Tips for Visiting Coit Tower

Coit Tower is high on my list of must-see attractions in San Francisco. Here's why I recommend a visit...

What to see at Coit Tower

1. Elaborate (and controversial) murals inside
2. 360-degree views of the city at the top

And an added bonus, climb some fun steps from the Embarcadero all the way to the parking lot and entrance for Coit Tower.

Choose between the Filbert Street Steps or the Greenwich Street Steps, or go up one and down the other, for more pretty views of the bay, the piers, and the Bay Bridge heading to Yerba Buena Island. 

Coit Tower sits on Telegraph Hill high above the city, overlooking the docks of the Embarcadero and the charming North Beach Italian neighborhood.

The two lower levels inside are completely covered with really cool, Depression-Era murals of life in San Francisco and California circa 1934.

Illustrations of city scenes, soda fountains, orange groves and factories are fun to explore, not to mention finding the elements in the paintings that caused an uproar because of communist messages from the WPA artists. See my detailed article on the murals.

On top of that (literally), the Coit Tower has a 360-degree view of downtown San Francisco, along with views of Lombard Street, Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, the piers on the Embarcadero, and the Berkeley/Oakland hills.

Depression-Era Murals

During the Depression of the 1930s, the federal government hired artists to decorate various buildings and public spaces. As a result, there are fascinating murals all over the country, many done in a social-realism style popular at the time.

San Francisco has a sizable collection of these WPA murals, and one of the most extensive is located in Coit Tower.

The first floor walls are covered in paintings, with a winding stairway and second floor decorated with murals as well. The works are mostly scenes of San Francisco and California as they were in 1934. There is a wide variety of subjects, with many of them street scenes, shops, and agricultural vistas.

"City Life" is painted on both sides of the stairway to the second floor. This is one of the most popular murals in Coit Tower.

Many of the artists who painted in Coit Tower were communists and their works include references to the politics of the time.

"Workers of the World Unite" slogans and books by Karl Marx in a library mural aroused strong feelings in 1934 San Francisco, beset by a dock workers strike that paralyzed shipping along the entire west coast for months.

The murals are kind of a time capsule of of the status of industry, farming, and city life in California and the Bay Area during the Depression.

For more details on what you can see there, check out my article Coit Tower murals.

Great City Views

Go to the top of the tower (hopefully when the elevator is working!) for some of the best San Francisco views.

Coit Tower is sitting on a hill and is itself 13 stories tall, so it's in the perfect position to provide some amazing views of downtown San Francisco, as well as the Bay Bridge and the waterfront.

Get a birds-eye-view of the Bay Bridge and the Ferry Building from the tower.

It even has a good view of the crooked part of Lombard Street, looking the other way. 

Plus Alcatraz and Fisherman's Wharf. Along with Angel Island and the hills of Marin County in the distance. Hard to beat!

You can even see the Golden Gate Bridge from the tower.

Look east and see the Oakland/Berkeley Hills and Yerba Buena Island, with the Embarcadero below.

But Wait, There's More! Climb the Steps

More views await on the stairways that climb to the base of Coit Tower.

There are two sets of steps that are popular routes to get to the entrance to the tower, and give you some fun views of the nearby neighborhoods as you climb.

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The Filbert Steps & Greenwich Steps

Both stairways start down on the Embarcadero and take you up to base of the tower.

They are pretty similar, so you won't miss too much by choosing one over the other. Lots of people like to go up one and down the other.

Nice views looking towards Berkeley.

Good views of some of the piers below.

Pier 27 has a nice parking lot. Good for parking for the trip out to Alcatraz or for climbing the Filbert & Greenwich Stairs.

Even a downtown view from the steps.

Check out my page on the Filbert Steps for more details about the climb and maps of the two stairways.

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Getting to Coit Tower

On foot. You can walk up from the Embarcadero via the Filbert or Greenwich Steps.

You can also walk there in about 15 minutes from North Beach along Lombard Street.

By bus. The 39-Coit bus goes from Fisherman's Wharf to Coit Tower. See 39-Coit bus route and schedule.

By car. There is a small parking lot at the base of Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. It's free, but limited to 30 minutes (although it's only enforced randomly). You can also park at a couple of garages and lots near the bottom of the Filbert or Greenwich stairs, or try your luck on Lombard Street or side streets for the access from North Beach.

There are parking garages at: 

• Levi's Garage, 1426 Sansome St.
• ParcTel Garage, 1603 Montgomery St.

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Tips on Visiting Coit Tower

Coit Tower is open daily.  April-October: 10-6. November-March: 10-5. Closed some holidays.

The first floor is free to explore, but you will need to take a tour to see the second floor and stairway murals. See my page for info about the tour options.

There are free stairs to climb to the top.

Stairs to the tower. The best views are from the top of the tower, 13 flights of stairs up! Fortunately, there's an elevator ($10 ticket), but unfortunately, they have been having a lot of problems with their elderly elevator recently and often it's not working.

If you want to check in advance, you could try calling the SF Rec & Parks main office (415-831-2700) to see if they know the elevator status. They might not.

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History of Coit Tower

Coit Tower sits on the top of Telegraph Hill. During San Francisco's early days, Telegraph Hill was used to signal information about ships coming into the bay. Originally, there was a semaphore with arms in different positions to represent the types of ships coming in. Later, a telegraph office was set up on top of the hill, hence the name. In the 1920s the hill was known for its Bohemian residents.

Telegraph Hill still has a number of houses on it, some of which can only be reached via the Filbert or Greenwich Steps, and its gardens are maintained by volunteers.

Coit Tower was built on the top of the hill in 1933, thanks to a provision in the will of Lillie Hitchcock Coit giving the funds to the city to beautify it.

During San Francisco's early days, Telegraph Hill was used to signal information about ships coming into the bay. Originally, there was a semaphore with arms in different positions to represent the types of ships coming in. Later, a telegraph office was set up on top of the hill hence the name. In the 1920s the hill was known for its Bohemian residents.

Telegraph Hill still has a number of houses on it, some of which can only be reached via the Filbert or Greenwich Steps, and its gardens are maintained by volunteers.

Coit Tower was built on the top of the hill in 1933, thanks to a provision in the will of Lillie Hitchcock Coit giving the funds to the city to beautify it.

Lillie Hitchcock Coit was a colorful San Francisco character who was famous for adopting the San Francisco volunteer firefighters and riding on the firetrucks. She was ahead of her time, wearing trousers and smoking cigars. She was also a wealthy socialite and left a sizable fortune, some of which went to building Coit Tower.

It's not true that the tower was designed to look like the nozzle of a fire hose, but it makes a good story (and kind of looks like it).

The statue of Christopher Columbus in the Coit Tower parking lot was one of the many statues removed during the burst of political fervor in 2020.

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More to explore:

• Coit Tower murals
• Filbert Steps
• The Embarcadero
• Embarcadero parking
• More SF hills with views: Twin Peaks, Tank Hill, Grandview Park, Billy Goat Hill
• More San Francisco attractions

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Hi, I'm Karen. I was born just across the Bay, and spent over 30 years in San Francisco, but the City still casts its spell over me. 

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