Sausalito 2017-18

The view of San Francisco from The Inn Above Tide - May 2018. In Oct, 2017, The Inn Above Tide was so gracious and honest about the poor air quality due to the wild fires. We were able to cancel our reservation without penalty, and promised to re-book. Boy, are we glad we did!

Of course, there's SO MUCH to do here! We picked four activities: 

1) Alcatraz Island, followed by some time in San Francisco 

2) The Bay Model Museum in Sausalito

415-332-3871. It's free, but get the $5 audio tour. 

3) Hiking ACROSS the Golden Gate bridge. Be sure to stop in at the gift store on the San Fran side and get your "I walked across the Golden Gate Bridge" T-Shirt! 

4) John Muir woods. UPDATE: The parking lot is only available via internet reservation! 

Also did a lot of walking around Sausalito. The weather is "invigorating"! See our "Travel Blog" section below for more details.

We met a local lady who recommended "Angelino" 415-313-5225 in Sausalito. Another tourist recommended "Fog Harbor" 415-421-4224 on Pier 39 in San Francisco. Best overall meal was "Poggio" 415-332-7771 in Casa Madrano hotel in Sausalito. Also, great meal at "Sushi Ran" 415-332-3620 in Sausalito. Plus, The Inn Above Tide had an unusually nice "breakfast bar" every day, AND they offered fruit, cheese and wine every evening. That helped!

1) Alcatraz: If you're staying in Sausalito, there is an 8:20 AM ferry to Pier 1, which is a 10-15 min. walk to the Alcatraz Pier. We had 11:30 reservations for Alcatraz, so had to wait about two hours. Try a 10 am Alcatraz reservation. FYI, Alcatraz is POPULAR! Get your reservations well in advance.

2) The Golden Gate bridge is only about 1 1/2 miles end to end, so many folks should be able to navigate this - BUT it's very noisy! Six lanes of traffic at 50 mph. So, bring some ear plugs! We took a Lyft up to the Vista Point, walked across, visited the gift shop and walked back to Vista Point.  It's a LONG, hilly walk from Sausalito. 

3) The Muir Woods parking situation has changed. You can only park there with advance (internet) reservations. We didn't rent a car, so planned to use Lyft.  BUT, the cell reception at Muir Woods is spotty, so you may not be able to contact Lyft for your return. We had a taxi take us there and pick us up, BUT we only allowed 2 hours. We could have stayed for 3 hours! FYI, There is a diner at the the Muir Woods gift shop. $$ If you are a Senior, don't forget your "National Parks Senior Pass"! 

4) If you visit the Bay Model Museum 415-332-3871, it's easy to spend an hour, especially if you get the $5 self guided tour.

We definitely will schedule another visit. We plan to stay in good shape and do more hiking in the area. There are several other options in Marin County, Tiberon and Angel Island Also, we plan on adding a bus tour of San Francisco and explore that side of the bay. IMPORTANT: We always "look around" at other hotels and B&Bs when we visit. But this trip, we didn't. When we come back to Sausalito, we WILL stay at The Inn Above Tide. It's worth the extra fee. www.InnAboveTide.com

Be sure to click on the photos to see captions and create a slide show.