Incredible Views of San Francisco from other cities

SFWanderlust Team November 5, 2018

Good to see you

In last week’s post we covered the beauty of the Bay Bridge and amazing views of San Francisco you can get from from it. Today let’s explore some incredible vantage points from neighboring cities. To be honest with you, I used to have a preconceived notion that the best views of a city should come from within the city. That certainly might be true for some cities, but not San Francisco. I found out about this rather late, but I am happy I did and I’d love to share with you what I’ve discovered below.

View from Oakland

Let’s start with the best first, the East Bay. There are three favorite places that I have discovered over the year and the first one is Grizzy Peak in Oakland. From here, you’ll see the entire city of San Francisco. Most notably- the beautiful modern skyscrapers standing out from the crowd and the Bay Bridge leading you into the city. The view extends your sight into the Golden Gate Bridge to the East and the city of South San Francisco to the West. The best time to come here is during sunset. You get some amazing colors as the sun hits below the horizon.

On high-cloud days, the clouds will turn themselves into this incredible red, yellow, and orange combo. I like to call this phenomenon cloud-burn. If you’re lucky enough to arrived at sunset and see lingering fog, you’re in for a real treat. Have a look at a photo I took back in July. I think this is an excellent location for family photos, portraits, wedding, and a dream for those that are into landscape photography.

One caution, it isn’t the most sound place as you’ll always find alcohol bottles, trash, and graffiti, and crazy “herbs” just about anywhere within Grizzly Peak. Cars do come in and out constantly so please be careful of your surrounding. Nothing to be afraid of, but I’d always like to insert this safety line for any place.

Foggy sunset over the Bay Bridge and San Francisco. View from Grizzly Peak in Oakland

View from East-Bay

Next up is another East Bay location, Panoramic Way, from the city of Berkeley. This is another incredible location offering similar view to Grizzly Peak. The only difference is that it’s a bit more difficult to get to due to all the zigzag roads you have to take to get there. The roads are so narrow that I still get worried sometimes when I see another car approaching from the opposite direction (it’s feels like and is a 1-line street for 2-way traffic and street parking. How they did manage to do that? Nonetheless, the drive is fun and the view is worth it.

Your foreground this time is the University of California at Berkeley (better known as UC Berkeley). It’s a park, a rather peaceful one – I am guessing not many people know about it aside from the locals. You’ll most likely have the entire place to yourself and occasionally folks will be walking their dogs there. What I particularly like about this location is this beautiful green hill leading you to your foreground. Which further takes you to the Bay Bridge. And eventually to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Similar to Grizzly Peak, it’s best to come during sunset and stay a for a few minutes after the sun has set below the horizon. The city and skyscraper lights turn on and you still have some sunset colors in the sky; it’s spectacular. Here’s a shot I took a few months back. Nothing to brag about as I wasn’t planning to take photographs that day – only wanted to include it as an illustration.

San Francisco viewed from Panoramic Way during sunset in Berkeley

FYI

If you want more of a closeup view and still be in the East Bay, head over to Emeryville Powell’s street. There’s a long waterfront stretch from a the Police station all the way to the Hong Kong seafood restaurant. This will also give you some amazing view. Your foreground will be water and the Bay Bridge. You’ll also see the city, but due to the lower altitude, only the highest buildings like the Salesforce Tower or the Transamerica Pyramid will be visible. The Golden Gate Bridge is visible to your right as well.

Sun about to hit the horizon. View from the city of Emeryville

View from Sausalito

Now let’s go North to Sausalito and diversify your viewpoints. We’ve covered some places here already, but I’ll recap worth places here. Hawk Hill, Slacker Hill, Battery Spencer, and Kirby Cove are going to be your best bet. All of these locations will offer a close-up view of the Golden Gate Bridge and view of the entire city of San Francisco. Downtown and the skyscrapers can be seen to your left through the Bridge ropes and pillars. Whereas Twin Peaks, the Sutro Tower, and the Sunset and Richmond Districts are to your right.

Come here at sunrise and see the sun rising right behind the Bridge or come during sunset and enjoy the sky glowing pink. These places are all very busy at all times so expect limited parking space. The exception is Slacker Hill as it requires you to hike a bit over an hour round-trip. Arrive early or late to avoid traffic and lack of parking space. This entire place is protected by the National Park Service. Drones are prohibited but I still see folks flying there. It’s not worth it, people. The penalties are again not worth the risk. Enjoy your travel and make sure to bring some zoom lenses or a telescope to appreciate close-up views of distant landscapes.

Sunrise from Slacker Hill

That’s it

Well that will wrap things up for our coverage today. We hope that you’ve discovered some new places to add to your bucket list. This is, by no means, a complete list but rather what stood out to me. I am sure when you arrive you might come across more spectacular viewpoints that haven’t been covered. Feel free to share them. For other locations to check out when in San Francisco, see our destinations section by clicking here. Thanks again and until next time, take care.

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