This San Francisco Park Offers the Most Photogenic Golden Gate Bridge Views & a Surprising Military Past

Crissy Field, San Francisco

Crissy Field has lived many lives: Spanish colonial cattle ranch, Panama-Pacific Expo grounds, Army airfield, and now, San Francisco’s favorite waterfront park.

Today, it’s a wonderful place where you can watch windsurfers battle the bay, spot sea lions, and enjoy beach picnics with the Golden Gate Bridge as your backdrop. Here are more things we love about Crissy Field.

You can ride winds up to 45 mph while windsurfing here

Crissy Field has amazing windsurfing from March through October. The winds usually blow at 18-22 mph but can hit 45 mph when you’re out on the water. You’ll need a full wetsuit since the water stays cold (50-60°F) even in summer.

Late afternoon is perfect for windsurfing when the winds get stronger. If you don’t have your own gear, you can rent equipment starting at $50 for 2 hours from Board Sports California.

Tiny threatened birds have made a comeback since 2006

Western Snowy Plovers, which are small sand-colored threatened birds, started spending winters at Crissy Field in 2006 after the habitat was restored. By 2020, their numbers doubled to about 8 plovers per count compared to previous years.

In January 2016, bird watchers spotted 104 plovers in one day. That’s nearly 6% of all 2,000 plovers living on the West Coast. These little birds spend up to 10 months a year at the west end of Crissy Field.

You can see live sea creatures at the free marine center

At the Greater Farallones Marine Sanctuary Visitor Center, you can check out live animals in aquariums, touch real blue whale baleen, and stand next to a life-size elephant seal model.

The center is housed in an old Coast Guard station and doesn’t charge admission. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am to 4 pm. Don’t miss the special plankton microscope where you can look at tiny sea life collected right from the nearby waters.

Four different workout spots offer views of the Golden Gate

You’ll find four places to get fit at Crissy Field: Movement San Francisco for climbing, House of Air for jumping on trampolines (inside an old airplane hangar), CrossFit 7×7 for intense workouts, and Roaring Mouse Cycles for biking.

The 1.5-mile path along the water is perfect for running since it’s flat the whole way. All these fitness spots are open daily, and you can buy day passes if you’re just visiting. The best part? You’ll get amazing Golden Gate Bridge views while you work out.

Food trucks rotate through with prices lower than downtown

The food spot at Presidio Tunnel Tops has 18 different local food trucks that change weekly. You can try everything from Filipino fusion to fancy ice cream.

The food area opens daily from 9 am to 6 pm, and you can check the schedule online to see which vendors will be there. Meals usually cost $12-18, which is 10-15% cheaper than restaurants downtown.

Many vendors use eco-friendly packaging and ingredients from local farms.

You can try scientific tools at the field station

The Field Station near Crissy Field Center welcomes anyone to drop in and try hands-on science. You can use actual wind monitors, look through professional observation scopes, and study soil samples from different parts of the park.

There are 12 different science stations set up by National Park Service scientists. The Field Station is open every day from 10 am to 4 pm, and kids can earn Junior Ranger badges by doing science activities there.

It’s a photo-perfect spot

Crissy Field is so popular for photos that over 200 professional shoots happen here each month. You can rent special camera gear from nearby shops, including stabilizers that help with the constant wind.

Three spots—East Beach, West Bluff, and Marsh Overlook—have platforms designed to frame the Golden Gate Bridge perfectly in your shots.

If you don’t want to take your own photos, professional photographers offer 60-minute mini-sessions for visitors who want great vacation pictures.

The playground was built using 2,500 fallen trees

San Francisco’s biggest playground sits at the Outpost in Presidio Tunnel Tops and covers 2 acres. It was built using 2,500 logs from trees that fell naturally in the Presidio, including some 100-year-old cypress trees from park renovations.

Kids can climb up to 15 feet high on structures made by the same designers who created New York’s High Line.

The playground cost $6.5 million to build and opened in 2022 after three years of planning with help from child development experts.

You don’t need a license to catch crabs off the pier

At Torpedo Wharf on the north end of Crissy Field, you can fish and catch crabs without a fishing license because it’s a public pier.

Dungeness crab season runs from November through July, and the 300-foot pier takes you out to deeper water. You can rent crab traps at Sports Basement nearby for $15 a day.

Most people catch 2-3 crabs during a four-hour visit, and your best chance is during morning high tides.

Bike paths offer routes for beginners through experts

Three different bike paths let you choose how hard you want to ride. The Golden Gate Promenade is flat and easy at 1.5 miles.

The Presidio Loop has some hills and runs 3.2 miles. If you want a challenge, try the 5.8-mile Battery to Bluffs route that connects to the Golden Gate Bridge. Roaring Mouse Cycles rents bikes starting at $15 per hour with helmets and maps included.

You can ride e-bikes on most paths except Battery to Bluffs, which has 212 steps where you’ll need to carry your bike.

Bird watchers have seen 135+ different species here

Since the marshes were restored in 2001, bird watchers have spotted 135 different kinds of birds at Crissy Marsh and Quartermaster Reach Marsh.

You can join bird walks at 8 am on the first Saturday each month with the Golden Gate Bird Alliance, and they’ll even lend you binoculars.

The biggest bird day was in October 2022, when people counted 47 different species in just one day, including rare black-crowned night herons and white-tailed kites.

The park extension sits on top of highway tunnels

Presidio Tunnel Tops, which connects to Crissy Field, sits on top of highway tunnels that replaced an old elevated road.

It opened in July 2022 and cost $118 million to build, with $98 million coming from private donations. The 14-acre park reconnects the historic Main Post to the waterfront for the first time since 1937.

Workers planted 200,000 native plants from 50 California species, making it the largest native plant project in San Francisco’s history.

Japanese American soldiers trained here before Pearl Harbor

At the Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center in Building 640 (an old airplane hangar), you can learn about the secret language school that operated at Crissy Field.

Japanese American soldiers started training as military linguists on November 1, 1941, just weeks before Pearl Harbor. The museum is open weekends from noon to 5 pm.

You can listen to recordings from 23 surviving Nisei veterans sharing their wartime stories while looking at original artifacts from their training.

Visiting Crissy Field

Crissy Field sits on San Francisco’s northern shoreline within the Presidio. Get there on MUNI bus routes #30 and #43, or the free PresidiGo Downtown Shuttle.

• It’s open 24/7 all year (though specific facilities have their own hours)
• You don’t need to pay to enter
• Park for free at East Beach or pay at West Bluff

Visit weekday mornings from 7-10 am to avoid crowds.