Yerba Buena Gardens Festival transforms the Gardens into an open-air dance party with live bands playing the bustling sounds of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Mozambique, New York and beyond!
Salsa Nights Calendar
The outdoor, monthly salsa event takes place at Yerba Buena Gardens. From May to October, folks are invited to dance into dusk to amazing live salsa bands. Many musical acts hail from the Bay Area and some from out of town, all bringing electrifying salsa sounds to the Gardens.
Starting just before sunset, Salsa Nights is a casual, outdoor event to get your body moving under San Francisco skies. Fun for first-time and seasoned salseras/salseros, or music lovers enjoying rhythms of the syncopated top-notch performers. Salsa Nights is a unique dance experience, just one of many cultural activities the Yerba Buena neighborhood has to offer. And it’s FREE! Friends, families and conga-lines welcome.
Past Salsa Nights artists include:
- Carlitos Medrano & Sabor De Mi Cuba
- Manny Martinez y la Rebeldia
- Ricardo Lemvo & Makina Loca
What people are saying about Salsa Nights…
- Third Thursdays are rad! Thank you for your work organizing them! This kind of public space + community is the SF I want to live in.
- Thank you for bringing us together. My life is richer for it!
- I don’t miss any of the events. Thank you!
Check out all of the incredible artists performing at upcoming events listed below.
Mark your calendars and make Salsa Nights FUN, OUTDOORS and FRESH!
What to expect at Salsa Nights…
The Yerba Buena Gardens Festival occurs each year from May through October in Downtown San Francisco. As always, these excellent performances are FREE, outdoors, and ADA-accessible to be enjoyed by all. There is limited, open-air bench seating. Please be dressed for San Francisco weather. For Park Rules and Regulations, please refer to Yerba Buena Gardens Management’s website.
Salsa Nights performances begin promptly at 6pm (unless noted otherwise), so plan ahead and arrive early! Performances are approximately 90 minutes long. Yerba Buena Gardens are conveniently located near Montgomery & Powell BART stations, and several MUNI lines. See detailed information on the Visitor Map.
Looking for a yummy place to eat or a museum to explore? Find out more on the Visitor Information page.
Salsa Nights Calendar
- There are no upcoming programs.
- There are no upcoming programs.
Latest Past Programs
Agua Pura
East Garden, Yerba Buena Gardens 3rd St. between Mission and Howard Sts., San FranciscoAfter years of showing up to salsa and Latin jazz gigs only to find herself the only woman in the band, conguera and vocalist Rebecca Rodríguez decided she needed to […]
Jesús Díaz y su QBA
East Garden, Yerba Buena Gardens 3rd St. between Mission and Howard Sts., San FranciscoWhen it comes to Afro-Cuban percussion, Jesús Díaz is Bay Area royalty. Whether he’s recording with Grateful Dead rhythm wizard Mickey Hart’s Planet Drum, laying down grooves for Santana or […]
Orquesta La Moderna Tradición
East Garden, Yerba Buena Gardens 3rd St. between Mission and Howard Sts., San FranciscoFounded in 1996 as the West Coast’s first ensemble devoted to danzón, an insuperably elegant and foundational 19th century style of Afro-Cuban music and dance, Orquesta La Moderna Tradición is a charanga […]