helicopter tours in san francisco ca

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San Francisco Helicopter Tours

Experience the San Francisco Bay in the most unique way with a thrilling helicopter ride! Embark on an unforgettable helicopter tour in San Francisco and witness the breathtaking beauty of the city from a hummingbird’s eye view, especially as you soar over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge!

Departing from the Mill Valley Seabase , 10 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge in beautiful Marin, our helicopter rides provide a perfect opportunity for sightseeing before or after your tour.

Popular Helicopter Tours

Sunset Champagne Helicopter Tour

Golden Gate Helicopter Adventure

Alcatraz City Sites Helicopter Adventure

Gift an unforgettable adventure, why fly with aero adventures.

Embark on an unforgettable helicopter ride over San Francisco with our outstanding tours. Experience the thrill of soaring above iconic landmarks, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island while enjoying exceptional customer service and creating lifelong memories. We also offer private tours and chartered helicopter services .

Reviews on our Helicopter Tours

Read some of our 700+ 5-Star Reviews

My husband surprised me with the helicopter ride!! It was amazing, I loved every minute of it. The pilot was so kind and pointed out things and shared so much with us about the city below. The staff was so kind and friendly. All around this was an awesome experience.

– Valley Bee, Google

I had a great time! The flight was very smooth and the pilot was very friendly. Great aerial views of the Golden Gate bridge and San Francisco skyline.

– Katelyn Chua-Chiaco, Google

Phenomenal experience! Fantastic team! We were lucky with the weather (after we had to reschedule due to heavy winds) with blue skies and clear views. Aaron Singer was an absolute trustworthy pilot with a great sense of humor who showed us everything around the greater S.F. Area. Thank you so much for this awesome experience!!

– TripAdvisor Customer

See More Reviews

Private Helicopter Flights

• Scheduled around your preferred flight time
• Flight lengths of 20 – 45 minutes available
• Private flights depart from Seaplane Heliport Base

Charter Helicopter Service

• Quotes include pilot & fuel costs, with no exorbitant final fees
• Minimum charter 2 hours
• Aircraft depart from Seaplane Heliport Base, or wherever your adventure leads!

Book your San Francisco helicopter flight

Ready to ride a helicopter in san francisco, learn more about the san francisco aerial experience below, experience san francisco from the sky yourself, looking for more information, checkout the following links to learn more about us and our services.

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San Francisco Helicopter Tour - Golden Gate

Embark on an awe-inspiring 45-minute helicopter journey with our Golden Gate Tour, offering an unparalleled aerial adventure that showcases the best of San Francisco and its surrounding beauty. This excursion is not only our most extended offering but also our most sought-after experience, celebrated for its comprehensive exploration of the iconic landmarks and breathtaking landscapes that define the San Francisco Bay Area.

As we lift off and head towards the coast, you'll be greeted by the stunning vistas of San Francisco's shoreline, a prelude to the remarkable sights that await. Our flight path is meticulously designed to ensure you witness the majestic Golden Gate Bridge and the impressive Bay Bridge, two engineering marvels that stand as gateways to the urban splendor and natural beauty of the area.

But the wonders don't stop there. As we soar higher, the entire San Francisco Bay Area unfolds beneath you, offering a panoramic view that captures the essence of this vibrant region. The city's famed skyline serves as a dramatic backdrop, with its iconic buildings and bustling streets weaving a tapestry of urban life against the serene backdrop of the Pacific.

This tour is more than just a sightseeing flight; it's an immersive experience that offers a unique perspective on San Francisco's celebrated landmarks, its rich history, and the natural beauty that surrounds it. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a longtime resident, our Golden Gate Helicopter Tour promises a new appreciation for the city and an unforgettable adventure in the skies.

Join us for this captivating journey and let the splendor of the San Francisco Bay Area, from the architectural marvels of its bridges to the picturesque cityscape, leave you spellbound. It's an experience that encapsulates the beauty, diversity, and spirit of one of the world's most beloved cities.

Popular San Francisco Helicopter Tours

High demand

Best seller

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San Francisco helicopter tours – prices, timings, pickups

San Francisco offers fantastic vistas for those who are willing to strap on the seatbelt and go up on a helicopter tour.

After all, landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco Bay Area are best seen from a helicopter.

This is the reason why helicopter rides and seaplane flights are one of the most popular tourist activities in SFO.

This article covers everything you must know before you book a San Francisco helicopter tour.

Table of contents

Golden gate helicopter adventure, san francisco and alcatraz helicopter tour, seaplane tours over san francisco, departure point of heli tours, restrictions strictly followed, exclusions of the air tour, cancellation policy.

On this 30-minute tour, gaze upon the world-famous Golden Gate Bridge and the Golden Gate National Reserve with expert narration from your pilot.

Soar above the coast past Baker Beach and the Pt. Bonita Lighthouse, over to the Ocean Beach.

