Biking across Golden Gate bridge to Sausalito

If you’re not a confident bike rider, go on a weekday. We parked at Chrissy Field. I think it was 5 – 6 miles round trip (we didn’t go to Sausalito). If u want a longer ride you can just ride further in the other direction from Chrissy Field along the water. The weekends are busy. Don’t hit a pedestrian. Especially a kid. Adults should hold their kids hand. People can’t hear you even when you’re RIGHT behind them yelling ‘excuse me!’ The cars are loud. And it’s always windy on the bridge itself. Bring a jacket. Beautiful views on bridge and on both ends.

Did the opposite. Rode bikes from Sausalito to San Francisco.
Exited 101 last off ramp on Sausalito side. exit. turn left, veer right (so as not to go onto bridge) then turn left into parking lot.
Use stairs to get on pedestrian side of bridge. stairs take you under freeway over to look out. That was the only side that was open at the time.
This is a great ride for the young kids, as there ends up being NO vehicle traffic to contend with. Also an easy ride, as the San Francisco end is all downhill.
We had a vehicle meet us on S.F. side. Will do it again this way with young children. Too short and no challenge for adults.

This is one of my favorites, although I generally only get to do it once or twice a year.
You can embellish your ride with a number of different start and stop points, tailoring it to your precise abilities and limits, but the basic truth is that it will involve some steep hills.
The reward is getting to avoid all of the usual drawbacks of a trip across the bridge, namely traffic and parking. Also, with your extended mobility range you get to include a bunch of different vistas that would be more or less inaccessible if you tried to catch them all on foot.
The other reward is that you get to eat whatever you want to for lunch without worrying about calories and such, and there are no shortage of options in Sausalito.
The main thing you need to watch out for is that the bike lane on the bridge is pretty narrow, and there are cyclists of all different abilities on there at the same time, going different speeds. This mean you may get trapped behind a pack of slow moving tourists, or buzzed by those people in the Tour de France outfits, trying to weave in between the rest of the cyclists at high speed.
To really get the most out of this ride you need a little bit of strength, stamina, cardiovascular conditioning, emotional stability and quick decision making ability. It’s like a comprehensive challenge of all of your basic tourism survival skills, but you come away from it feeling powerful and capable in a very self-​affirming way.
Highly recommended.

We biked the bridge and it was brilliant fun! We hired the bikes from a company down by the harbour and cycled over to Sausalito and then back again. It was a foggy day and we couldn’t actually see the bridge but it was still really good fun. The route was very easy and really nice, almost totally flat other than one hill that approaches the bridge. The bike company give you vouchers for the ferry if you want to take it back but we decided to cycle because we enjoyed it so much. There is a path on the bridge for cyclists and pedestrians so we were safe from the traffic. Sausalito was a lovely village with good places to eat and although the bridge was foggy, it was nice and sunny when we arrived down there. We were supplied with locks, helmets and the service was really good.

I just had to change this entry and give it a new title, as this is not about the bridge butabout the most stunning bike ride of my life. As many other Qypers explained, you rent a bike from Fisherman’s Wharf and within 45 minutes to an hour you can bike it to the bridge and across. On the way you will see landmark such as Fort Mason or the historic airport Crissy Fields.
Bikes are really expensive to rent (I paid 37 US$ for a decent one for a day), but it is well worth it. The point on the map highlights the starting point. of the trip.
It vista point in Marin County, you can take the steps underneath the highwayand from there you have a very pleasant downhill to Sausalito.
Some people take the ferry back to the city, but also going back by bike does not kill you.