Best Things to Do in the Bay Area This March
Featured Photo: Sutro Baths by Akshay Nanavati.
All across the Bay Area, calendars are filled with fabulous events throughout March. Spring arrives, and with it comes an abundance of wildflowers and celebrations for holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, Holi, Persian New Year and even the Ides of March. We did the research on the best things to do in March all around the Bay Area, so you can get the scoop by clicking any of the links below.Â
St. Patrick’s Day, tulips in Union Square and more!
March in SF is green: green beer, green fields and gardens full of flowers. For those of us needing to let loose, there are a few opportunities to indulge. Pub crawls are hosted for special days like St. Patrick’s Day and the Ides of March (yes, really).Â
The Mission Bay neighborhood will likely explode with activity toward the end of the month, when Chase Center hosts two key games for college basketball’s March Madness tournament. Teams will duke it out in the Western division’s semifinals and finals.Â
Not so into sports or partying? Turn to early spring activities like a walk through the SF Botanical Garden or trip to the Queen Wilhelmina Garden to see blooming tulips. And while we’re on the topic of tulips… Click the button below to learn how you can get a free bunch of tulips at Union Square, while posing amongst 80,000 of the flowers.
Sonoma International Film Festival, an arts & crafts show and more fun events.
Performances, food fests and Easter celebrations shine in Marin and Sonoma during March. Towns big and small welcome visitors to share in the region’s food and culture. Maybe you can two-birds-one-stone it on your trip to Sonoma County, hitting both the Sonoma International Film Festival and the California Artisan Cheese Festival in one action-packed weekend.
The charm of the North Bay lies in the local pride and emphasis on small-scale producers. Local cheese, artisan crafts and pubs shine this month, with opportunities to experience holidays and early spring in a community setting. Read more about St. Patrick’s Day and local festivals by clicking the button below.
The Black Joy Parade, concerts at the Fox and more!
For March, we’ve highlighted a number of festivals that are coming to East Bay cities. On this side of the bay, the place to celebrate St. Paddy’s is the town of Dublin — go figure. In 1850, Irish settlers bought the territory from a Californio ranchero with gold they gained from the Gold Rush. Since then, the town’s Irish legacy has endured, and their yearly St. Patrick’s Day parade paints the town green for the weekend.Â
Speaking of paint, March boasts another colorful holiday, and this one is observed by hundreds of millions of people worldwide. That’s right, it’s Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, when you get to pelt friends and family with dye in a massive color fight. The heart of the Bay Area Indian community lies in Fremont, so the party happening on March 15 should be a blowout. A reward for trekking to Fremont would be the abundance of authentic Indian food at your fingertips.Â
Besides these huge festivals, you can read about more East Bay events by clicking through here. Spoilers: there’s more amazing food, a massive secondhand sale and buzz for Women’s History Month.
Wildflower hikes, Persian New Year and the Shamrock Run.Â
Like other regions of the Bay Area, March in the South Bay is marked by St. Patrick’s Day, the Holi festival and the blooms of early springtime. Sites abound for spotting wildflowers on the Peninsula and in the South Bay, including standouts like Mori Point south of Pacifica and Calero County Park in San José. Family-friendly activities are also easy to find in the South Bay, and March means the opening of Gilroy Gardens for another season of garlic-themed rides and games.Â
