The Ferry Building Start
The walk begins at the Ferry Building on Embarcadero, the 1898 Beaux-Arts terminal that survived the 1906 earthquake and was renovated in 2003 into a year-round farmers' market and food hall. The market on Tuesday and Saturday mornings (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.) is the city's most concentrated artisan food scene — Acme Bread, Cowgirl Creamery, Frog Hollow Farm, Hog Island Oyster Bar, Recchiuti Confections.
A walk that includes the market should begin at 9:30 a.m. on a Saturday — early enough to avoid the lunch crowds and late enough that the vendors are fully set up. Spend 30 minutes at the market, picking up a coffee from Blue Bottle and a pastry from Acme Bread to carry up the hill.
The Embarcadero Walk North
Exit the Ferry Building's western entrance and walk north along the Embarcadero. The waterfront here is the city's most-improved public space of the past 25 years — the freeway that once ran above this section was demolished after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, and the resulting open boulevard is one of San Francisco's most successful piece of urban renewal.
Walk past Pier 1, Pier 3, Pier 5 — the wooden piers are now home to small offices, restaurants, and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Continue to Pier 7, the most architecturally elegant of the rebuilt piers, with its long pedestrian walkway extending into the bay. From Pier 7's tip, the view of the Bay Bridge to the south and Coit Tower above to the west is one of the best in the city.
Mile 0.7 — The Filbert Steps Trailhead
The Filbert Steps begin at the Embarcadero, at Sansome Street. The first section is a paved sidewalk that rises gently for about 200 feet. Then the wooden steps begin: the original 1880s wood-and-handrail staircase, restored multiple times since but maintained in the same configuration.
The 387-step climb is broken into three flights, with rest landings between each. The first flight (about 100 steps) is the steepest. The middle flight rises through Grace Marchant Garden — the heart of the experience.
The Garden Built and Maintained by One Woman
Grace Marchant moved to Telegraph Hill in 1949 and immediately began clearing the goat-grazed hillside between the Filbert Steps and the cliff edge. For 32 years until her death in 1982, she planted, watered, and weeded a half-acre of garden along the steps — creating one of San Francisco's most beloved public spaces with no public funding and no formal recognition.
The garden survived Marchant's death because her neighbors took over. The Garden's preservation is now managed by the Telegraph Hill Dwellers Association, a residents' group that has continued the work for four decades. The plantings include flowering jasmine, agapanthus, calla lilies, and a remarkable variety of succulents. The garden blooms year-round in San Francisco's Mediterranean climate.
The most photographed feature is the Napier Lane wooden boardwalk that branches off the Filbert Steps — a single block of original 1880s wooden plank sidewalk lined with houses that have been continuously occupied since the 1870s.
The Wild Parrots
The Telegraph Hill area is home to a feral colony of about 200 cherry-headed conures and red-masked parakeets, descended from escaped or released pet birds. The colony has been documented since the 1990s and is the subject of Mark Bittner's 2003 book and subsequent documentary, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.
The birds gather in the trees along the Filbert Steps, particularly in the eucalyptus and pine canopy near the upper landings. Their calls are distinctive — loud, scratching screeches in flocks of 20 to 40 birds. Sightings are most reliable in the morning, when the birds are foraging.
Mile 1.0 — Coit Tower at the Top
The Filbert Steps end at the Pioneer Park plateau on Telegraph Hill. Cross the small park to reach Coit Tower — the 210-foot Art Deco fluted concrete tower built in 1933 with a $125,000 bequest from Lillie Hitchcock Coit.
The tower's interior is open daily, with an elevator to the observation deck at the top ($10 adult). The observation deck offers a 360-degree view: the Bay Bridge to the east, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge to the north, the Marin Headlands beyond. The view alone is worth the walk.
The tower's ground-floor lobby has 27 fresco murals painted by 26 artists in 1934 as a Public Works of Art Project commission. The murals depict California labor scenes — agricultural work, factory work, urban life — in the Mexican muralist tradition of the period. The murals are free to view and worth 20 minutes.
The Way Back Down
The walk back down can use either the Filbert Steps (same route, different perspective) or the Greenwich Steps, which run parallel one block north and are similarly historic. The Greenwich Steps are slightly less steep, with their own gardens (less famous than Grace Marchant's but pleasant) and their own parrot population.
For walkers who don't want to descend the steps, the 39 Coit bus runs from Telegraph Hill back to North Beach and the Embarcadero — a 12-minute ride. The bus stop is directly outside Coit Tower's main entrance.
Practical notes
- Address: Start at the Ferry Building, Embarcadero at Market Street; finish at Coit Tower, 1 Telegraph Hill Boulevard
- Getting there: Start: BART or Muni Metro to Embarcadero. Finish: 39 Coit bus back to North Beach.
- Go for: The Saturday morning Ferry Building market, the Filbert Steps' Grace Marchant Garden, the wild parrots at the upper landings, Coit Tower's 1934 frescoes
- Size / timing: 1.4 miles, 387 steps. 60 minutes direct, 2 hours with stops. Best in spring (March–May) for full garden bloom.
- Photograph it, but know this: The Filbert Steps face west, so morning light is dim and afternoon light is harsh. The best window is 4 to 6 p.m. for warm side-light on both the gardens and the bay view from Coit.
The Ferry Building to Coit Tower walk is the canonical San Francisco short walk for residents and visitors alike. It compresses the city's geography — the working waterfront, the residential hillside, the architectural landmark on top — into 90 minutes of climbing through one of the city's most singular public gardens. The wild parrots are not promotional. The 387 steps are exactly that. The view from Coit at the end is one of the few in the city that truly justifies the climb.
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Sources consulted: Coit Tower · San Francisco Recreation and Parks · The New York Times · SFGate · Atlas Obscura
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