The Best Views in San Francisco

San Francisco is forty-nine square miles of hills, which means the view is the city’s most abundant free resource. These are the ones worth the climb, sorted by how hard you have to work.

Easy: Drive or Roll Right Up

Twin Peaks

The big one, and still worth it. A paved overlook at Christmas Tree Point sits right by the parking lot, with the whole city grid laid out below. Come after dark for lights. The west-facing side catches the wind and fog, so dress warmer than you think.

Christmas Tree Point Rd · Free parking, fills at sunset · 37-Corbett stops nearby

Salesforce Park

A rooftop park four stories above downtown, free, with elevators and a gondola up from street level. The most stroller- and wheelchair-friendly view in the city, with restrooms and a café.

425 Mission St · Free

Alamo Square

Flat, paved and famous: the Painted Ladies with the downtown skyline stacked behind them. Morning light is best, and there is a playground for whoever is bored of photos.

Hayes at Steiner · Free

Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center and Battery East

Paved paths, restrooms, paid parking and the bridge filling the frame. Summer afternoons are often fogged in; mornings are clearer.

Treasure Island

The skyline view, straight on, from the middle of the bay. Best at sunset and after dark, and easy to reach by car. Development is ongoing, so parking rules shift.

Moderate: A Short Walk or Some Stairs

Bernal Heights

A 360-degree view from a grassy hilltop, with a paved perimeter road that works for strollers and dirt paths to the top that do not. Sunset here is a neighborhood ritual.

Corona Heights

A rocky red outcrop above the Castro with a clean downtown view, and the free Randall Museum at its base.

Grand View Park and the Moraga Steps

Climb the mosaic-tiled 16th Avenue steps, keep going up the sand-dune hill, and get ocean on one side and the whole city on the other. Not stroller-friendly at all. Go on a clear day; this is fog country.

Tank Hill

The local alternative to Twin Peaks: a five-minute walk from Belgrave Avenue, rarely crowded, and close enough to downtown that the view feels bigger.

Ina Coolbrith Park

A terraced pocket park on the Russian Hill steps with a framed view of the bay and Alcatraz. Stairs only, and worth every one.

Kite Hill

A grassy slope above Noe Valley with Sutro Tower looming close and downtown beyond. Quiet, and good for actual kite flying.

Buena Vista Park

The city’s oldest park, a wooded hill above the Haight with views out through the trees. Paths are uneven.

Coit Tower and the Filbert Steps

The tower crowns Telegraph Hill, with murals inside and a paid elevator to the observation deck. The real pleasure is the Filbert Steps, descending through cottage gardens toward the waterfront, with the wild parrots overhead. Parking at the top is minimal.

1 Telegraph Hill Blvd · Check current elevator prices and hours before you go

Earn It

Lands End and Eagle’s Point

Cliffside cypress, the bridge from an angle most visitors never see, and shipwreck remains visible at low tide. The full loop runs about three miles.

Mount Davidson

The highest point in San Francisco, reached through a eucalyptus forest that feels nothing like a city. Often gloomy under the canopy, spectacular on a clear day.

Worth the Trip, but Not in San Francisco

Battery Spencer and Hawk Hill, Marin Headlands

The classic bridge-and-skyline postcard is shot from Marin, not from San Francisco. Battery Spencer sits just across the bridge on Conzelman Road; Hawk Hill is higher up the same road, and in fall you can watch raptors migrating overhead. Both need a car and both are outside the city, so budget the bridge toll and the drive.

Local Legend: Coit Tower, the “Fire-Hose Nozzle”, Telegraph Hill

What is actually true: Rec and Park, which runs the tower, says plainly that it “was not designed to resemble a firehose nozzle”. The rest is true: Coit was an honorary member of Knickerbocker Engine Co. No. 5, and her bequest to beautify the city paid for both Coit Tower, completed in 1933 to a design by Arthur Brown Jr.’s firm, and the volunteer firefighters monument in Washington Square below. The murals inside were painted in 1934 by artists of the Public Works of Art Project.

Local Legend: The Seven Hills of San Francisco

What is actually true: Plenty of cities claim seven hills, and KALW could not find anyone who knew why these seven made San Francisco’s list. The city has far more than seven: one hill-counter told KALW he had counted seventy-four.

Prices and hours were checked in September 2026 and can change, so confirm before you go.