San Francisco’s 80,000-acre free park beat every national park in the country last year

It’s bigger than you think

Most people drive across the Golden Gate Bridge and don’t realize they’re already inside one of the largest urban national parks in the country.

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area stretches across 80,000 acres in three counties, covers 19 ecosystems, holds Civil War forts, ancient redwood forests, a famous federal prison, and a brand-new park built on top of highway tunnels.

The whole thing is free. And in 2024, more people came here than to any other National Park Service site in the country.

17 million people visited in 2024 alone

That number puts Golden Gate National Recreation Area ahead of every other National Park Service site in the country, including Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon.

Congress created it in 1972, mostly from former U.S. Army land, and today it draws 17.18 million visits a year across 130-plus miles of trails.

The park runs from the rugged coastal bluffs of Marin County south through San Francisco and into San Mateo County, with more than 2,000 plant and animal species living inside it.

The Ohlone were here thousands of years before the Army

Long before the U.S. military arrived, Indigenous peoples including the Ohlone lived on this land for thousands of years. Spain established the Presidio as a military fort in 1776.

The land changed hands from Spain to Mexico in 1821, then to the United States in 1848.

The Army held it for well over a century before transferring portions to the National Park Service starting in the 1970s and continuing through the 1990s. That handoff is what made the park possible.

Walk under trees that were already old in the 1200s

Muir Woods sits 15 miles north of San Francisco, and it protects one of the last old-growth coast redwood forests in the Bay Area. The tallest tree in the park stands 258 feet, about the height of a 25-story building.

Most of the redwoods here are between 500 and 800 years old, and the oldest has been growing for at least 1,200 years. An accessible boardwalk loop runs about one mile through the main groves.

You’ll need reservations for both parking and shuttle access before you go.

The Presidio served as an active military base for 219 years

The Presidio covers 1,500 acres on the northern tip of San Francisco and spent more than two centuries as one of the Army’s most important posts on the West Coast.

It transferred to the National Park Service in 1994, and since then, it’s become one of the most visited sections of the recreation area. The forest, beaches, trails, and historic buildings are all free to explore.

But the newest addition to the Presidio is something you wouldn’t expect to find anywhere.

A $100 million park sits on top of highway tunnels

The Presidio Tunnel Tops opened on July 17, 2022, and it covers 14 acres of land built directly on top of highway tunnels running beneath it.

The firm that designed New York City’s High Line created it, and the total cost came to about $100 million. You get meadows, walking trails, and overlooks with clear views of the Golden Gate Bridge.

USA Today and U.S. News and World Report have both called it the number one thing to do in San Francisco. No tickets, no reservations.

Kids can climb through boulders with the bridge in the background

The Outpost is a two-acre nature playground built into the hillside at Tunnel Tops, and it uses natural materials from the Presidio itself, including fallen trees and boulders.

One gap in the climbing wall lines up directly with the Golden Gate Bridge, so you’re looking straight at it while you climb.

The Crissy Field Center and Field Station nearby run free hands-on science and art activities for kids. Everything here is open to anyone, free of charge, with no advance planning needed.

Fort Point was built to defend the bay and never fired a shot

The U.S. Army built Fort Point between 1853 and 1861, and it sits directly beneath the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was designed to hold 126 cannons and protect San Francisco Bay from naval attack.

None of those cannons ever fired in battle. When engineers planned the Golden Gate Bridge in the 1930s, the fort was set for demolition.

Chief engineer Joseph Strauss redesigned the arch over the fort to save it. Fort Point became a National Historic Site in 1970 and is free to visit.

Alcatraz held federal prisoners for 29 years and sits a mile offshore

Alcatraz started as a military fort, became a military prison, and then ran as a federal penitentiary from 1934 to 1963.

The island sits 1.25 miles out in San Francisco Bay and holds the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast.

In 1969, a group called the Indians of All Tribes occupied it for 19 months in a defining moment for Native American civil rights. The self-guided audio tour uses the voices of former inmates and guards.

Ferries leave from Pier 33, and summer tickets go fast.

Hawk Hill is one of the best raptor-watching spots on the West Coast

The Marin Headlands form a hilly peninsula just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the views from up here are different from anything you’ll see on the San Francisco side.

Battery Spencer gives you one of the most photographed angles of the bridge. Hawk Hill draws birders from August through December to watch migrating raptors pass overhead.

The headlands are dotted with World War II-era bunkers and batteries.

The Marine Mammal Center, which rescues and rehabilitates injured seals and sea lions, is free to visit.

Rodeo Beach is covered in jasper, carnelian and agate

Rodeo Beach doesn’t look like most California beaches.

The sand is dark, and the pebbles that cover it come in deep reds, oranges, and greens, made from jasper, carnelian, and agate.

Right next to the beach, Rodeo Lagoon draws birdwatchers who have logged more than 300 species there. The Coastal Trail connects the beach to the rest of the headlands along the cliffs.

Surfers paddle out here, but the water runs cold and the currents run strong, so swimming is a different story.

Lands End follows an old railroad bed to the ruins of a sunken bath house

The Coastal Trail at Lands End runs 2.9 miles out and back along the old railbed of the Cliff House Railway, on the rocky northwest corner of San Francisco.

About halfway through, you reach the ruins of the Sutro Baths, a massive saltwater swimming complex from the 1890s that burned down in 1966.

You can walk through the concrete foundations and duck through a tunnel cut into the coastal rock. On clear days, the Farallon Islands appear in the distance beyond the Golden Gate.

Crissy Field and Baker Beach are two of the park’s easiest wins

Crissy Field runs along the bay as a restored tidal marsh with flat paths good for walking or biking. The Golden Gate Promenade connects it directly to Fort Point, and you get close-up views of the bridge the whole way.

Baker Beach stretches a mile below the Presidio’s western cliffs with the bridge framing the northern end.

At the south end of Baker Beach, Battery Chamberlin holds the last “disappearing gun” of its type on the West Coast, built in 1904. Both are free with no reservations needed.

Visit Golden Gate National Recreation Area in California

You can start planning at the official website, which has current trail conditions, closures, weather advisories, and event schedules for all sections of the park. Most areas are free to visit with no reservations needed.

Alcatraz and Muir Woods both require advance bookings, and those sell out quickly, especially in summer.

The park spans San Francisco, Marin County, and San Mateo County, so check which section you’re heading to before you drive. Fog and wind can change conditions fast along the coast.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

Read more from this brand:

• You can walk under the Golden Gate Bridge for free at this 1,500-acre San Francisco national park
• California has a marble cave, a granite dome, and trees from 200 BC all in one park
• At 3,000 feet inside Joshua Tree, California’s two deserts crash into each other