Sausalito

i was really lucky to live on a houseboat here for a few years. friends had always warned about how awful houseboat living was. small, damp spaces, crazy people. so glad i didn’t listen. not these houseboats! it was huge! with many decks and a super tall danish fireplace. anyway, sausalito is special. loads of tourists are dumped daily downtown for overpriced art galleries and crappy sweatshirt shops. but to get a different feel, go for a hike up in the hills. there are stairway trails that are challenging but the views are something to be seen. walk around on the northern end of town by the houseboats and discover a wonderful area filled with old artists, writers, fisherman, etc. you can take a walk down by the marsh and if you’re a bird lover there are so many amazing birds to see! it’s all quite lovely.

Nice little day trip from San Francisco. Take the ferry there; it’s more fun. The views are incredible.

I lived there. Great people. Quaint little town just minutes from SF and a short drive from Sonoma and Yountville, my other favorite hangouts.
Is more than worth visiting. Going to Sausalito is like visting the french riviera sans the casinos. From my balcony, Richardson Bay and Tiburon resembled a nativity scene during twilight.
Great food, drink music and sports all all over town.
The Art festival is huge with lots of artists worth of purchasing their art. The Jazz & Blues by the Bay is fun and colorful. Caledonia Street fair and The Chilli Cook-Off is wicked. Great stuff. Lots of local characters.
There is lot to see and to do in Sausalito. Cycling. Jogging. Hiking to Mt. Tamalpais. Running the Dipsea Trail Run. A day surfing in Stinson Beach. Kayaking. Flyfishing or pay a visit to Bolinas from Sausalito. Become a hippie for day.

Excellent restaurants are Christophe for french menu.
Buckeye Roadhouse for Smoked ribs, martinis and pretty women.
SushiRan, great japanese and you keep your sake bottle there!
Celebrities ahoy at any time.
Sailor’s Landing for good food, great service, ambiance and lots of locals. So don’t bring you camera there.
If you like charbroiled burgers just walk to HAMBURGERS. From the flame to your taste buds. And of course, the Altamira Hotel is a place worth a have brunch or drinks with friends.
A restaurant that will surprise you is Feng Nian, unasumming little place and excellent food. WongTon soup. Fresh noodles.
For day visitors, downtown has lots to offer, galleries, gift shops, little inns and much more.
And if you have an iPod you can now download Sausalito Radio in iTunes. Get the total experience. Trust me, you will really like it there!
Trivia: The only place where the official garbage man has a degree.

yes—there is more then one Sausalito.

There is the ‘downtown’ sausalito that all the tourists go to. This is worth going to—because the view of the bay and of san francisco across the bay is stellar.

Then there are the ‘hill’ people—who live in some of the most expensive real estate in the country. however by and large these people are not all that snobby.

Then there are the ‘boat/houseboat/sailing/fishing’ people. there is a very rich tradition in sausalito of boat building, sailing, fishing, and living in boats and houseboats. these are the people who really diversify the scene in sausalito and make it very special. and don’t even tell me there aren’t fisherman here anymore—they are here right now fishing for herring.

sausalito is a very special place.

it also has a rich rich counter – cultural history. david crosby wrote songs there, stewart brand published the whole earth catalog for many years from gate 5 road, allan watts helped to popularize zen buddhism with his videos recorded on the huge houseboat the vallejo.

places to check out—the bay model with a complete working model of the san francisco bay. its huge!! and its free.

cafe trieste—its a short walk from downtown and has a great mix of people.

the houseboats along the water at the opposite end from downtown.

riding the ferry also gives you some great views.

I’ve ended up walking around here a few times after biking over the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s really a prepackaged place meant for tourists from Nebraska who think this is what California is about.

Sausalito is a truly beautiful “coastal” town, with a real old-world feel. Would be an excellent spot to take a “special friend” for a day-trip from San Francisco.

It’s in a beautiful environment, lots of galleries, and arts scene, but it’s very bourg-ey, upper-crusty touristy—which admittedly has its charms.

While I agree with the last posters take on the shops and what not…there are two things about Sausalito that keep brining me back each time I go.

First, the views. In one word…BREAHTAKING.

Second, and some might consider even more importantly, the Burgers. When you get off the ferry and hit the main street, go right. I don’t think the place even has a name, but you’ll know it for two reasons. A single file line of salivating patrons waiting to get into the narrow doorway and the rotating grill with grilled chicken and HUGE burgers in the window.

Tell them I sent ya ;)

I was sort of disappointed in Sausalito. I’d heard about it nearly all of my life. When I finally got to visit a couple of years ago, it seemed to me that it was extremely touristy, featuring many of the same shops that you find in other water oriented tourist towns. I will recommend it though, because it certainly is a wonderful place in terms of its location, with beautiful views of the Bay and San Francisco.