Lands End to Fort Point: ruins at low tide, the Coastal Trail, and standing under the bridge
14 playbooks shared · added to 36 trips
- 8:15 am1Sutro Baths ruins, at low waterSan Francisco
Free, and the lot above the ruins holds about 75 cars and is full by 10:00 on any clear day — 08:15 is the entire trick, and the overflow is a half-mile of El Camino del Mar. Check a tide table before you commit: at low water you can walk the concrete tanks and into the cave on the north side; at high water the cave floods, the surge comes over the sill and people get hurt in it every year. June mornings here are fogged in until 11:00 and the ruins are better for it.
5 min walk · 350 m - 9 am2Lands End Coastal Trail to Eagle's PointSan Francisco
3.4 miles out and back on the bed of an old railway, so it is flatter than the cliff makes it look. Two detours are the reason to walk it rather than drive to the viewpoint: the steps down from Mile Rock Overlook to the stone labyrinth on the headland, and the shipwreck view at low tide below Painted Rock. Paved and wheelchair-accessible as far as Mile Rock; stairs beyond that.
12 min walk · 950 m - 11 am3Legion of Honor, if the fog holdsSan Francisco
$25 adult, free to residents of the nine Bay Area counties every Saturday and to everyone on the first Tuesday of the month — both free offers cover the permanent collection only, and special exhibitions are still full price. Worth it for the Rodin court and the building itself, which sits on a golf-course bluff with the bridge behind it. Marked as an idea on purpose: if the marine layer has burned off by 11:00, skip it without a second thought — the rest of this day is outside and the museum will still be there in fog. CORRECTED 2026-09-06 from FAMSF: adult admission is $25, not $20 ($22 seniors, $10 students, under 18 free). The gating fact this entry was missing — the Legion is CLOSED MONDAYS, open Tuesday to Sunday 09:30-17:15, and also shut on MLK Day, Labor Day, Indigenous Peoples' Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas. From 16:30 the permanent collection is free to everyone with no ticket, which is a different day than this one.
8 min by train or taxi · 3.6 km - 12:15 pm4The 29 bus across to the PresidioSan Francisco
The 29 Sunset runs from Lands End into the Presidio without a transfer, about 35 minutes. The free PresidiGo shuttle is only useful once you are already inside the park, and it does not come out to the ocean. Driving works too, but then you give up the parking space you queued for at 08:15.
12 min walk · 900 m - 12:50 pm5Lunch on the Tunnel TopsSan Francisco
Fourteen acres of new parkland laid directly over the Doyle Drive tunnels, with the bridge straight ahead. The Tunnel Tops themselves sell nothing — buy food at the Transit Center picnic area below or on the Main Post and carry it up, which is the mistake everyone makes once. The Field Station tables at the west end are the ones with the view.
8 min by train or taxi · 4.8 km - 2 pm6Battery Bluff, then down to Crissy FieldSan Francisco
The newest piece of the Presidio and almost always empty: four restored coastal gun batteries on a bluff that most of the city drives underneath without knowing. From there it is a mile downhill past the marsh to Crissy Field and the Warming Hut, which is the last coffee before the fort.
11 min by train or taxi · 6.8 km - 3:30 pm7Fort Point, under the south anchorageSan Francisco
Free — and open Friday to Sunday only, 10:00 to 17:00. Turning up on a Tuesday is by a distance the most common way this day fails, so check the NPS page the week you go. It is a Civil War brick casemate fort that Joseph Strauss threw a steel arch over rather than demolish, which is why the bridge has that arch at all. Go to the third-floor gallery and then the roof: you stand directly beneath the span with the deck humming above you. The wind funnelling through the Gate here is genuinely punishing — this is the layer you have been carrying since Sutro. Verified 2026-09-06 against the NPS operating-hours page for Fort Point: still Friday, Saturday and Sunday only, 10:00-17:00, still free, and the 15:30-16:45 window fits inside it. This pins the day to a Friday, Saturday or Sunday — which is compatible with the Legion of Honor above, since that is the stop that rules out Monday.
8 min by train or taxi · 3.3 km - 6:15 pm8Burmese on Clement StreetSan Francisco
No reservations, ever — put your name on the list, walk two blocks for a beer, come back when they text. Tea leaf salad tossed at the table and the coconut rice is the order. If the wait is over an hour, Good Luck Dim Sum three blocks up is cash only, about $3 a plate, and shuts at 18:30 — so decide fast. Clement Street is the reason the Inner Richmond is called the second Chinatown and it is a better dinner street than anywhere near the bridge.