Cool Urban Staircases in San Francisco
San Francisco is as famous for its restaurants and food trends as it is for the Golden Gate Bridge and cable cars. But something a lot of tourists don’t know about are the beautiful urban staircases scattered all over the city. Many of the staircases have turned into art projects over the years and are tucked away in the hills of the city. On the weekends you’ll find several locals running the stairs for exercise and if you make your way to the top you can catch beautiful views of the Bay from different perspectives.
Whether you’re a local or visiting San Francisco for a long weekend, I’d put some of these cool urban staircases on your must visit list (especially if you like photo ops).
LYON STREET STEPS
The Lyon Street Steps, also called the Lyon Street Stairs, is a 288 step hidden staircase in San Francisco. Tucked between the expansive Presidio on the west and the Pacific Heights neighborhood on the east, this impressive set of stairs is a favorite of fitness buffs and exercising locals, but is virtually unknown to tourists. From the top of this staircase, you can catch amazing views of the Palace of Fine Arts and the Marina District, Alcatraz and Angel Island, the rolling East Bay hills and the Bay.
Surprisingly, this was the first step of staircases I visited when we moved to San Francisco and I found them with a quick Google search. This is also the spot where I randomly met my first friend @poppy.thedoodle.
Parking can be found at the bottom of the staircase at Lyon Street and Green Street, and at the top of the staircase at Lyon Street and Broadway Street. To avoid the hordes of fitness freaks, arrive early in the morning before they descend upon the stairs, or later in the afternoon when they’re done working out for the day.
LINCOLN PARK STEPS
The Lincoln Park Steps sit at the edge of Lincoln Park on the western end of California Street. These stairs had decades of neglect, but the city asked renowned local artist Aileen Barr to revive them. The result was this magnificent beaux arts-inspired public art installation. You can read all about the making of this design here.
Lincoln Park Steps back up to a golf course and there’s limited street parking at the base of the stairs. They seem to be a hidden gem because we didn’t have to fight a crowd at all to get these people-free snaps.
ToMPKINS STAIrway garden
Once a trash-covered hillside, San Francisco’s Tompkins Stairway Garden is now a converted street park, featuring a succulent garden in year-round bloom and a colorful tiled stairway. The staircase is nestled between Putnam and Nevada in Bernal Heights and street parking in the neighbored is available for free as you explore the several rainbow, zigzag sections of the staircase inspired by Steps to Peace. As you make your way toward the top, you’ll come across some shade from the garden plants as you make your way to Nevada St.
The Bernal Heights neighborhood band together to clean up this space and to do this day still maintain the garden the first Saturday of every month.
HIDDEN GARDEN STAIRS
One of our favorites so far, Hidden Garden Stairs, is located between Kirkham and Lawton in Inner Sunset Neighborhood. The Hidden Garden Steps Project is a volunteer and community-based public art project to create mosaic steps, a public garden and a wall mural on 16th Avenue that was completed in 2013.
The garden surrounding both sides of the stairs has sprouted tall trees so the entire staircase is in the shade and you really feel like you’re in an urban jungle. Each flight of stairs has it’s own backstory to accompany the design and several tiles throughout the design either has someone’s name or an organization on it to pay tribute to donors.
If you don’t have time to visit Hidden Garden Stairs, you can take a virtual tour instead.
Athens avalon greenspace
A story similar to the other staircases, Athens Avalon Greenspace used to be a hillside used for dumping trash and graffiti until the neighborhood came together to transform it in 2008. The staircase can be found on Athens St. between Avalon and Valmar Terrace and parking was easy to find in the neighborhood.
Athens Avalon Greenspace has the most beautiful garden lining the flights of stairs with large overgrown succulents and unique flowers. Halfway up the staircase there’s even a small patio area you can walk onto to get a closer look at some of the beautiful plants.
The Athens Avalon Greeenspace staircases and garden is located pretty high up in the Athens neighborhood and as you can tell the wind was fierce the day we visited. If it’s a sunny day, there’s a tiny strip of shade at the very top flight up against the fence you see below.
FILBERT STEPS
Filbert Steps are more about the views than the steps themselves. This 284 foot wooden-step walkway leads up to the top of Telegraph Hill where you can catch views of the Bay Bridge and Coit Tower. The incline is a bit deceiving, but you’re rewarded by the views and cute homes that line the incline.
After your roundtrip walk, wonder across the street to Levi’s Plaza to catch a breather before moving on to your next adventure. The plaza is quiet with benches in the shade and picnic tables for larger groups. There’s metered street parking along Sansoma Street right at the base of the steps.
FLIGHTS OF FANCY MOSAIC STEPS/arelious walker stairway
The Flights Of Fancy Staircase in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point District, is a four foot wide, 87 step mosaic tile staircase that connects Northridge Road and Innes Avenue. The mosaic design was inspired by patterns from Ghanaian Adinkra cloth, Central American weaving, Middle Eastern tile, and Native American pottery.
The tile staircase is also called the Arelious Walker Stairway or Arelious Walker Steps because it sits on Arelious Walker Drive and is dedicated to Dr. Arelious Walker, a former pastor and advocate for the Bay View District.
There is parking along the street near the stairway and if you go early you shouldn’t have a problem finding a spot. When we visited the stairs were not dirty, but I’ve read they’re typically not well kept. There is also no shade around these stairs so plan to visit early or on an overcast day.
THE ESMERALDA STAIRS
The Esmeralda Street Stairs offer a steep but direct climb up Bernal Hill and more than a few rewards to sweeten the deal. Urban hikers are greeted with beautiful plant life, a pair of slides, and a stunner of a view at the stairs' terminus, right inside Bernal Heights Park.
The pair of 40-foot slides are most commonly called the Winfield Street Slides and were constructed by local volunteers in the late '70s with assistance from the city.The slides are a hit with children and adults alike.
If you plan to take a ride down, lean back and use the bar to propel you forward for a speed-boost or if there’s cardboard around, hop on that. I went down with Ruby on my lap and we didn’t quite make it, so we definitely recommend cardboard if it’s around. It’ll save your pants from getting a little dirty too.
The entrance to the slides is at the top of Winfield St. in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. This area has some steep hills and limited parking, so you might have to hunt a little bit for a curbside spot but it’s totally worth it.
Stay tuned as we explore more staircases in San Francisco and continue to add to this list. Next up on our list (and one’s you should consider too): 16th Avenue Tiled Staircase, Fillmore Street Steps, and Greenwich Street Steps.