Holiday Ice Rink In Union Square

One of the better holiday highlights in downtown San Francisco.This has been a long time downtown tradition.I used to be an avid ice skater, but stopped when I had a bad fall. So, can't speak to the quality of the skates or ice on the rink. Even if you don't skate, it's free to be a spectator!The rink is located in the heart of Union Square, where during the holidays, the police are all out in force in the immediate vicinity.

A beautiful place to go ice skating, especially before Christmas, but we went after the holidays, and I didn't feel it was worth the $25 ticket price. While the setting is nice, it felt a bit expensive for the space. I'd prefer a rink with more ambiance that offers a better experience for less.

4 stars because of the size of the rink. Many outdoor ice skating pop ups are extremely small, so this one felt a lot more spacious. General admission was $20 including skate rental and we also paid an extra $5 for a locker rental. You can keep your shoes and bags on the benches at your own risk, but they definitely do not allow any bags on the ice rink, so if you do not have someone looking after your things, the locker is the way to go. During peak season, I recommend buying your tickets online the night before because as you can see in the photo, a majority of the skating sessions were already sold out. Each session was 1 hour, but after 30 minutes and with all the people skating, the ice gets super rough and dangerous. Lots of toe pick holes in the ice and it's no longer comfortable to skate. From what I've seen, they will only use the Zamboni to smoothen the ice once before each session.

I was disappointed with the ice-skating rink in union Square. When it was our turn to skate, the ice was bumpy and not cleaned. I feel like for the price I paid the ice should've been cleaned. It was honestly hard to skate because we were skating on bumpy ice. I do not recommend ice-skating here. It's the first and last time for me.

Always a fun experience here. Love the ambiance with the music and the lights. It's does get busy and at times crowded, but can't blame them for that. Location is great and it's a fun activity for all.

I've done this every December I've lived here and I have LOVED it every time. It makes for such a gloriously festive evening, skating around in a mad little rush of kids unafraid of death, their worried parents chasing after them, Olympic figure skaters doing spins in the middle, groups of rambunctious friends with a clear skill spread, young couples with an iron grip on each other, trembling adults gripping the edges and apologizing every three seconds (me), the occasional kind old couple wandering right outside who smile and share Christmas greetings....all at the heart of Union Square, which really comes alive in December, with the songs and lights and trees! All the trees! It's decently cheap holiday thrill for the hour with rentals ($25) if you're looking to just have a jolly old time with a group of friends and not actually get all your money's worth out of skating (you'd want to go to a larger rink for that). Personally I have a blast spending the hour getting slightly better at not falling and yelling at everyone to look at me. Others actually skate. Must be nice.

What better way to kick off the holidays and get in the Christmas spirit than ice skating in Union Square?!We purchased tickets in advance; I don't believe they can be purchased in-person. All of the instructions on parking, storing valuables, restrooms, check-in and so on were included in the e-mail receipt, which was really helpful.Staff did an excellent job keeping things orderly, giving instructions, and making sure the rules were followed. There were 10 of us, and even though the rink was a bit crowded, it was still very enjoyable. We had so much fun!We'll be back for sure, but next time we won't rent a locker for our shoes (they were fine left out near the benches).

3.5 stars! It definitely gets you into the holiday spirit because the nearby xmas trees and lights agaisnt backdrop of downtown gives it a NYC white xmas feel. You do have to buy the tickets through their app, they don't sell tickets on site so you can't pay with cash. The website is a little confusing because you might be like "why can I only buy 1 ticket?" When really, the number you see is how much is left available. There's a limit for each session. I also recommend not paying for a locker unless you have super valuable stuff with you that you don't want to skate with. Otherwise just leave your shoes outside next to bench, no one should take them cause its a gated off area. Wish we knew that before heading over, since its outside we thought it was susceptible to stealing but its not shady, theres security around that prevent shady people from even being in that block. Of course never say never, I don't take responsibility if your stuff get stolen! I feel they let in too many people on ice rink, it was super crowded and at times felt like narrowly escaping bad skaters. So I wouldn't recommend doing this if its your first time, it will just make the learning curve that much higher. You need space to properly learn or else you'd be too scared.

We went skating at the Union Square Ice Rink yesterday. Overall, it was a pretty fun afternoon. The only thing I found disappointing was the condition of the skates they rented there. The skates were in bad shape. The shoelaces on the skates were all torn and shredded. The skates themselves were torn in places too, my shoelace hooks were bent, and my friends rented skates were even wet inside. I would recommend that the rink purchase new skates for next season and throw the majority of these old skates out.

beautiful location if you bring your own skates. sadly they dont have enough skates so will give you a pair of soaking wet skates (from lysol) which soak through your socks (not to mention gross). poorly managed and staffed.