The Best Free (Or For The Price Of A Drink) View In Town

San Francisco is known for its 47 hills.  Even bad neighborhoods may have classic Victorian homes with commanding views.  Visitor and local alike, are always impressed by the vistas they find in this city of vistas.  For the price of a drink, or nothing at all, you too can experience the city from different perspectives.  Some of those perspectives are not even places to go to for the view, they just happen to be places that happen to have nice views of San Francisco.

There was a time when this city had many rooftop destinations, mostly atop hotels.  Once the pandemic rolled though like a tsunami, only few remained.  The changing culinary interests of Millennials found their dining habits less conducive to the faux elegance (and not-so-faux price) of these stunning, but soon to be outdated venues.  But there are still a few remaining.

For the price of a drink, you can ascend to the 46th floor of the Hilton hotel and experience Cityscapes.  One of the few remaining rooftop restaurants.  Just shy of 500 feet, it is the tallest building the public can visit.

Nob Hill, from Cityscapes, atop of the Hilton Hotel

A few feet shorter, and a few blocks away from the Hilton is Marriott's flagship property, the Marriott Marquis.  Their cleverly titled rooftop lounge, The View, rests on the 39th floor.  Its 30 foot, floor-to-ceiling, alluvial fan-shaped window is quite breathtaking for anyone who enters the lounge and sees the view for the first time.

Twenty feet shorter, and eight blocks from the Marriott is the classic Art Deco hotel, now called the Beacon Grand.  Although it has had many different incarnations, the Starlite Room continues to offer dancing and drinks on the top floor.

One block away from the Beacon Grand, and at only 14 floors is the best kept secret in San Francisco.  The Marines Memorial Hotel’s rooftop restaurant, Chesty's is only 14 floors up, but has a view of San Francisco which stretches from Nob Hill and North Beach to Union Square and SOMA.  If you are unfamiliar with San Francisco and the aforementioned neighborhoods, well let's just say, it's a great view.

A view of the Beacon Grand Hotel's Starlite Room, from atop the Marines Memorial Hotel

If you would like a great view of the city, for free, check out the terrace of the UCSF office building at 400 Parnassus St., at the foot of Mt. Sutro.  The building is closed to the public, but the terrace which rings it, is not.  And the view is stunning.

A View from the UCSF/Parnassus Building

On the western side of the city sits Golden Gate Park, at its center is the De Young Museum and tower.  The tower rests 150 feet above the lush canopy of the park’s foliage, and has an incredible view of the western part of San Francisco.  It is a part of the city with few tall buildings so the tower, which is free to the public during business hours, has the monopoly for the best vista of the city’s quiet western neighborhoods.

A View from the De Young Museum Tower

Nestled into the nape of Russian Hill, Ina Coolbirth Park is only two blocks long, but has great views of the Financial District, North Beach, and Chinatown.  Added Bonus:  there are many little shady nooks with a bench you can lose yourself in.

Ina Coolbirth Park

Fun fact: San Francisco has three 18-hole golf courses within its city limits.  One of them is Lincoln Park, on the western edge of the city, and adjacent to the Legion of Honor Museum.  Next to Lincoln Park is a one-and-a-half mile trail called Land's End.  From these vantage points you can see great views of the city, the Pacific Ocean, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lincoln Park

And of course, Twin Peaks.

Lastly, everybody's favorite view of the city.  At almost 1000 feet above sea level, Twin Peaks sits at almost the geographic center of the city.  With an almost 360-degree view, you can't really get a better view of San Francisco.  Twin Peaks is barren, chilly, and windswept most of the year.  Yet, next to the Golden Gate Bridge, the view is probably the one image most people recognize of the city.