Make your way over the Crissy Field, Downtown San Francisco, Oracle Park, and the infamous Alcatraz Island prison.

You will also get a 360-view of the historic Angel Island – the Immigrant Gateway to the West.

Timings: 1 pm, Friday to Monday

Tour provider: San Francisco Seaplane Tours

Cost of the tour: US$379 per person

California coast along San Francisco or the legendary Golden Gate Bridge, everything flows below you as you are on this 20-minute guided helicopter tour.

Soar over Crissy Field, downtown San Francisco, Alcatraz prison, and Oracle Park – home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

Shuttle service is available upon request. You will be picked from 288 Beach St, San Francisco, CA 94133, USA.

This tour is sums up San Francisco like nothing else!

Timings: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm, Friday to Monday

Cost of the tour:

With shuttle: US$349 per person Without shuttle: US$319 per person

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If you prefer Seaplanes over helicopters, SFO offers them as well.

Check out some of the best seaplane flights available for tourists. These seaplane trips guarantee a window seat.

Seaplane flight with Champagne

This is a 40-minute trip over SFO in an Alaskan Bush plane.

Experience the best of the city and also witness the beautiful towns of Tiburon and Belvedere Peninsula.

There is something for everyone as the Champagne will be substituted by apple cider for guests aged 20 years old and younger.

Golden Gate Bridge from the air

On this 30-minute Seaplane flight, you fly directly over the Golden Gate Bridge for stunning photo opportunities.

Glide over Fisherman’s Wharf and spot chic restaurants and shops down below.

Angel Island, Alcatraz, Tiburon, Belvedere, and Sausalito never looked more beautiful!

The large windows of the Alaska Bush Seaplane make for good sightseeing.

You can choose the option providing shuttle services for more convenience.

Cost of the tour

Tour with Meeting Point in Mill Valley: US$289 per person Tour with Roundtrip Shuttle from Fisherman’s Wharf: US$319 per person

The San Francisco heli tours depart from the heliport next to Sausalito’s Richardson Bay.

Address: 242 Redwood Hwy, Mill Valley, CA 94941, USA. Get directions

The heliport is near public transportation.

There is free parking available at the heliport base.

The tours end back at the meeting point.

There are multiple take-offs daily, so book early to get your preferred time slot.

Weight limits apply for safe and comfortable helicopter rides over San Francisco. Passengers must not weigh over 240lb (109 kg) to board the flights.

Passenger exceeding the weight limit will require purchasing an additional seat.

A minimum and maximum number of passengers are required on these tours, failing which, they will be canceled.

Infants and children are allowed onboard, but infants must sit on the caregiver’s lap throughout the flight.

San Francisco helicopter rides are not wheelchair accessible.

A valid photo ID is required.

No pets are allowed onboard except service animals.

Check in at least 45 minutes early.

Flight times are approximate based on winds, weights, and conditions.

Seating arrangements may often be in the hands of the tour organizers for a safe and stable flight.

Helicopter tours in San Francisco do not include hotel transfers and food and drinks.

Photos for souvenirs and gratuities are excluded from your ticket.

For a full refund, cancel at least three days before your tour date. 

If you cancel within three days before the experience’s start time, a 100% percent cancellation fee is applicable.

Helicopter tours require good weather. 

If the tour is canceled due to poor weather or non-fulfillment of the minimum number of passengers, you may be offered a different date or a full refund.

Recommended Reading

# How to prepare for first helicopter flight # What to wear for helicopter tour? # How to overcome fear of flying? #  Helicopter tour – how long to wait after scuba diving? #  Why helicopter tours are an excellent tourist activity #  FAQs about Helicopter tours

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San Francisco Helicopter Tours & Seaplane Rides

Fly with the most trusted helicopter tour company in San Francisco. With over 40 years of flying experience you are sure to have an experience that you will never forget. You will see it all on this incredible tour! Alcatraz, The Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman's Wharf, Downtown and much more all from above!

Tour Highlights:

• Fly over the Golden Gate Bridge
• Hover around Alcatraz, aerial views of Downtown
• Free round trip shuttle service from The Wharf, Nob Hill, and Union Square included
• #1 helicopter tour company in San Francisco
• Wine Tours, Sausalito Lunch and Dinner Cruise flight combos are available

•   $0 - $100
•   $100 - $300
•   $300 - $500
•   $500 & Above

Flights are offered several times a day with complimentary shuttle pick-up and drop-off from The Wharf, Nob Hill, and Union Square.

We also offer various tours with unique combinations including a Winery Landing with Tasting, Lunch in Sausalito with Ferry Return and a Dinner Cruise.

Be sure to bring your camera because the views on the tours make for amazing pictures that you will cherish forever! Adventure seekers from all of the world have been experiencing these tours for over 40 years!

Now it is your turn to experience the thrill of a San Francisco helicopter tour.

How long is a San Francisco helicopter tour?

San Francisco boasts a variety of incredible helicopter tour packages for you to choose! Packages include different flight paths, durations, and even landings. Package durations range from 15 minutes to an extensive 5 hour combination adventure.

