SF Zoo's ZooLights returns after eight years. Take the L Taraval

At 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, a million lights come on at Sloat Boulevard and the Great Highway. ZooLights is back at the San Francisco Zoo for the first time since 2018, and it runs through Jan. 3. Adults pay $30. Kids 2 to 11 pay $21.

The zoo sits in Lake Shore, at the foggy southwest corner of the city, where Houseberry's 30-year climate data puts sunshine at 71 percent of daylight, 90th of 92 San Francisco neighborhoods. That matters more at night than you would think. Dress for 50 degrees and wet air, and you will enjoy the lights.

Here are the 43 nights, what a family pays now, why the L Taraval beats the parking lot, where to eat on Taraval, and how the blocks across Sloat score.

The nights, and the cutoff that catches people

Sunday and the Wednesday and Thursday weeknights run 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday run 5:30 to 10. Mondays and Tuesdays are closed to the public, held for private rentals through Dec. 15.

The part to plan around is the last entry. Tickets stop at 8 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and the box office and same-day online sales close 15 minutes before that. Show up at 8:05 on a Wednesday and you are going home.

Funcheap's listing says 9 p.m. every night and daily after Dec. 16. The zoo's own page, which we trust over any listing, says 10 p.m. on weekends and lists no Monday or Tuesday nights. Check before planning a late-December Monday.

Sunset on opening night is about 5:07 p.m., and by early December it is closer to 4:51, so it is dark by the time you are through the gate. No reservation is needed, and each ticket is good for one visit on any night of the run.

What $30 gets you now

The zoo says ZooLights has more than one million lights across 14 zones. The ones it names: glowing 3D animal installations, a frozen zone built for family photos, light-up playgrounds and the Dinos Rule! exhibit lit for night and extended to Jan. 3. Funcheap's preview adds a light-up Golden Gate Bridge and cable car, a rhino, a gorilla, a tree of ring-tailed lemurs, a Neon Zoo of penguins and sea lions, and lighted swings and seesaws. Shine Creations, a Southern California lighting company, built the displays.

The price is the part that changed most. In 2016, Patch listed ZooLights at $8 for adults, $6 for kids 4 to 14, and free for members. This year's adult ticket is 3.75 times that. The same family of four that paid $28 in 2016 pays $102 now, or $90 with a membership. ZooLights is a separate evening ticket, so a day at the zoo does not get you in after dark, and the zoo says no other discounts apply.

The zoo needs a good season. In May, the Board of Supervisors approved an $8.5 million rescue loan after a city audit found at least $12 million in unapproved capital spending. The loan requires the zoo to cut costs by at least 10 percent and report attendance every quarter. A full holiday season of evening tickets is the kind of revenue that report will show.

We think the ticket is worth it once, on a weeknight. Same million lights, an earlier bedtime, and the $15 weekday parking rate if you drive anyway.

The East Bay has its own version the same week. Oakland Zoo's Glowfari also opens Nov. 6, runs to Jan. 31, and includes parking with admission. Its entry window is 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., earlier than San Francisco's.

Take the L, and dress for fog

The zoo lot charges $15 on weekdays and $20 on weekends and holidays, $13 and $15 for members, paid on site. The zoo's directions page also notes the catch: the lot has one exit, and it puts every car northbound on the Great Highway. At 9 p.m. on a Saturday, that is a lot of cars leaving at once.

The L Taraval runs out Taraval Street, turns down 46th Avenue and loops at Wawona and 46th, the stop Muni built for the zoo in 1937. Trains returned to the line in September 2024 after four years of buses and street work. The 18 and 23 buses also stop at the zoo. Ride-share drop-off is on Sloat at 47th Avenue, not in the lot. Free street parking runs along Sloat if you get lucky.

Whichever way you come, dress for the coast. The walk is outdoors, and this is the least sunny corner of San Francisco. Houseberry's climate block for the Outer Sunset ranks it last of 92 neighborhoods for sunshine, and its winter days run 46 to 58 degrees. Evenings sit near the bottom of that range, with wet marine air off Ocean Beach. Bring a hat. Kids in strollers want a blanket.

If rain threatens, the zoo decides 24 hours ahead whether to cancel a night, and guest services notifies ticket holders. Since tickets work on any night of the run, a canceled night means you pick another one. There are no refunds or exchanges.

The blocks across Sloat, by the numbers

The zoo sits in Lake Shore, which the Houseberry ranking puts 56th of 92 in San Francisco with a 3.3 overall score. Cross Sloat and the scores jump. Outer Parkside, the blocks along outer Taraval just north of the zoo, scores 4.0 overall, 16th in the city, and 4.5 for safety. The Outer Sunset, north of it, ranks 2nd of 92 with a 4.2. Parkside, to the east around Stern Grove, scores 4.6 on safety, 11th in the city.

Prices split in a way most people would miss. In November 2025, Houseberry's price history put the typical Outer Sunset home at $1.47 million and Outer Parkside at $1.51 million, $40,000 apart in Outer Parkside's favor. By October 2026, the Outer Sunset was at $1.69 million and Outer Parkside at $1.57 million. That is a $160,000 swing between two neighborhoods that share the same fog and the same stretch of Ocean Beach.

Lake Shore itself reached a typical $2.22 million in August 2026, up from $1.9 million in September 2025, and Parkside hit $1.99 million in July. Three of the four neighborhoods around the zoo rank in the city's top 22 overall. Outer Parkside is the one that has not repriced yet.

Dinner on Taraval, and the night we would pick

The zoo's own restaurant and gift shop stay open for ZooLights. If you want a real meal, ride the L in and eat on Taraval somewhere between 24th and 46th Avenues.

• Old Mandarin Islamic Restaurant, 3132 Vicente St. Halal northern Chinese, lamb dumplings and Beijing-style hot pot, a few blocks east of the 46th Avenue and Vicente stop. Hot pot on a 50-degree night is the right call.
• Brothers Pizza, 3627 Taraval St. A neighborhood slice shop a few blocks north of the zoo, near the 46th Avenue turn.
• Golden Boy Pizza, 1447 Taraval St., near 24th Avenue. The North Beach institution opened its second San Francisco shop here in November 2024, square focaccia slices from $3.50, right on the L line.
• The Riptide, 3639 Taraval St. A bar with a fireplace and DJs, bands or karaoke most nights. Adults only, after the kids are home.

Java Beach at the Zoo, at 2650 Sloat, is the coffee stop across from the gate, but it closes at 4 p.m. on weekdays and 5 on weekends, before the lights come on.

A Wednesday or Thursday in mid-November, on the L, through the gate by 6, hot pot on Vicente on the way home. It is the cheapest version of ZooLights, it skips the lot's single exit, and it still gets the kids to bed on time.

If the ride out Taraval has you looking at the blocks between the zoo and the Sunset, the San Francisco neighborhood ranking shows how Outer Parkside and its neighbors stack up against the rest of the city.

Sources

• San Francisco Zoo and Gardens: ZooLights and Directions and parking, accessed Nov. 3, 2026.
• Funcheap SF, ZooLights at the San Francisco Zoo, event listing.
• Patch, San Francisco ZooLights 2016.
• KQED, Struggling San Francisco Zoo will get $8.5 million bailout, May 19, 2026.
• Oakland Zoo, Glowfari.
• Richmond Sunset News, Golden Boy Pizza's new location at the old Marco Polo Taraval site.
• Wikipedia: Wawona and 46th Avenue station.