. The unpretentious club has two dance floors, both with a wild assortment of light and video projections, as well as two full bars, a smoking alley, VIP booths and the go-go cage. It’s also the home of S&M theme night Bondage A Go-Go.

Known for a funky 1970s vibe, this club has two bars, a sunken dance floor and unparalleled sound and lighting effects. It houses the world’s first Funktion One 3D surround system and speakers, attracting world-renowned techno, house and EDM acts and equally passionate audiences. The complex 3-D lighting system showcases lasers, robotic lights, a dazzling LED tunnel and an infinity-mirror vortex.

The Great Northern, with its “FutureDeco” aesthetic based on Art Moderne, offers two bars, 30-foot ceilings and a giant, writhing, teeming dance floor lit up with the sound of a super-hi-fi 80,000-watt Void audio system. The music here skews towards electronica, but the club also features the occasional jazz or pop artist and themed events like ABBA glitter disco night. This all-inclusive club also hosts regular LGBTQ+-friendly dance parties.

SoMa’s Monarch has nicely designed spaces for late night revelry. The basement club, where the dancing goes down, features a concrete bar and DJ stand with a Void Acoustics sound system. Couches for regaining energy and plants are everywhere—this is not a dive bar! Free unlimited photobooth, and a chance to sometimes see aerialists.

The futuristic Temple Nightclub gives Vegas a run for its money. The expansive main dance floor, immersively pumping with a Void sound system and extraordinary LED lighting, is bordered by a stage and seven VIP booths. On the lower level, LVL 55 offers 15 VIP tables for those wanting a more intimate experience, while seasonally, the rooftop Skyline Lounge gives great skyline and sunset views.

Oasis is a late-night, LGTBQ+ and drag utopia with superstar drag shows, cabaret performances and plenty of dancing on the enormous dance floor. This 8,000-square-foot club resides in a converted gay bathhouse with a rotating calendar of fun performances.