What should you wear on a helicopter of San Francisco?

You don’t need to buy any special clothing or shoes to enjoy a San Francisco helicopter ride. Just dress for the weather of the day and, if you have chosen any of the combination packages, for any other event element included in your package.

How much is a helicopter tour in San Francisco?

Because ride packages vary, so does pricing. Pricing is based on duration and operational factors. San Francisco offers a variety of package options for your helicopter ride experience, ranging from $215 to $460 per passenger.

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Helicopter Tours in San Francisco

Your gateway to the best helicopter tours over san francisco.

Welcome to Heliride California , where we connect you with the top helicopter tour providers in San Francisco. Our platform is dedicated to helping you discover the most exhilarating helicopter tours available in this iconic city. Whether you’re captivated by historical landmarks or mesmerized by scenic vistas, our comprehensive guide has you covered.

What We Offer

• Curated Selection: We list only the best helicopter tour operators in San Francisco.
• Detailed Descriptions: Find in-depth information about each tour, including routes, highlights, and duration.
• Direct Links: We provide links to the tour providers, making it easy for you to get in touch with them for bookings.

Explore Top Helicopter Tours in San Francisco

1. the golden gate experience.

• Operator: Skyview Helicopters
• Highlights: Golden Gate Bridge, Marin Headlands, Fisherman’s Wharf
• Duration: Approximately 30 minutes

2. Downtown San Francisco Tour

• Operator: City Air Tours
• Highlights: Financial District, Oracle Park, Coit Tower
• Duration: Around 45 minutes

3. Bay Area Discovery

• Operator: Bay Helicopters
• Highlights: San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz Island, Sausalito
• Duration: About 60 minutes

Find More Tours

For a full list of helicopter tours in San Francisco, including special packages and seasonal offers, browse our comprehensive directory.

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San Francisco Air Tours

Experience the San Francisco Bay in the most unique way, by air in a seaplane or helicopter! See San Francisco from the sea during takeoff and from a stunning aerial view or hover over the Bay and get a hummingbird’s eye view!

Tours depart from the  Mill Valley Seabase 10 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge in beautiful Marin! Perfect for sightseeing before or after your tour.

Our air sightseeing tours soar above major city sites like the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Stinson Beach, Downtown San Francisco and more. Go for a day trip experience or see the major city sites in just 30 minutes.

Popular Seaplane Tours

Sunset Champagne Seaplane Tour

Norcal Coastal Seaplane Tour

Golden Gate Seaplane Tour

Popular helicopter tours.

Sunset Champagne Helicopter Tour

Alcatraz City Sites Helicopter Adventure

Golden Gate Helicopter Adventure

Weekend Exclusive: Golden Gate Bridge Helicopter Flex Tour

Gift an unforgettable adventure, why fly with seaplane and aero adventures.

Experience the San Francisco skyline from the water and the Bay Area from the sky. Hover over stunning landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge on a Helicopter Tour or take a longer excursion to marvel at the stunning giant redwoods of Muir Woods on a Seaplane Tour or a gorgeous vineyard in the Napa Wine Country from the sky.

All of our tours were born out of a passion for the San Francisco Bay area and the wonder of flying in a float plane or helicopter.

Seaplane Adventures was founded by a returning World War II veteran with a desire to share Seaplane instruction. When Aaron Singer took over, he took that passion for Seaplanes and brought it to the public through seaplane tours. Seaplanes have played a significant role in American and world history. Our pilots have an admiration for that history and the unique experience seaplanes have to offer. That unique seaplane experience combined with the stunning views of the Bay Area makes a perfect place for our pilots to share their passion with curious visitors. Now we have added helicopter tours to our family of flights, providing a perfect addition to our current tour and charter services . Customers who have enjoyed a seaplane tour over San Francisco in the past will love the new tour option, giving them an exciting new opportunity to fly the City by the Bay!

Our Aircraft

De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver

Seats 6 people

Robinson R44

Seats up to 2 people

GROUP TOURS

Our tailored group tour flight will take your guests over the splendor of the greatest city in the U.S. – San Francisco! 

• Specialty pricing for groups of 15 passengers or more. 
• We are able to process up to 50 passengers in two hours or less.
• All group flights will fly over the Golden Gate Bridge,
• Downtown San Francisco, Fisherman’s Wharf, Bay Bridge, and more. 
• Offering 15min, 20min and 30min flights
• Reservation required

Aircraft depart from our Seaplane Base in Sausalito/Mill Valley. FLIGHTS MAY BE CANCELLED AND FLIGHT ROUTES ALTERED DUE TO WEATHER. Reservations are required for group events. Send us an email to make your reservation!

CHARTER SERVICE

Guests can have a unique departure out of the city with a Seaplane or Helicopter Charter

• Reservations required.
• Rate includes pilot & fuel costs.
• Minimum charter 2 hours
• Aircraft depart from our Seaplane Heliport Base in Sausalito/Mill Valley.

