Here’s how to spend the ideal Saturday on Treasure Island

Go Here Now is a first look at some of the  coolest places around — the ones we think are worth visiting.

The grass is pristine. The view of downtown’s skyline, impeccable. Seabirds alight and kids gawk at the boats in the bay. The brand-new Cityside Park shimmers with a cleanliness that’s frankly unusual for San Francisco. There may be no better place for a picnic in the entire city. 

Yes, we’re talking about Treasure Island. If you’re looking for a neighborhood in the city with an abundance of parking, beautiful parks, and a stretch of waterfront views to grab drinks and take scenic bike rides? Eat your heart out, Marina.

T.I. has entered the chat. 

The 400-acre plot of land was built on landfill more than 80 years ago to create a Xanadu for the art-moderne buildings and exhibits showcased at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exhibition. Now its shorelines have been reshaped into gathering spots, where eagle-eyed visitors can hunt for remnants of the expo’s deco works hiding in plain sight. Plans to develop the island into a flourishing neighborhood are underway (opens in new tab), including adding 186 boat slips.

The time to visit is now — to enjoy the new park as well as the final two weeks of Treasure Island’s Off the Grid market. Here’s how to plan a perfect outing to an under-appreciated part of the city.

Sure, you can drive halfway over the Bay Bridge, but the prettiest way to get there from San Francisco is the Treasure Island Ferry (opens in new tab), which takes eight minutes from the Ferry Building to the small terminal. A round-trip ticket is $10.

The ride is smooth, and there’s a detailed, up-to-date map of Treasure Island’s amenities on the boat’s upper deck. Bringing a bike is easy — and free. A day spent on two wheels can be an adventure for cyclists at all skill levels, since Treasure Island is almost perfectly flat while adjacent Yerba Buena Island is as hilly as they come.

Ferries to T.I., however, are smaller than the rest of the fleet, with no on-board food service. Luckily, the Ferry Building is a foodie wonderland. Fill a proverbial picnic basket with artisanal baguettes from Acme Bread Co. (opens in new tab), cold-pressed orange-turmeric-carrot blends from Juice House (opens in new tab), and anything from the vast salumi selection at Fatted Calf (opens in new tab). Or just browse Epicurean Trader for sandwiches and paninis. 

Saturdays are the best day to stock up on provisions. Year-round, more than 100 vendors set up at Ferry Plaza for the city’s most prestigious farmers market (opens in new tab). Mid-fall is an especially bountiful season, as new-crop almonds and walnuts are plentiful, while less common treats like jujubes and persimmons are also coming in.

Don’t forget the Ferry Building’s other side, either. Out back, Primavera, a cash-only outdoor stand, sells some of SF’s best chilaquiles, as well as jamaica (hibiscus) agua frescas big enough for two. Whatever path you take, be sure to treat yourself to some guava- and passionfruit-filled Hawaiian doughnuts from Ocean Malasada (opens in new tab), and grab a matcha latte or a Vietnamese cold brew for the boat ride from Red Bay Coffee (opens in new tab)’s two-month-old kiosk

If you’re coming from Oakland, you can bike (or walk!) all the way via a 6-mile path (opens in new tab) that originates on Shellmound Street on the border of Oakland and Emeryville, opposite Ikea. From there, the route is flat, smooth, and well-marked. Cyclists and pedestrians ascend along the south side of the Bay Bridge’s eastern span until they reach Yerba Buena Island, at which point the path dips below the bridge deck and veers upward again onto steep Macalla Road.

There’s no sugarcoating it: Macalla is a tough climb for even the fittest rider. But there’s no shame in walking, and the views are unparalleled. Home to Hiroshi Sugimoto’s eye-catching sculpture “Point of Infinity,” panoramic Yerba Buena Hilltop Park makes for a worthwhile detour too. 

If there’s one thing San Francisco has done right over the past few years, it’s open park after park — almost all of them on the waterfront. And at Cityside Park (opens in new tab), the unobstructed vista of San Francisco is the entire point. 

Unveiled in early September, the $12 million, six-acre project is a bayside green space lined with palms and full of bright-blue beach chairs, a few hundred feet from the ferry terminal. It’s also directly opposite 490 Avenue of the Palms, the island’s newest residential statement building and a symbol of the island’s transformation into a full-fledged neighborhood. 

Cityside is ready-made for picnicking or just chilling with a book. Its best amenity, though, may be Off the Grid (opens in new tab), the city’s experiential market that pops up every Saturday through Nov. 1. From 11 a.m. until 4 p.m., food trucks like Yo Soy Ceviche (opens in new tab) and Sam’s Chowder Mobile (opens in new tab) ring the perimeter, while vintage sellers like Protocol SF (opens in new tab) and Peter Thriffin (opens in new tab) set up stalls full of clothes and knickknacks, with families and weary cyclists lazying on the lawn. Umbrellas and arching canopies are set up for shade, and when the DJs are spinning, pretty much everyone is soaking in the view. 

This grand building is the last vestige of the Golden Gate International Exhibition and the first thing that greets you when you get off the ferry. Housed in the former administrative building of the exhibition, the Treasure Island museum is the permanent home to the many wonders from that era, including its grand interior murals. The most amazing, in our humble estimation, are the enormous stone-cast Pacific Unity sculptures that until recently were stored in a barely accessible area behind a chain-link fence nearby. 

When you step inside the museum, you might feel like you’ve been there before, because it is where the interior blimp scenes (opens in new tab) from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” were shot. 

Once teeming with WWII-era clipper planes, the massive hangar on the southern end of the island has become a bustling center for padel and pickleball. Bay Padel (opens in new tab), a club with indoor locations across the Bay Area, moved into the space in 2023. Founded by a group of Argentinians, the club is popular among South Americans and Europeans — so popular that they are adding more courts to the hangar.

Available for players of all skill levels, Bay Padel offers lessons and throws parties in the hangar once a month, featuring DJs, food, and an open bar. Don’t miss the next one (opens in new tab) Nov. 1.

Treasure Island’s metamorphosis is ongoing, but at present, it’s got three full-service restaurants. Open for brunch and dinner, Aracely Cafe (opens in new tab) (401 13th St.) is the most elegant, with fire pits and entrees like rack of lamb and whole striped bass. Casual enough to be a pit stop for anyone who walked or biked over from Oakland, but upscale enough to cap off a date night after watching the sunset, it’s tucked in a quieter part of the island — a 15-minute walk inland from Cityside Park. 

Then there’s Mersea (opens in new tab) (699 Avenue of the Palms), whose plant-filled courtyard is less so much a beer garden as a complex of shipping containers sheltered from the wind. This is the spot for sharing a pitcher of Lagunitas while chowing down on pub grub like burgers, pizza, and tacos, along with more surprising fare like catfish sandwiches and fish chowder. It’s walkable from everywhere, ideal for big groups, and everything’s under $20.

And if you want to cap off the afternoon with a bourbon tasting inside an art-deco former airline terminal, there’s Gold Bar Whiskey Distillery (opens in new tab) (1 Avenue of the Palms). By far the island’s sexiest place for a drink, it’s got a cocktail menu with options like a paloma, a cask-strength Manhattan, and a “Pan Am Paper Plane” that pays homage to the building’s aviation history. 

After clinking glasses over a $39 gin cocktail flight, the Gold Bar is but a two-minute walk across the street to the ferry terminal for the ride home after a day of adventure.