San Francisco's Two Ice Rinks Share a Season. Their Session Schedules Tell Them Apart.

At the new rink on Taylor Street, you check in at a cashier building and collect skates from repurposed shipping containers. Then you step onto open-air ice laid out to frame the Bay and Alcatraz, on the Triangle Lot beneath the SkyStar Wheel. That is how operator Pete Mott described San Francisco on Ice to the Port of San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf Advisory Committee on September 2. The minutes record that it is the first ice rink Fisherman's Wharf has ever had.

Its season starts November 4, the same day the Safeway Holiday Ice Rink's season starts in Union Square, and both close on January 18, 2027. Union Square skates from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily, and so does the Wharf on its Standard Days. The real difference is how each rink divides its day into sessions, and that changes what kind of evening each one fits.

Same Season, Different Session Clocks

The prices are almost the same, so the row to look at is the start interval. Union Square starts a new session every 90 minutes. Miss one and you wait for the next. The Wharf starts sessions twice as often, every 45 minutes. Each session runs 75 minutes, and the time beyond the guaranteed hour on the ice covers Zamboni resurfacing. The Port minutes cap each Wharf session at 125 skaters and describe the rink as 6,300 square feet, "slightly larger than Union Square's."

On paper, then, Union Square sells a reserved slot and the Wharf sells a window. Each rink's programming builds on that difference.

Union Square Has Turned Wednesday Into Its Big Night

Union Square's new feature this season is "Mid-Week Merriment," a run of themed 8:30 p.m. sessions every Wednesday. The schedule begins November 11 and runs into January. The themes include Onesies Wednesday, The Rhinestone Rink, Friendsgiving, White Out, Holiday Movie Music Night, Holidays Around the World, Naughty or N-Ice, Y2K Nostalgic New Year, K-Pop Countdown Skate and Rivals on Ice.

A fixed theme in a fixed late slot works best with a fixed session schedule. The 90-minute cycle gives each Wednesday session a clear start and finish, and you can plan dinner around Post Street on either side of it. For someone living in a Downtown San Francisco tower, a midweek 8:30 p.m. start still leaves time to walk home before 10.

The holiday calendar on the square also gets busier through November. The SF SPCA Holiday Windows at Macy's Union Square return for their 40th year from November 20 through December 31. The windows are open Wednesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m., and Macy's closes on November 26 and December 25. According to the SF SPCA's announcement, Name Your Price adoptions apply to animals over five months old through the holiday period, and an adoption information station will be staffed on Macy's main floor during window hours. On a Wednesday, a late-afternoon stop at the windows and the 8:30 p.m. skate fit into the same visit downtown.

One date to note is December 31, when the Union Square rink closes at 9:30 p.m.

The Wharf Rink Sends Dinner Down the Street

The Port minutes include a detail that shapes the Wharf rink as much as its location. San Francisco on Ice does not sell food or beverages. The operator told the committee it hoped to support nearby restaurants and cafés instead. The rink's own visit guide says restaurants, cafés, sweet shops and waterfront dining are all a short walk away.

That policy and the 45-minute start interval work together. A rink without a snack bar sends skaters out to eat, and frequent start times mean they can eat first and skate after, or the reverse, without planning the evening around a fixed slot. For anyone in North Beach or on Telegraph Hill, the Wharf rink is the closer of the two. It works as one stop on a waterfront evening.

The Wharf's themed nights fall on fixed dates. They don't repeat weekly:

• Pirates of the Barbary Coast, November 17, with maritime music, costumes and a drawing for free skating tickets
• Ugly Sweater Skate, December 1, with a free-ticket drawing for skaters in festive wear
• Holiday Onesie Skate, December 10, with a free-ticket drawing for skaters in holiday onesies
• New Year's Eve Celebration, timing to be posted by the rink

Both rinks have a onesie night. At Union Square it is one of the Wednesday themes, and at the Wharf it falls on a Thursday in December.

Weather matters more on the waterfront. The rink is open rain or shine. Rain alone doesn't usually close it, and there are no refunds for rainy weather if the rink stays open. If conditions make the ice unsafe, the affected sessions are rebooked for another date in the current season. In the Port minutes, the operator said heavy rain or wind could force a temporary closure. The rink fits entirely on its lot, so there are no road closures. The nearest garages listed by the rink are the PIER 39 Garage, about five minutes away, and the Anchorage Square Parking Garage, about seven.

Why the Waterfront Has a Rink Again

The operator behind the new rink, On Ice Rinks LLC, connected the project directly to the rink that used to run at Embarcadero Center. CEO Peter Mott told KRON4:

"Since the Embarcadero Center rink closed nearly seven years ago, it has been our dream to create a new destination for outdoor skating in San Francisco. Fisherman's Wharf gives us the opportunity to do something truly special, with skating on one of the most iconic waterfronts in the world."

The Port minutes say the team is based in Napa and also runs a holiday rink in San Mateo. KRON4 reported that nearly 2 million visitors are expected at Fisherman's Wharf over the 76-day season and that the rink is counting on more than 50,000 skaters in its first year.

Embarcadero Center no longer has a rink, but it still holds its own holiday tradition. The 40th Annual Building Lighting & Holiday Market takes place Wednesday, November 18, from 4 to 6 p.m. at street level of Three Embarcadero Center, with seasonal shopping and the lighting of the complex. It ends early enough to reach Union Square for the 8:30 p.m. Wednesday session. That combination suits buyers who want car-free living downtown, since every piece of the evening is within walking distance.

The Dated Nights, in Order

Here are the confirmed dates for both rinks and the downtown events around them, from now through closing day:

1. Tuesday, November 17: Pirates of the Barbary Coast at the Wharf rink.
2. Wednesday, November 18: Embarcadero Center's 40th building lighting, 4 to 6 p.m., followed by Mid-Week Merriment at Union Square at 8:30 p.m.
3. Friday, November 20: SF SPCA Holiday Windows open at Macy's Union Square.
4. Tuesday, December 1: Ugly Sweater Skate at the Wharf.
5. Friday, December 4, through Sunday, December 13: Let's Glow SF, the Downtown SF Partnership's free holiday projection festival, returns for its sixth year. The Ferry Building lists its shows from 5:30 to 10 p.m.
6. Thursday, December 10: Holiday Onesie Skate at the Wharf, during the Let's Glow run.
7. Thursday, December 31: The Union Square rink closes at 9:30 p.m., and the SPCA windows end their season.
8. Monday, January 18, 2027: Both rinks close for the season.

The Ferry Building is a short walk along the Embarcadero from the Wharf, and the Let's Glow projections there start at 5:30 p.m. Because the Wharf rink starts sessions every 45 minutes, you can skate and still catch a projection show on any evening from December 4 to December 13.

Many of these evenings start from a high-rise front door, and which rink is easier to reach depends on the tower. Bryant Kowalczyk knows how each downtown and northern waterfront building connects to Union Square, the Embarcadero and Fisherman's Wharf on foot. If you are weighing a residence partly on what its winter evenings look like, BrokerLuxe can walk you through the options building by building. Schedule a private consultation.