 FLIGHTS MAY BE CANCELLED AND FLIGHT ROUTES ALTERED DUE TO WEATHER

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Don't know where to start, best places to visit in san francisco, tours and things to do in san francisco, best day trips from san francisco.

January 4th, 2023 • 5 min

Ghost Guide to San Francisco’s Most Haunted

If you’ve ever wanted to spend the night in a haunted house, wander a real-life necropolis, or snake your way through a mansion built under the direction of restless spirits, this Ghost Guide to San Francisco, California’s most haunted places promises all that spooky fun and more.

USS Hornet Museum & Officer’s Club

Source: Shutterstock

Docked in Alameda Point, CA, the USS Hornet is perhaps the most important aircraft carrier in the history of space exploration, as it served as the recovery vessel for Apollo 11, the mission that put a man on the moon. It’s also nicknamed “The Most Haunted Ship in History”. While the Hornet served diligently in WWII, its incredible importance to the space program is highlighted during your visit with the largest Apollo exhibit on the West Coast. Here you’ll see an Apollo capsule recovered by the Hornet, the “Mobile Quarantine Facility” where Apollo 14 astronauts were kept to make sure they didn’t have any space germs, and even the recovery helicopter used in the movie Apollo 13. But when the lights go down inside the ship, and after the museum staff have wrapped up for the night, paranormal investigators, both professional and amateur, insist that the spirits of over 300 people who have died on the USS Hornet come out of hiding. Take the flashlight tour of the off-limits areas for an extra-spooky look at the historical aircraft carrier.

The Sainte Claire

One of the oldest hotels in San Jose, The Sainte Claire is known for having a rather unique ghost: a bridezilla. As the story goes, back in the 1930s a woman named Julia was preparing to be married in the hotel’s Palm Room, but her husband-to-be never showed up. Distraught at the idea of being left at the altar, Julia tearfully fled down to the basement where she committed suicide. Today, guests report hearing Julia’s high heels as they quickly run from the Palm Room to the basement, which is extra spooky considering that all the floors in the Sainte Claire have been carpeted for years…

Lone Tree Cemetery

No spooky ghost adventure is complete without a trip to a haunted graveyard, and Hayward, California’s Lone Tree Cemetery fits the bill. Witnesses have reported encounters with “shadow imps” that dart in and out of the bushes, cemetery artifacts that move on their own, mysterious orbs of light, and lots of strange photographic anomalies. Be sure to keep your eyes open for the giant memorial made to resemble praying hands. Close inspection will reveal some creepy carvings at the base.

Waterdog Lake

Waterdog Lake is a beautiful place for a day hike or a picnic, but thanks to its tragic backstory, it’s now considered one of California’s most haunted places. Years ago, a young boy was walking along the lake and found himself separated from his family. He never made it back. The boy’s body was found by hikers a few days later, and his murderer was quickly convicted and sent to prison. Today, visitors to Waterdog Lake claim they still see the boy walking near the waters, often crying by himself.

Moss Beach Distillery

The Blue Lady is the ghost that haunts the 1927-era Moss Beach Distillery. Allegedly, the woman was meeting her lover for a tryst at one of the many area bed and breakfasts, when she was killed in a car accident. Her distraught lover then killed himself. Since the incident, Moss Beach Distillery has been host to all kinds of strange activity, including mysterious phone calls from nowhere and staff being locked out of certain rooms, and women regularly reporting a single missing earring – only for staff to discover a single pile of each missing piece of jewelry appear days later. Perhaps the strangest of all: multiple people have watched tableware actually levitate here.

Queen Anne Hotel

The Queen Anne Hotel is a Victorian Bed & Breakfast that used to be a girl’s finishing school, and legend has it that the headmistress is still looming around, often showing up in mirrors (yeah, that’s fun to think about when you wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night). If you’re brave, I recommend staying in Room 410, the Miss Mary Lake Suite, where guests have a tough time catching a wink with all the paranormal activity that occurs.

City of Souls

Colma, California in San Mateo County was founded as a necropolis in 1924. Yes, NECROPOLIS, meaning “City of the Dead.” Here at the City of Souls, the dead outnumber the living by a thousand to one. San Francisco evicted their interred in the early 1900s to make room for higher property values. The City of Souls is believed to be home to over 2 million souls… many of whom are pretty darn restless. In 2012, ghost hunters conducted an official paranormal investigation in Colma’s “City of the Dead”, capturing disembodied voices on their recorders, photographing strange anomalies, and concluding that, yes, this place is for sure haunted. Notable ghosts roaming the necropolis include newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, Abigail Folger (heiress to the Folger’s coffee fortune, and victim of Charles Manson) and the inventor of denim jeans, Levi Strauss.

