Where to meet up in the Mission District

The Mission is a dense neighborhood of restaurants, taquerias, bars, shops and murals south of downtown. It suits plans that run into the evening, like a group dinner, drinks with friends or a birthday, and on a sunny weekend people meet on the lawn of Mission Dolores Park.

Mission Street has two BART stations about eight blocks apart, at 16th Street and at 24th Street. Valencia Street, one block west, has many of the restaurants and bars. Pick the station nearer the block you are headed to, since the walk between them takes a while.

Places that work as a meeting point:

• the plaza at the 16th St Mission station, at 16th and Mission Streets
• the plaza at the 24th St Mission station, at 24th and Mission Streets
• Mission Dolores Park, between 18th and 20th Streets and Dolores and Church Streets
• Mission Dolores, the old mission church on Dolores Street at 16th Street

Getting around

• 16th St Mission and 24th St Mission each have four BART lines, as the 16th St Mission station page and the 24th St Mission station page show.
• The 14 Mission bus runs along Mission Street 24 hours a day and stops at 16th and 24th Streets, as its route page says. The 14R Mission Rapid runs from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
• The 22 Fillmore stops at 16th and Mission and runs 24 hours a day, as its route page says.
• The J Church stops at Church and 18th Streets, at the corner of Dolores Park, and runs downtown through the Market Street subway, as its route page shows.

Some of these change at night and on weekends:

• BART doesn't run overnight. It opens at 6 a.m. on Saturdays and 8 a.m. on Sundays, as its schedules page says, so an early weekend start is easier by bus.
• The J Church runs from 5 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to midnight on weekends, with no Owl service after that.
• From 12 a.m. to 5 a.m., the 14 Mission and the 22 Fillmore are part of Muni's Owl network, which runs every half hour.