San Francisco has long been our favorite U.S. city to visit. The city is compact, enjoys excellent public transportation, offers great vistas, and is home to outstanding dining, shopping, and a wide variety of attractions. San Francisco is a great walking town with lots of parks and small restaurants where you can rest or purchase a cup of coffee. It's only right that Tony Bennett left his heart in the city by the bay.

One of San Francisco's major gems is the Presidio of San Francisco, a former military post that has become a magnet for locals and visitors alike. It is where people come to hike, golf, bicycle, picnic, fly kites, enjoy nature, explore history, and stay overnight in a unique lodging facility. The park includes a 300-acre forest, 24 miles of hiking trails, and 15 miles of bikeways. The Presidio also attracts people who want to learn about one of our country's most beloved citizens: Walt Disney.

We returned to the Presidio during a recent stay in San Francisco. The two of us had explored the former military fort during several previous visits to the city, but spending time in this unusually beautiful park never gets old. Returning to the Presidio always brings to mind how lucky the citizens of San Francisco are to have such a wonderful public park at their doorstep.

History of the Presidio

Locals and visitors who take advantage of the 1,500-acre Presidio can thank both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Congress. The Presidio served as a military fort for over 200 years following the establishment of an outpost here in 1776 by the Spanish. The post subsequently fell under the control of Mexico following that country's independence from Spain, and in 1848 was taken over by the United States military. The Presidio was occupied by the U.S. Army until 1994. This continuity of government ownership kept this large and picturesque area free of condominiums, hotels, bars, supermarkets, and big-box retailers.

Today's Presidio is directly related to the 1972 establishment of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which included the provision that the Presidio would be turned over to the National Park Service should the U.S. Army depart. When the military base was closed by Congress in 1994, the NPS found itself with a large unit including numerous unneeded structures that would entail enormous maintenance expenses. As a result, responsibility for management of the new park was split between the National Park Service and the Presidio Trust, with the NPS taking care of 300 acres of recreational coastal area and the Trust administering the larger interior portion that includes most of the structures.

The Trust basically handles the Presidio's business end. Established with the provision it would receive government funding for a maximum of 15 years, the Trust became self-supporting ahead of schedule by renting the Presidio's numerous buildings to individuals and businesses at market-based rates. In some instances building renovations are financed by the Trust, while in other cases construction and renovations are paid for by the eventual occupants. The latter was the case for the Walt Disney Family Museum and the Letterman Digital Arts Center.

The Presidio is more than a historical relic with museums, recreational activities, and nature preserves. It is a community that includes homes and apartments where over 3,000 people reside in nearly two dozen distinct neighborhoods.

The old Officers' Club now contains a wonderful museum that traces the history of the Presidio/David and Kay Scott

Enjoying a Visit to the Presidio

Visitors can easily spend a day or more exploring the Presidio. The National Park Service visitor center, currently housed in temporary quarters a short walk from the transportation center, is a good place to begin a visit. While small in size with limited exhibit space, park rangers can offer an overview of the Presidio along with recommendations for activities and sights to see based on the length of time you have available. The visitor center will eventually move across the street into a building currently housing a bank and the U.S. Post Office.

One of the great features of the Presidio is a free shuttle system that operates on two circuits within the park. One route covers the northern portion of the park including the Golden Gate Bridge and Crissy Field. The other includes the park's southern region including Baker Beach. Each shuttle has multiple stops and requires about a half-hour for the complete circuit. Visitors can get on and off and have access to virtually the entire Presidio through the shuttle system that operates out of the transportation center. No personal vehicle is required to enjoy sights, museums, and activities throughout the park. Yet another plus is a shuttle that operates between downtown and the Presidio. Riding this shuttle is free on weekends, holidays, and from mid-morning to mid-afternoon during weekdays. The downtown shuttle operates seven days a week.

The impressive 4,000-square-foot Heritage Gallery at the recently renovated Presidio Officers' Club has exhibits that interpret the history of this portion of the peninsula from the time it was inhabited by the Ohlone to the park's current administration. The building also includes a beautiful lounge and the Arguello, a restaurant specializing in Mexican cuisine. A wide variety of programs for children and adults is offered at the Officers' Club throughout the year.

The Walt Disney Family Museum, located on Montgomery Street across from the main parade ground, includes multiple galleries with exhibits, videos, and interactive displays that follow the life and times of Walt Disney from childhood until his 1966 death. We found the museum fascinating and especially enjoyed some of the vintage videos of Walt Disney presenting his television shows. During our first visit to the Presidio we assumed this museum was mainly geared to children. We were wrong.

Fort Point is another interesting location accessible from the Presidio shuttle. The fort was constructed between 1853 and 1861 to protect San Francisco Bay's commercial and military installations from a naval attack. The fort did not see battle, but the masonry structure is quite impressive and views of the Golden Gate Bridge from near the historic site are quite amazing.

Choosing to Stay in the Presidio

With free transportation to downtown, along with inexpensive parking within the park, the Presidio is a convenient place to stay overnight during a visit to San Francisco. Inn at the Presidio, in a renovated military barracks building, offers 22 spacious rooms, most of which are suites. An additional four guest rooms are available at a nearby house. Guests each day are treated with breakfast and an evening wine and cheese reception. Parking at the inn is $7 per night, a bargain compared with overnight parking fees of $40 to $50 at downtown hotels. The Crissy Field shuttle stops at the inn making it quite easy for guests to visit other locations in the park, or to get to the transportation center that offers shuttle service to downtown San Francisco.

A variety of dining alternatives are available for guests at the inn. The Officers' Club, the Walt Disney Family Museum, the transit center, and the golf course each offering food service.

Elegant lodging exists in the Inn at the Presidio, where rates run about $300 a night along with a 14 percent park fee/David and Kay Scott