Urban Trek USA is a 5-star one-man operation San Francisco private walking and sightseeing city tour for a real IMMERSIVE San Francisco EXPERIENCE. Why just simply visit when you can experience it?
Get off the tour bus, urban trek with us!
This installment of #TuesdayTips part of #UrbanTrekUSATips by Urban Trek USA San Francisco private walking and city tours features Bernal Heights in the Mission neighborhood area. Bernal Heights is about 475 feet above sea level and has a pretty awesome view. Bernal Heights might not be well-known as a tourist destination probably because it is somewhat farther away from the major tourist areas. However, since the Mission neighborhood's transformation as the hipster neighborhood during this Tech Boom era, more tourists are visiting the Mission neighborhood so I believe tips for how to explore Bernal Heights will be useful to those that venture in this area.
There are several ways to get to Bernal Heights via public transportation (e.g. Muni #14, 49) but personally I prefer to take the #24 bus because it is normally an "uneventful" ride than the other buses. Provided if you are coming from downtown the #24 bus is more out of the way. Taking the #24 bus headed (outbound) to Palou & Third Street, disembark at the Cortland & Bocana bus stop. After you disembark, cross to the northeast side of Bocana and walk uphill (past Eugenia & Powathan). At the end of Bocana you will see this sort of hidden pathway and just walk through it: (Note: If you take the #14 or #49 buses, you will have to disembark at Mission & Cortland and walk uphill to Bocana.)
(Click to enlarge photo)
The path will lead you to the road that leads to the top of Bernal Heights. You can look around at the view in that area but eventually go up the road:
(Click to enlarge photo)
You will get to this gate and walk to the left of it to continue going uphill:
(Click to enlarge photo)
When you get to this opening in the railing along the road, go through it and walk right:
(Click to enlarge photo)
Walk toward the edge of the hill where you will have a pretty good view and an even better view from the farthest point:
(Click to enlarge photo)
This is the panoramic view from the Good spot:
This is the panoramic view from the Best spot:
Walk back to where the opening in the railing is located and if you need to take a seat and admire the view, this is a good bench to do so:
(Click to enlarge photo)
After, walk to the other side via this narrow path: (Note:If you have a fear of heights, this might be difficult to walk through so you might try the other side of the building there which has a fence you can hold onto. The photo below does not capture the steep drop on the right side of the path.)
(Click to enlarge photo)
When you get to this point, walking to the left will lead you to another area with a view and walking to the right will take you to the stairs leading down to the road:
(Click to enlarge photo)
This is the panoramic from at the spot if you walk to the left:
From the above vista area and to go down, walk back to the fork earlier and follow the narrow path leading to the stairs and go down the stairs: (Note:When you get to the fence, you will have to walk to the right to get to the stairs. I did not take a photo of the fence and it might be hard to see where the stairs are from where the fence is located so you can look for the pole at the top of the stairs.)
(Click to enlarge photo)
When you get to the bottom of the stairs where the road is, walk left back to the gate you saw earlier and walk through the right side where the sidewalk starts:
(Click to enlarge photo)
(Click to enlarge photo)
When you get to Anderson Street, walk right:
(Click to enlarge photo)
Along the way you will see some neat small homes, which Bernal Heights is known for:
(Click to enlarge photo)
You will reach Cortland as you walk down. Cortland is the main commercial street for this neighborhood with a bunch of bars,cafes and other places to eat.
My most favorite place in the area is Mitchell Ice Cream along San Jose Ave. Mitchell Ice Cream has some - #UrbanTrekUSAFavorite - delicious tropical fruit flavors like macapuno (young coconut), ube (purple yam), mango, halo halo, etc. Click here for a link to their Instagram page.
