Walking a Mile Above the Golden Gate Strait
You feel it before you see much: the wind arriving in long shoves off the Pacific, the low hum of tires on steel, the fog breaking apart over the water. Then the towers come clear—two orange-red frames rising from the headlands, holding the roadway over the strait that joins San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. This is the Golden Gate Bridge, linking the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula to Marin County, and carrying U.S. Route 101, California State Route 1, pedestrians, and cyclists. It was the longest and tallest suspension bridge in the world when it opened to the public in 1937, and it remains one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California. Frommer's calls it "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world." The best way to test that claim is on foot.
What You See and Do on the Bridge Itself
The pedestrian sidewalk is open daily from sunrise to sunset, and the crossing takes roughly 45 to 60 minutes—long enough for the scale to register, short enough to do twice if the fog changes its mind. You walk beside the traffic, above the water, with the bay and the headlands opening around you. Look for the details the designers left behind: the Art Deco shape of the towers, the lighting scheme, the railings and walkways, all designed by architect Irving Morrow, who also chose the International Orange color over other proposals, including a Navy suggestion of black and yellow stripes. At the southern end, the roadway is carried over Fort Point—a pre–Civil War masonry fortification preserved rather than demolished—on a graceful steel arch designed by senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis. The bridge is flanked at both ends by Golden Gate National Parks, so the approach on either side is parkland, not sprawl.
If you'd rather roll than walk, the bridge is open to cyclists around the clock and is designated part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. There are no bike rentals at Golden Gate Bridge Plaza itself; nearby vendors such as Sports Basement rent them.
How to Make the Most of Your Crossing
The bridge has its own weather, and the Parks Conservancy is blunt about it: mornings can be foggy, turn sunny, then fog over again, and strong afternoon winds are common in every season. It is often chilly out on the span. Dress in layers you can shed and re-add, and treat the fog not as a spoiler but as part of the show—the towers vanishing and reappearing is the bridge doing what it has always done.
- Start at the Welcome Center. The Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center at the plaza has information, exhibits, and merchandise; it's open daily (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas).
- Plan around parking. Parking at the bridge plaza is extremely limited. An overflow lot on the southwest side opens on weekends and holidays, and south-end lots may close intermittently for improvements, though Presidio overflow lots stay open.
- Leave the car behind. Public transit (check 511.org), the PresidiGo Shuttle's Crissy Field Route, bicycling, and tour buses are all recommended alternatives.
- Warm up at the Round House Cafe. At the plaza, it serves coffee, pastries, salads, soups, and sandwiches with views—a sensible bookend to a windy walk.
- Don't skip the overlooks. New bridge overlooks were added on both the San Francisco and Marin sides as part of visitor enhancements tied to the bridge's 75th anniversary, so you can see the span from outside as well as from on it.
Approaching on Foot Through the Marina and Crissy Field
One of the finest ways to arrive is the walk the city's own itineraries recommend: begin at Fort Mason on the eastern end of the Marina District, stroll the marina and its green for views of the bay and the bridge, then continue along the shoreline through Crissy Field to the Golden Gate Bridge itself. At the other end of the Marina you can detour inland to the Palace of Fine Arts, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition and reminiscent of Roman and Greek architecture, and on into the Presidio, the former military post with handsome architecture and a scenic park setting overlooking the Golden Gate. If you're driving in from the north, the bridge is the first thing you see of San Francisco—one of the major road routes into and out of the city.
Before You Go
Give the bridge a morning or an evening rather than a drive-by, check the weather outlook knowing it may be wrong, and sort out your transport before you arrive—transit, shuttle, or bike will spare you the parking hunt. The bridge belongs to the national parkland at both ends, so build in time for Crissy Field and the Presidio on the San Francisco side. Start with the Welcome Center, walk out onto the span, and let the fog decide the rest.