If you love history, small seaside towns and the beauty of the Golden Gate Bridge, you might want to know about Cavallo Point – The Lodge at the Golden Gate. This inn is within the grounds of Fort Baker, a turn-of-the-century Army base that’s now part of the National Park Service’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
You can spend the night in a historic officers’ housing structure, or—as I did during my hosted stay—sleep in the beautifully modern hillside buildings. From our room, my friend and I could see the Golden Gate Bridge from the Sausalito side.
Despite its rustic roots, Cavallo Point is a proper resort-like spot. At Sula, the in-house restaurant, we experienced incredibly attentive service and wholly delicious food in this small, stylish dining room offering modern American cuisine (the other restaurant, Farley, is a more casual gastropub). We elected to eat outside, but we also could’ve sat on the deck with a beautiful not-too-far-off view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. My friend and I shared appetizers, starting with the lobster mac and cheese, made with lobster béchamel and gruyere, plus a salad—which, honestly, could’ve been enough for a meal. But I plunged forward to try the delicious parmesan encrusted sole, while she had the short rib. We were both supremely happy, especially with the accompanying craft cocktails (we tried a few rounds of the Runaway and the Early Girl—though we regretted that we didn’t get the Cavallo Point Negroni simply for the name.
We retired to the suite to chat and look at the view from the window; if you’re used to life on the other side of the strait, it’s interesting to see the Golden Gate Bridge from this perspective. In the morning, we set the alarm to take an 8am yoga class (included with the stay) which was wonderful, and ate a few pastries before getting on the hotel’s complimentary e-bikes.
We biked around the fort with its red roofs and green lawns, on to a dock where several people were fishing, and then to the base of the bridge. We absolutely could’ve ridden over the bridge, but turned around, electing instead to ride to Sausalito. It only takes about 10 minutes to get to this quaint seaside town with plenty of shops and restaurants right on the water. The hotel allows you to use the e-bikes for a three-hour period, more than enough to go into town for a meal and come back.
For San Franciscans, consider this a fantastically calming getaway; for out-of-town visitors, this offers a much different, quirkier experience than the typical city hotel. (The accommodations at Cavallo Point are about a decade and a half old, which makes it the first national park lodge of the 21st century.)
Fort Baker was built between 1902 and 1910 and housed the 91st Division. Today, its 335 acres are home to 25 historic, former Army buildings in the Colonial Revival-style. (If you’re wondering about the name, the Baker of the title is Edward Dickinson Baker, who died in the Civil War while leading the California Regiment, a Union army, at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff.) Oh, and if you’re a Star Trek fan interested in doing some setjetting, you might recognize this site as where the Starfleet Headquarters and the Starfleet Academy are housed in Star Trek: Enterprise.
The hotel is most definitely a luxury inn (if you don’t want to bike to Sausalito, you can use Cavallo Point’s Lexus cars). There’s accessible parking at each accessible guest room (both in the modern and historic sides). If you don’t want to drive here at all, come by ferry to Sausalito and a shuttle can bring you the rest of the way; check with the hotel for details.