Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Get Back to Nature for $1.50
Not all tourists have cars, but there's a way to get a green fix without leav-
ing the center of the city. Golden Gate Park (p. 116) is one of America's
greatest urban expanses, packed with forests, grassy hills, and, at its west-
ern end, some vertiginous oceanfront cliffs. It's easy to reach and to han-
dle. But San Franciscans would never be satisfied with just one urban
getaway:
Waterfront Rambling
The experience:
You won't need to pack many provisions for a walk along
the 3
1
⁄
2
-mile Golden Gate Promenade (despite the name, not part of Golden
Gate Park), which skirts the waterfront all the way from Fort Mason to the
foot of a certain postcard-perfect bridge, which will be visible almost the
whole time. Along the way, you'll see yachts, some jealous-making manses
in the Marina District, and (for almost 2 miles of it) the light development
of the Presidio. This is a good one for those with ADD, because it's usu-
ally pretty easy to jump off the paved path and back into town.
The bus to take:
Head west in the morning to keep the sun out of your
eyes. Bus 30 lets you off about 4 blocks from the water. At the end, take
number 28 home. Or reverse those if you take the trail east.
Old California
The experience:
The 1,480-acres of the Presidio, located in the northwest
part of town where the Golden Gate Bridge alights in the city, is the Bay
Area as it used to be, with a mix of wooded hills, waterfront bluffs, and a
few former military settlements that date back to the 19th century. There
are some 11 miles of trails, too, almost all of which are under 3 miles. The
facilities are well-tended; in 2008, it opened a new scenic viewpoint above
Crissy Field that takes in the Bay, Alcatraz, and the city skyline. Free trail
maps are available at the
Visitor Center
(in the former Officers' club, 50
Moraga Ave.,
%
415/561-4323; daily 9am-5pm
), but since that's best
hour until about 3pm. Conveniently, the museum is located within strolling dis-
tance from the California Academy of Sciences building, itself a newfangled archi-
tectural showpiece.
Within walking distance from the Haight and from the de Young, the
Conservatory of Flowers
(JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park;
%
415/666
-
7001; www.
conservatoryofflowers.org; $5 adults; $3 seniors 65 and over, kids 12-17, and stu-
dents; $1.50 kids 4 and under; Tues-Sun 9am-5pm, last entry 4:30pm)
is beauti-
ful both inside and out. Its Victorian wood-and-glass home, erected in 1878, is
on the National Register of Historic Places, and mimics (but doesn't copy) Kew
Gardens in London. It reopened in 2003 after a $25-million restoration. Inside,
some 1,700 live plants enchant the horticulturally minded. Among the rare hold-
ings are some 700 high-altitude orchids, which qualifies as one of the most com-
plete collections in the world.
