San Francisco Bay is always filled with sailboats and boats because it’s such a fun place to putt-putt around! Here are our top 5 favorite places to go on a boat in the San Francisco Bay Area – with kids! We love going on my parents’ boat, but some of these places can be accessed by ferries. Only-on-a-boat-bonus: the views of San Francisco will be amazing while you are getting there & back!

Angel Island

We love going here for picnics, hikes and a tram tour! You can bring your bike and bike around too. If you go by Blue & Gold Fleet, it is about a 30 min ride and $9.75 one way per adult (kids under 5 are free!).

Check out the tram tours of the island, or just hike around on your own. We usually pack a picnic and spend most of the time on the beach. The waves are so calm, Henry usually is afraid of the water, but, not at all here! It’s also a great place to escape the fog. Every time we’ve been here, it’s been nice and sunny. (Windy at times, but warmer than SF!)

Sausalito

If you take the commuter ferries that leave the Ferry Building near Embarcadero, it is about a 30 min ride, and about $12 one way (kids under 5 are free!). This runs all week long. To take the Blue & Gold Fleet to Sausalito, it also takes about 30 min and is $12.50 per adult one way. Check both schedules to see which one fits best for you.

Sausalito has a ton of restaurants and art galleries. Most of them are not kid-friendly, in my opinion. We just like to walk around and find an empty looking place to eat so we don’t disturb anyone. 🙂

Little ways away from downtown, Bay Area Discovery Museum is an absolute must if you are visiting Sausalito with kids! It’s so much fun if your kid likes trains, outdoors, boats, water play, construction play, trails, music, and blocks. This place might just cover every kid hobby known. 🙂 For the adults, there’s an amazing view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the museum. Right by this place is Murray Circle – you can go there right when it opens, sit outside, have a glass of champagne and oysters, and pretend like your kids aren’t there while you take in the gorgeous view. Just kidding. Kind of. It’s what we do sometimes. They are kid friendly, even though it’s a fancy place. Just go there right when it opens so you don’t feel so guilty being there crashing on someone else’s special date.

Right by this place is Murray Circle – you can go there right when it opens, sit outside, have a glass of champagne and oysters, and pretend like your kids aren’t there while you take in the gorgeous view. Just kidding. Kind of. It’s what we do sometimes.

Besides that, we love to just walk around Sausalito and eat ice cream. To be completely honest, we prefer the less crowded town right next door – Tiburon for a day with the kids.

Tiburon

If you take the commuter ferries that leave the Ferry Building near Embarcadero, it will be about $12.00 roundtrip per adult (kids under 5 are free!). The Golden Gate Tiburon Ferry does not operate on weekends or major holidays so plan accordingly! You could take the Blue and Gold Fleet ferry to Tiburon, which is about $12.50 per adult, one way (kids under 5 are free!).

We love to walk up and down the cute little downtown, and have dinner at Guayamas on the water. Kid friendly Mexican restaurant with a 10 million (probably literally) dollar view. We love love loooove the Candy Store on Main Street for ice cream, sweets, and toys. We let Henry choose one thing, and he ends up usually getting a toy, then eating some of my ice cream. Smart little guy. 🙂

If you can spend a whole day here, take a hike all the way down to Blackie’s Pasture! You will have amazing views most of the way, and it’s stroller friendly. There are a couple of playgrounds too. You will definitely earn your ice cream or Mexican food after this roundtrip hike.

Jack London Square, Oakland

You can take the San Francisco Bay Ferry to Jack London Square. The ferry will be about (from the Ferry Building) a 45 min ride, and about $6.80 per adult one way (kids under 5 are free!)

Here, there are lots of restaurants on the water, a nice square to walk around with farmers market (on Sundays). You can even kayak around there. We love Scott’s Seafood on the water. When we had brunch there, they gave Henry a plate of pancakes on the house. So nice! I was a little afraid because it was a nice fancy place, but that worry went away right when we sat down and met our waiter.

Discovery Bay – The Delta

I don’t know of a commercial way to get there by boat, but the Delta is such a fun place for boaters! There are funky and fun restaurants and quaint little towns, you won’t know you are less than 1.5 hours away from the city.

Discovery Bay deserves another post on its own – never knew this place existed until recently – but for now, let’s just say this place is like Florida and Ohio combined. It’s a small community lined with gorgeous palm trees (Florida), every house is on the water but it has that small town quaint charm you see in Ohio. It’s absolutely adorable and so much fun on the water!

On the water, you can kayak, boat, water ski, jet ski, paddle board, pedal boat, basically any water sports you can think of. One of our favorites is just to float on the dock and have a glass of wine during sunset. This place has absolutely gorgeous sunsets.

Around town, you can pick seasonal fruits, visit a farm or go to wineries. It’s a perfect place to get away from the city life. Isn’t that what going on a boat is for? Hope you get to visit one of these places soon!

Where is your favorite place to go on a boat?

Interested in a private boat tour for any of these destinations and more in the San Francisco Bay Area? Contact us!