Sutro Baths

Looking at the abandoned ruins of the Sutro Baths on the outskirts of San Francisco, it’s almost impossible to comprehend that they were once part of the world’s largest indoor swimming establishment, boasting 7 massive pools, a huge museum, an amphitheater, hundreds of private dressing rooms and even, for a short time, an ice skating rink. It could hold, according to one estimate, up to ten thousand happy bathers. Now, only a few stone walls and pillars remain of what was once one of San Francisco’s most opulent attractions. But no matter how grand and opulent something is, it’s totally useless if it’s not profitable. The Baths always struggled to make ends meet, especially with rigorous upkeep of the pools and pump system. Sutro’s grandson sold the Baths to a man named George Whitney in 1952, and Whitney eventually shut it down for good in 1966. Shortly after, the structure mysteriously caught fire.

The ruins remained abandoned until 1980, when the National Parks Service saved the land from being developed. Nowadays you can visit what little remains of the huge glass structure. Although it’s nothing compared to what it once was, the misty (and mysterious) beach is absolutely stunning. Visitors can even explore the tunnel that once likely housed the pump – but be warned; there are rumors that souls have been sacrificed inside, and bringing a lit candle into the tunnel at night will summon them. Despite the total and complete creepiness of that legend, the view from within the tunnel, especially when the waves roll right up to the edge, can’t be beat.

Gay Nineties Pizza Co.

If all of your ghost hunting has worked up an appetite, head to Gay Nineties Pizza Co. in Pleasanton, where you can grab a slice while searching for evidence of the afterlife. Long before it was a pizza joint, the building that houses Gay Nineties was everything from a stagecoach stop to a general store to a bar, and at one time, it was even a brothel. In fact, it’s widely believed that the restaurant’s resident ghost is none other than the brothel’s former Madame. Diners regularly report run-ins with a “full-figured ghost lady” who has a tendency to appear in the building’s second story windows, dressed in classic saloon dancer regalia, complete with a fluffy feather boa wrapped around her neck.

The Nob Hill Inn

Most haunted bed and breakfasts will try to entice ghost geeks with the promise of a haunting encounter with a resident spirit, but at the Nob Hill Inn, you can spend the night with not just one ghost, but twenty-two of them. Built in 1907, the Nob Hill Inn has been painstakingly restored to its original splendor, maintaining a look that harkens back to the golden age of San Francisco. With twenty-one guest rooms furnished with original antiques, you’ll probably wake up wondering how you traveled back in time. Maybe that’s why so many spirits have decided to stick around. Don’t worry, though, the spirits here are all friendly, and visitors say that they like to play pranks. Don’t be surprised if your lights flicker, doors lock, and you lose a few socks to the playful phantoms.

Tucked away inside Golden Gate Park, Stow Lake is a gorgeous little piece of San Francisco with a spooky legend that’s been giving locals the willies for well over a century. As the legend goes, an inattentive mother once allowed her child’s stroller to roll away while chatting with a friend, only to look up and discover that her baby had disappeared. When she realized what she had done, she dove into the lake to rescue her child. Neither were seen again. For the last 100 years, many who’ve visited Stow Lake after dark have claimed to meet a woman in soaking wet clothing, her tearful voice asking, “Have you seen my baby?” The tale has even taken on its own form of the Bloody Mary legend, with local kids daring one another to say, “White Lady, White Lady, I have your baby” three times in order to summon the restless spirit.

Winchester Mystery House

Just south of San Francisco, in San Jose, is a mansion of epic proportions with such a strange design and fascinating history that it has become one of the most-toured homes in the country: the Winchester Mystery House. For history buffs and gun enthusiasts, the name Winchester is forever linked to the Winchester rifle, the “Gun that won the West”. That nickname may have had hauntingly grim consequences for some of the Winchesters, namely Mrs. Sarah L. Winchester, wife of William Wirt Winchester. After losing an infant daughter and her husband to tuberculosis, Sarah Winchester supposedly approached a spiritualist who told her the tragic misfortunes of her life were due to spirits of those cut down by the Winchester rifle, particularly Native Americans, haunting her family. To appease them, the psychic said, Mrs. Winchester needed to move west and build a massive house for them. As long as she kept building the home, she’d be safe. Long story short, she did exactly as the medium suggested, building onto her home around the clock for the rest of her life. The end result is one of the most bizarrely constructed mansions in the world, with doors to nowhere, stairs into the ceiling, and all sorts superstitious features. But the bad news? It appears that none of the crazy designs worked. The Winchester Mystery House is still plagued by sightings of restless spirits.

Neptune Society Columbarium

Once part of the nearby Odd Fellows Cemetery, the Neptune Society’s Columbarium is a stunning display of neo-classical architecture that remains the very last non-denominational resting place within the city limits. While the Columbarium is worth a visit to see the ornately decorated walls, colorful stained glass windows, and thousands of niches contained inside, you might find yourself walking out of the big copper dome a believer in the afterlife. Ghost sightings occur so often here that the caretakers simply shrug and accept them as part of the gig. One of the most famous encounters deals with a woman who felt a ghostly hand on her back, only to whip around and find no one there. Later, she discovered an eerie handprint made of white dust on her blouse. Spooky. The Columbarium is open to the public, but donations towards its upkeep are encouraged, so cough it up unless you want to anger the spirits.

