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Beginning at the Visitor Information Center, where you can pick up an excellent map, first explore the Main Post. Here you can ride around the Parade Ground, see the Presidio’s earliest surviving buildings, dating from the 1860s, as well as 18th-century Spanish adobe wall fragments in the former Officers’ Club.

Exit the area on Sheridan, which takes you past the Spanish Colonial Revival-style Golden Gate Club, and turn left onto Lincoln, which winds around the National Military Cemetery. Turn right on McDowell; on the left you see the Colonial Revival Cavalry Barracks. The African-American “Buffalo Soldiers” were stationed here from 1902 to 1904.

Now go past the five brick Stables, off to both the left and the right, and stop at the quirky Pet Cemetery on the left, where post guard dogs are buried, and also family pets. Next, head under Highway 101 to encounter Stilwell Hall, built in 1921 as enlisted barracks and a mess hall for the airmen; turn left to take in the metal Aerodrome Hangars from the same era; then proceed on and pause at Crissy Field to admire the views.

Double back at this point, take the next left down toward the Bay and join the Golden Gate Promenade all the way out to Fort Point where you can experience the Golden Gate Bridge and the crashing waves of the Pacific up close and personal.

America’s “Devil’s Island” didn’t operate as a prison for very long, but it can still evoke a chill.

This first-rate restaurant serves Sicilian and seafood dishes in an old-style interior. There are great views over the Golden Gate Bridge

An exotic eatery with a touch of Las Vegas pizzazz. The food is Indo-Chinese and delicious.

A trip out to Angel Island, now a state park, can make for a very pleasant day of picnicking, biking, hiking, kayaking, and swimming. But in the early 1900s it was the “Ellis Island of the West,” where would-be immigrants, mostly Chinese, could be detained for months. During World War II, it served as a prisoner of war camp and later as a missile base. Treasure Island was built in 1939 for the Golden Gate International Exposition and was a US Navy base during World War II; it is now once again owned by the city and has recently become San Francisco’s newest suburb. Yerba Buena Island is a Coast Guard station and is mostly closed to visitors.

Great secondhand books, records, and CDs, and all the proceeds support programs in San Francisco’s libraries. No better prices anywhere.

In a complete departure from the usual kitsch of Pier 39, this shop offers genuine Chinese antiques at very affordable prices. You can find carvings, masterful ceramics, and much more.

The original world import mart that set the trend for all the others. It can still surprise with a well-chosen item from some far-away land.

Originally marshland and dunes, the field was filled in for the 1915 Pan-Pacific Exposition and paved over entirely for use as an airfield by the army from 1919–36. With the establishment of the Presidio as a national park under the supervision of the city, a massive restoration project has now returned part of Crissy Field to wetlands and the rest to lawns, pathways, and picnic areas. The city’s 100-acre “Front Yard” is one of the prime viewing sites for the July 4 fireworks displays, while the Golden Gate Promenade is a 3-mile (5-km) paved pathway that runs through this district from Aquatic Park to Fort Point.