Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge (Battery Spencer · Vista Point)

Aim for the day only the two red towers poke above the fog

⚠ Fog can hide the whole bridge

Hours

Sidewalk 5am–9pm (daylight saving) / 5am–6:30pm (winter); Welcome Center daily 9am–6pm

Tickets

Free. Drivers pay a toll only heading south into the city, billed by licence plate

Address

Welcome Center by the south toll plaza; the postcard viewpoint, Battery Spencer, is up Conzelman Road at the north end

With this bridge it's all about where you stand. Walk out from the Welcome Center at the south end and the red towers shoot up overhead while the wind hums through the cables. The postcard angle is Battery Spencer, an old gun battery on the hill at the north end: from the concrete you get the tower tops and the downtown skyline in one frame. Vista Point, just below, lines up the side of the bridge with the city. Fog is the wild card, and plenty of visitors say they saw nothing but white the first time and came back on a clear day.