San Francisco by Bike

For my second day (actually my first full day) in San Francisco, I decided to rent a bike for the day, because even if San Francisco is a walkable city, the golden gate bridge for instance is 8 miles away from downtown, and the golden gate park (west side) at least 15 miles away. I was lucky because it was a sunny day, but even if you think it is going to be a hot day, bring a jacket, or at least an anti-wind sweater because you will quickly notice that San Francisco is a very (ultra) windy city!


There is a bike rental store really close to the Hostel, just above the Jack in The Box fast-food on Mason and Geary. It was 32$ a day to rent the bike, which was great and totally enough for the day. However if you feel lazy, keep in mind that you can also rent an electrical-helped bike for 70$ a day. When you will pay, you will have also to make deposit with a credit card to prevent robs. The store has a 24 hours "give-back-your-bike deposit" so you can bring back the bike at 11:59PM if you need to!

So my main objective was obviously to cross the Golden Gate bridge and take a bunch of souvenir pictures! I first went to the other infamous Bay bridge that I found pretty nice. I went down to Market Street, to arrive in front of the port of San Francisco. I went to the third or fourth Pier and take my first pictures!


Then I kept going on to the Fisherman's wharf area, taking other pictures of the Alcatraz Prison, the 39th Pier, the Coit Tower and the sun. I then entered the Marina Disctrict and started to take pictures of the Golden Gate bridge, even if I was still far far away from it.


The ride to the bridge was not that easy, because of the wind that was continuously tiring me. I finally arrived after approximately 2 hours of ride (making a lot of stops for the pictures) at the Warming Hut store (souvenir gifts & food store) to have some rest. You have also there a fantastic view of the bridge, which is at this point only 100 meters (or less) away from your feet. I then continued to Fort Point before to go on the bridge. The Fort gives you the opportunity to take pictures almost under the bridge, which is really nice. I then went up on to the bridge (it is really sloping, I had to step off of my bike and walk to go to the bridge), and I finally crossed it!




I wanted then to go down to Sausalito, the first city that you meet after you cross the bridge, but I was missing some energy and the wind was really strong. I decided so to turn back, to reach Backer Beach. To get to this beach you have to go through the Presidio Park (one of the national park of SF), a ride that offers you the greatest view of the Pacific Ocean from SF. Once again, it is not easy to reach Baker beach because of the up and down hills, and it is 3 or more miles away from the bridge. Once you get here, I hope you will have kept a lot of energy because, whatever the way back you decide to take, it won't be easy.


Because I was already far, I chose to keep going to the west part of the city, direction the Cliff House and Ocean Beach, at the very west side of San Francisco, next to the West Entrance of the golden gate park. It was around 6:00PM, (I started my ride-day at 11:00AM) and the view was breathtaking. I took the best pictures of my trip for sure.


I finally made my way back through the Golden Gate Park, which was for me more beautiful than Central Park in New-York city. Once I was off the Park, it was almost a straight line on Page Street and Market street to get back to the rental store, at 8:00PM.


It was a long day, really tiring (it was the only night I didn't join the party group), but definitely worth it and I encourage everybody to do that if you don't have a car and a limited time to stay in San Francisco. It was my best day.