This Urban Spot Is Tops
Explore and Enjoy Presidio Tunnel Tops in San Francisco
Once an old military command post, today the Presidio in San Francisco is the largest urban national park in the United States. And it’s taking lessons from the past to help create a better future. As part of an initiative to help sustain flora and fauna connections in an urban space, projects such as marsh bridges under Presidio Parkway have been realized in the past few years, with more to come! It’s also home to the relatively new Presidio Tunnel Tops, a park built on top of Presidio Parkway tunnels.
Not only does this offer a corridor for animals and plants to thrive in, it’s also a great community space for humans: thoughtfully laid out with picnic tables, reservable barbecue pits, benches sculpted from fallen cypress trees in the park, sprawling lawns, colorful gardens, a café (with a major food hall in the works for 2025), and the Presidio Visitor Center.
The view from Tunnel Tops is pure San Francisco gold … and by that we mean unparalleled vistas of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. For a classic and easy exploration of the area, start at Crissy Field’s East Beach and walk up to Presidio Tunnel Tops. You’ll pass over the Crissy Field Marsh via a boardwalk; the marsh is a favorite of great blue herons, among other spear-fishing birds. And you’ll get one of the most beautiful vantages of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s a quick street crossing to Tunnel Tops, where the Cliff Walk is a delightful way to see the park’s highlights. Sunny days make for golden scenery and if the fog rolls in (common!) there’s a gas fire pit carved into giant boulders.
TIP: National park rangers host complimentary campfire talks at Tunnel Tops throughout the year.
BONUS: At California Academy of Sciences' new exhibition, California: State of Nature, learn how San Francisco’s Crissy Field was transformed after the Presidio became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. It’s a tale of reinvention and restoration, including reviving marshland, creating more open space, and finding ways to support abundant wildlife and plant life. Experience the shaking felt in the epicenter of the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes in the Bay Area inside the Shake House at the California Academy of Sciences. This popular earthquake simulator emphasizes the resiliency of things like beehives and bird nests, and architectural structures like the traditional Ohlone tule house.
