Best San Francisco Activities
by land,
sea, or air
Fun, healthy, active activities are abundant in and around San
Francisco Bay area. These are some of the best activities which are near by, in beautiful settings, and entertaining
to watch even if you not want to participate.Below is a quick overview of several special things to do. You can find much more information and pictures on the items below by searching this web site. Also, look over the SF neighborhoods and nearby towns sections of the site. Look forward to a lot of fun enjoying these pleasant, beautiful, often exceptional activities!
by land ... HIKING
The SF Bay area is a hiker's paradise. Just walking around some the SF neighborhoods is a very interesting thing to do if you know where to go. And there are a lot more fantastic walks within a half hour of the City.See our lists at San Francisco walking tours and best SF Bay dog walks for more details.
View from Old St. Hilary's Church Preserve above Tiburon
- Marin County - Check out the Marin Headlands area. Or, the trails within the St. Hilary's Open Space Preserve above Tiburon which features wildflowers and views that are rare, even for the Bay area.
- North Beach (hike north) & Chinatown (hike south) - start at Columbus & Broadway.
- Filbert steps - going down to the east from the top of Telegraph Hill.
- Lyon Street steps - perhaps the most wonderful stairs in San Francisco. The top is at Lyon Street & Broadway St from which you take the stairs down two blocks to Green St. From there it's a nice walk along Lyon St to the Palace of Fine Arts and the SF Bay.
- Golden Gate bridge - start your hike at the viewing areas, located at either side of the bridge which have adjacent parking.
- Lands End trail - start at the parking lot a half block north of the Cliff House There are many fantastic nature hikes both north and south of San Francisco.
- Princeton Harbor - south of the harbor along the beach, and north on the Pillar Point bluffs above Mavericks. This area is only one of many described in Half Moon Bay walking trails.
by land ... BIKING
Because of its astonishing natural beauty, mild weather, interesting terrain, and excellent access serious bikers truly love the San Francisco Bay area. This is especially true once you get away from the traffic in San Francisco and other large cities.Check out San Francisco bike tours, biking Skyline Ridge and bicycle Sundays - Canada Rd for several fun rides.
by sea ... WATER SPORTS galore
Wind surfing - is a lot of fun at almost any age and the best place I've ever seen to learn is at California Windsurfing in the Foster City Lagoon. It's warm, rentals are reasonable, the people are nice, weekend classes are excellent and the wind is often just right for beginners.Once you get better the next step up for me was windsurfing Coyote Point. If you ever get great and have a lot of guts then check out Crissey Field, SF, or Waddell Creek north of Santa Cruz on Highway 1.
Kite surfing - is readily available for the stout of heart too. The end of 3d Ave by the San Mateo Bridge is one of the easier spots though it is not that beautiful. If you are very good try Crissey Field, SF. Or, try the Delta (on the way to Sacramento) for high speed windsurfing on smooth water.
Paddle boats - for fun with the kids check out Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park or California Windsurfing at the Foster City lagoon.
Kayaking - Rentals with access to great sea areas are available in the Marinship neighborhood of Sausalito, Princeton Harbor, and Moss Landing. It's a bit of a trip but Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing, on the way to Carmel, features some of the best bird and sea animal preserves in the world. Be ready to see otters and sea lions up close and personal.
Surfing - Ocean Beach, SF, is where local city and even professional surfers hang ten. Santa Cruz's Steamer Lane was made famous by surfing pioneers including three Hawaiian princes who introduced the sport there ... and it is still one of the most crowded surf spots in California. Surfers Beach in El Granada just south of Princeton-by-the-Sea is probably the best beginner/intermediate beaches in between.
Of course, if you are serious surfer you've already heard of Mavericks, north of Princeton Harbor which has some of the biggest roughest waves in the world when (rare) conditions are right. Waddell Beach north of Santa Cruz is another world class surfer hangout.
even by AIR
B25 Bomber (like Doolittle flew) at Dream Machines Air Show
Small planes - Two nice & convenient local airports for small plane pilots are the San Carlos Airport, San Carlos, and the Half Moon Bay Airport, north of Princeton Harbor. Both airports have good down-home type coffee shops where pilots and "wanna be" pilots love to gather.
From the Half Moon Bay airport you can easily walk over to Princeton Harbor for a relaxing good afternoon there as well. By the way, the Pacific Coast Dream Machines air show & exhibition, held at the airport in the spring, is something old plane and old car buffs do not want to miss. World War II pilots will especially enjoy seeing their old war planes in action. It's low key and a lot of fun to look at the old machines and chat with their owners.
San Jose Airport & San Francisco Airport are scary places to fly in and out by small plane because of heavy commercial air traffic. We've done it several times with pilot friends but can't recommend this adventure to amateurs.
Blimp tours - Dirigibles are flying over the San Francisco Bay area again (back in WW II they flew out of Moffet Field as submarine trackers). Flights cost $495/hr. This is not really an active sport but looks like fun if you've got the big bucks.
Well, that's just the tip of the iceberg of the best San Francisco Bay area activities you really should know about. We've picked a few of the best SF Activities which you may have missed. Enjoy!
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