Cafe Du Nord

Since 1907, Cafe du Nord has been a staple of San Francisco’s nightlife, providing delicious food and fantastic live music to generations of visitors, but it would appear that some of them never left. The ghostly “Piano Man” is said to skulk around the Swedish Hall, sitting in the dark lobby lounge or even playing a tune on the stage piano. Other guests have spotted the “Lady in Red”, a spirit that lingers in the Café late at night, guarding the entrance to the old speakeasy tunnel. Cafe du Nord is also a perfect place for a ghost hunter to grab a bite – they serve food until 1AM.

Alcatraz Island

Off-limits to the public for many years, Alcatraz is now one of the most popular tourist destinations in San Francisco, particularly when it comes to those interested in the things that go bump in the night. Reports of disembodied whispers, mysterious cold spots, and apparitions of everyone from Al Capone to mysterious glowing-eyed inmates have brought paranormal investigators, both amateur and professional, to the island in droves, even prompting SyFy’s Ghost Hunters to film an episode at The Rock. The park’s official stance, however, is that the island isn’t haunted. They explain their position on the FAQ section of their ferry service website: ”Spiritualists and people who want to believe in ghosts often claim to pick up haunted auras and ghostly feelings when visiting Alcatraz. However, there are no authenticated cases of ghost sightings by any of Alcatraz’s residents over the years, whether they were soldiers, prisoners, correctional officers, family members or park rangers.” Sounds like a challenge, doesn’t it?

Whether you decide to bed down with the spirits in the Nob Hill Inn, eat pizza with the ghosts of Gay Nineties, or summon the phantoms of the Sutro Baths, San Francisco is full of spooky fun, no matter what part of town you find yourself in. Good thing you have this Ghost Guide will help point the way. Happy hauntings.

Have you experienced the spooky side of San Francisco firsthand? Share your haunting stories and photos with us on  Instagram .

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California Is Showing How a Big State Can Power Itself Without Fossil Fuels

By Bill McKibben

Something approaching a miracle has been taking place in California this spring. Beginning in early March, for some portion of almost every day, a combination of solar, wind, geothermal, and hydropower has been producing more than a hundred per cent of the state’s demand for electricity. Some afternoons, solar panels alone have produced more power than the state uses. And, at night, large utility-scale batteries that have been installed during the past few years are often the single largest source of supply to the grid—sending the excess power stored up during the afternoon back out to consumers across the state. It’s taken years of construction—and solid political leadership in Sacramento—to slowly build this wave, but all of a sudden it’s cresting into view. California has the fifth-largest economy in the world and, in the course of a few months, the state has proved that it’s possible to run a thriving modern economy on clean energy.

A good place to view this feat is from Mark Jacobson’s home—a light-filled two-story modernist house that he shares with his family at the end of a classic suburban cul-de-sac on the edge of the campus of Stanford University, where he is a professor of civil and environmental engineering. In part, that’s because the house is an energy-efficient showpiece; its solar panels produce more than enough energy to cover what he uses, though it is still tied to the grid. In the garage, there are two Teslas (including a 2009 Roadster with a license plate that reads “GHG Free”) and a pair of the company’s Powerwall batteries. The first place Jacobson shows you on a tour is the mechanical room, where an air exchanger recovers ninety-seven per cent of the heat from the stale air that it pushes out of the house. Next up is the kitchen, where an induction cooktop cuts energy use by sixty per cent compared with gas, even as it boils water twice as fast. He also showed me an app on his phone that monitors his usage of the power generated by solar panels on his roof every few seconds. “Yesterday, seventeen per cent of the generation from my rooftop went into the batteries in the garage,” he said. “I used eight per cent of it at home, and I sold seventy-nine per cent to the grid.”

But the real reason to go see Jacobson is that he said this transition could and would happen. Beginning with an article he co-wrote for Scientific American , in 2009, he’s been making the case for a-hundred-per-cent renewable energy. It’s not been easy—after he won a prize, from the National Academy of Sciences, for a 2015 paper laying out the vision, twenty-one energy researchers wrote an analysis for the academy’s magazine that accuses him of modelling errors and of making “implausible and inadequately supported assumptions.” So Jacobson can be excused for crowing a bit on social media this spring, if you define crowing as posting almost daily graphs of the renewable-energy surge.

