The Golden Gate Bridge is the view that ruins all other bridges, and the best way to meet it is on foot — out over the span, then down to the fort it was built to spare. Five kilometres with the two best vantage points in the city built in. Come in the morning, before the fog burns off or rolls in, whichever it's going to do.
Start at the south plaza, by the round house and the loop of original cable. Walk out along the east sidewalk — the pedestrian side, the city side — as far as the first tower, where the deck hums under your feet. Turn around: downtown, Alcatraz, the hills, all stacked behind you. That's the one.
Walk back and drop to Fort Point, the brick Civil War casemate the engineers arched the bridge over rather than knock down; its roof, right under the span, is the strangest seat in town. Then up to Battery East for the postcard three-quarter view, and onto the Batteries to Bluffs Trail, a steep cliff path to Marshall's Beach. Climb out to the Presidio shuttle.
