If you want a nice walk along the bay with nice breezes and beautiful views of the Golden Gate bridge, head for Crissy Field. Since this area was reclaimed, it is a great place to visit. It hugs the shoreline just below the Presidio. Since the Presidio is being “civilized”, it is also a great place to walk and explore. Walk all the way down to Fort Point and visit this interesting masonry fort, one of the last of it’s breed and the only one on the west coast.  From the top batteries, you have great views of the GG bridge, the bay and the city (see photos). If you have time, you can hike up to the bridge for more sightseeing. Stop at the Warming Hut either on your way to Fort Point or back and have a light (organic) lunch or snack and peruse the nice GG Park bookstore/gift shop.  The above map shows the Presidio and Crissy Field and shows the route of the free PresidioGo Shuttle.

Points of Interest:

Crissy Field Center, corner of Mason and Halleck Streets.  Open: ??. This center has a small coffee shop, a national parks museum and bookstore.  A nice interlude on your walk.  If you have the time, the Warming Hut is an even better destination for food and gift shop.

Fort Point, at the tip of the Golden Gate, just below the south end of the bridge. This is a fascinating stop for a bit of history. Besides the history of the fort, it has nice displays on the history of the role of women in the military and the suffragette movement (and the connection between the two), and parallel exhibit on blacks in the military.

Golden Gate Bridge.  What can you say about this? You can either take a nice hike up to the bridge, or catch the PresidioGo shuttle (see information under the Presidio entry below) to get to the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. See parking info below for a hot tip on parking here if you drive.

Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center, near the end of Mason Street.  This is another nice stop on a walk to the Warming Hut and Fort Point. It is a small but informative center with a few exhibits and lots of information about the marine sancturaries in the area (including Monterey).

Palace of Fine Arts/Exploratorium, at Marina Blvd and Baker St. One of the first and finest interactive science museums for kids of ALL ages. There is parking behind the museum off Doyle St.

Presidio, south of Crissy Field. The Presidio covers a lot of ground and a lot of sights.  It deserves a page of its own.  To explore it, you can take the PresidioGo free shuttle which operates hourly, 11am-6pm weekends and holidays.  At Crissy Field, there are stops across from the Sports Basement store, at the warming hut and at Fort Point among others as well as many within the Presidio and stops at the Golden Gate Bridge parking lots.

Sports Basement, on Mason Street, west of Crissy Field Center.  This is a huge discount sporting goods store. Fun to expore on its own.  Also this has a large parking lot that seems undiscovered so it seems like a good place to park while you take your walk.

Warming Hut, beyond the end of Mason Street.

Restaurants:

The Warming Hut has a good cafe for light lunches or snacks. There are a number of restaurants in the surrounding area. In particular, if you go east to Fort Mason, you can eat at Green’s, a classic California style restaurant overlooking the Marina.

Parking:

Golden Gate Bridge.  Although there is parking at the end of the bridge, it is hard to find a spot on weekends. Here is a great alternative: park at Battery East, just east of the GG bridge parking area. It is free with no time limits and no waiting for a space!  Just a very short walk to the bridge. This is a find!

Palace of Fine Arts/Exploratorium, at Marina Blvd and Baker St.   There is a parking lot behind the museum off Doyle St.

Sports Basement, on Mason Street, west of Crissy Field Center.  This store has a large parking lot which was virtually empty when we were there on a Saturday morning. It seems like a good place to park while you take your walk. There is also an empty lot beyond the Sports Basement which might also be okay for parking.

Other transportation: see the information on the free PresidioGo shuttle above under the Presidio.

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