“Last year, we reached one hundred per cent a few times,” he told me, as we sat in his living room. “But, this year, there’s been thirty-two-per-cent more solar output” as big new solar farms have come online, and “wind is up eleven per cent.” And demand for electricity from the grid has dropped three per cent—mostly because so many people have put solar panels on their roofs, so they, like Jacobson, can supply much of their own power. Renewable energy has reached an inflection point in California, where there’s enough installed capacity to begin to show its real muscle, a message that’s being heard across the country. From January to April, renewables accounted for ninety-nine per cent of new power added to America’s grid. “Tides have turned,” Jacobson tweeted last week. “Fossil gas, coal, and nuclear are quickly becoming the ‘alternative energy.’ ”

And it’s not just in the United States. A new report from the British energy think tank Ember shows that in 2023 the European Union—spurred in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine —in a month produced more electricity from renewable sources than from fossil fuels for the first time. In May, Ember reported that wind and solar are now growing faster than any energy sources in history, besting even the rate that nuclear power grew at its height, during the nineteen-sixties and seventies. Although new data released this week showed world carbon emissions still climbed slightly last year, the Rocky Mountain Institute, in a report released last week, declared that the world could see peak fossil-fuel use this year, as the surge in renewables could account for even the rising demand for energy from growing Asian economies. In the past decade, the R.M.I. group found, “solar generation has grown 12 times, battery storage by 180 times, and EV sales by 100 times.” This growth has been led by China, where “solar generation is up 37 times and EV sales up 700 times.” China is “poised to be the first major electrostate.”

Jacobson leads a team of researchers at Stanford who have modelled plans to take a hundred and forty-nine countries to a-hundred-per-cent wind, water, and solar power by 2035; the latest countries added to his database, this spring, are Madagascar, Rwanda, Uganda, and Eswatini (the former Swaziland). For each of them, Jacobson has a model that can forecast the weather every thirty seconds, for decades ahead, taking into account the predictions of a warming climate. If, on some June day in 2050, it’s going to be eighty degrees in the mountains of Madagascar, and you want it to be seventy degrees inside a home, he can calculate the insulation value of the wall of an average residential building there and show how much energy it will take to cool things down. Then he can show exactly what combination of wind, water, and solar will provide it. Very occasionally, he’ll find a place with so little land that it can’t produce the energy it needs on its own soil. (He limits the acreage to be used for solar and wind production to about two per cent of a nation’s territory.) “Singapore, Gibraltar, places like that,” he says. “Then we go offshore.” And, in the interest of grid stability, he tries to couple wind and solar in relatively equal amounts. “That’s because in a heat wave, you have high pressure, and lots and lots of sun, but the wind tends to die,” he says. “And then the low pressure comes in, and with it storms, which cuts the solar energy, but the pressure gradients mean strong winds.” Hydro is a reliable source—essentially the biggest battery on his grid, because its power can be so easily stored for dispatch when needed—but when a drought causes its availability to drop, that almost certainly means that there’s been a lot of sun. “Everywhere in the world, we can find ways to match demand for energy by supply and storage,” he says.

The crucial question, of course, is not whether this transition will keep growing—it will, because the cost of solar, wind, and batteries continues to fall dramatically. The question is whether it will grow fast enough to let us begin to catch up with the implacable physics of global warming. (Globally, May was the twelfth month in a row of record-high temperatures.) And here the news is a little less sanguine: at the current pace, according to a new study from the International Energy Agency, we will more than double renewable capacity by 2030, but to meet the targets set in the Paris climate agreement, we’ll have to triple it . As the I.E.A.’s director, Fatih Birol, said, “the tripling target is ambitious but achievable, though only if governments quickly turn promises into plans of action. Countries worldwide have a major opportunity to accelerate progress towards a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system.”

Governments are fickle, though—even blue-state ones. Earlier this month, Governor Kathy Hochul, of New York, killed off a congestion-pricing scheme designed to toll automobile traffic into Manhattan and raise money for the city’s mass-transit system. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom has come under fire for cutting back support to rooftop and community solar power in favor of vast utility-scale projects. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has promised, if elected in November, to “drill drill drill,” and to end offshore wind on “Day One.” Even the Biden Administration, by Jacobson’s calculation, is spending about forty per cent of the money from the Inflation Reduction Act on expensive schemes such as “carbon capture,” which is designed to allow the fossil-fuel industry to go on burning carbon, even though “it would be endlessly cheaper to just use the money to build more solar.”

Sometimes, critics look at California’s electricity prices, among the highest in the nation, and conclude that renewables must be the reason, Jacobson says. In fact, “it’s just the opposite.” California’s prices have been driven up by wildfires, which are often sparked by utility wires, and natural-gas disasters at San Bruno and Aliso Canyon. “If we didn’t have renewables, our prices would be much higher,” Jacobson told me. (He has data showing that the other American states with high renewable penetration—mostly Midwestern wind giants such as Iowa and the Dakotas—have among the lowest electricity costs in the country.) “The secret now is deploy, deploy, deploy. We have ninety-five per cent of the technology we need.”

The dimensions of California’s miracle can be measured from a house like Jacobson’s. (Most owners of solar-powered homes, in my experience, are evangelists, converted the first time they watch their meter spin backward.) But you can also measure it in other places, including an impossibly cluttered, small research lab in the industrial district of Oakland. Danny Kennedy is a veteran renewable-energy guru and the head of the New Energy Nexus, a nonprofit that helps companies leading the transition off fossil fuels. Kennedy had recently been insisting that I see a two-year-old startup in Oakland called Magrathea Metals, which, he said, is “making metal from seawater with sunshine.”

We found the lab, in a renovated warehouse, right next to a California-inevitable microbrewery and coffee roaster. When we stepped inside, someone in a welder’s helmet shouted, “Watch out, we’re pouring molten metal over here!” We scurried farther into the building, to meet two young men, Alex Grant, formerly a lithium technology developer, and Jacob Brown, a chemical engineer educated at Cambridge University. They are Magrathea’s founders, and they bubble with the energy of Silicon Valley-adjacent entrepreneurs. But, instead of producing apps, they produce magnesium, which is the world’s third most common structural metal, though it trails steel and aluminum by large measures, mostly because it’s traditionally more expensive to make.

But that’s potentially no longer the case, for reasons that show how renewable power can help transform industry itself—making it both cheaper and less material-intensive. To meet peak demand in places like California, you need to build a lot of solar panels, which means that when demand is lower you are producing more power than you can use, which, in turn, means that during those hours the power is very cheap. Magnesium can be smelted intermittently, partly because its melting point is low: you can start to heat up the feedstock in a smelter (there is a trial-sized one in a room isolated for safety at Magrathea) during the afternoon hours when solar productivity is at a peak, and then, when people come home and turn on their ovens and their washing machines, and the price of electricity goes up, you can turn off the smelter. Then you wait until electricity becomes cheap again, and resume smelting. It’s not feasible to do this with aluminum—the molten salt it is combined with will freeze.

Another reason magnesium could have less impact on the planet is that it doesn’t have to be mined, because it is found in the ocean—a hundred and forty-two gallons of seawater can yield a pound of metal. Or you can start with naturally occurring brines and salts, or the brine left behind by desalination plants. Grant calls himself a “brine nerd,” and he showed me trays of the stuff from Namibia and Western Australia, and from just up the Bay in Newark, California. Brine can be delivered by truck from Newark whenever the startup needs it. (Usually, brine is sold for keeping down dust on roads or de-icing them in the winter; milk of magnesia is another use.) “We think of it as farm-to-table metal,” Grant said. In a corner of the factory, he curates a small museum of things made of magnesium from around the world—snowshoes, a bicycle, a lawnmower, the gearbox from a helicopter. “We’ve had global automakers tell us, ‘If we had a supply chain, it’s a no-brainer. In a specific design, it’s lighter, easier to die-cast, and stronger than aluminum,’ ” Grant said. “All the fundamentals point to it being as competitive as aluminum, if the costs can come down—and intermittency is the key.”

“We’ll be making a thousand tons a year by 2035, a million tons a year by 2050,” Grant said. “We’ll probably develop our first big smelter in the wind belt, in the middle of the country, because the onshore wind is so cheap.” There will almost certainly be a market—the military, for one, uses a lot of light metals for things like airplanes and, currently, more than eighty per cent of the world’s magnesium supply comes from China, and the second-largest producer is Russia.

As we talked, we peered through a window in the room where the trial-scale smelter is set up. It looked like a rusted kiln with a giant electric cord running into it. But that old-school infrastructure is combined with a new-age vibe: a Solarpunk flag (a green-and-gold banner of the nascent Solarpunk movement) hung on a wall above the smelter, and just outside the room there was a neon number 42. Fans of the cult classic “ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy ,” by Douglas Adams, will remember that “42” is the answer to the question—arrived at by the computer Deep Thought after 7.5 million years of calculation—of the meaning of “life, the universe, and everything.” Grant and Brown also took the company’s name from Adams’s book—Magrathea is the planet that built other planets.

The hope is that companies like Magrathea can help build a more sustainable planet. Not only does the smelting process use just solar power and seawater, its main by-product is magnesium oxide, which, when released into the ocean, helps sequester carbon. Indeed, instead of turning to rust, as steel eventually does, magnesium breaks down into magnesium oxide. So, if a bike made of magnesium is left to disintegrate in a landfill, it will eventually break down into its component parts and flow to the sea, where it will help in the process of rebalancing the atmosphere. “It’s an inherently carbon-neutral primary metal,” Brown said.

“What’s happening in places like California is not just substitution—not just replacing dirty energy with clean stuff,” Kennedy told me. That’s important, of course—the most impressive of Jacobson’s statistics from this spring in California is that the amount of natural gas used for electricity generation has dropped more than forty per cent from last year, which is the kind of number that the climate crisis requires. “But remember when Wi-Fi replaced modems?” Kennedy asked. “It wasn’t just a better signal—people started thinking up a thousand new things to do with all that connection. That’s what abundant electricity means: we’ll be able to think differently.” ♦

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