October 14, 2024.

The Lyon Street Steps

Great San Francisco Views, and a Workout As Well!

San Francisco has lots of great views from its many hillsides, but the Lyon Street Steps have one of the prettiest.

Tucked away in the ritzy Pacific Heights neighborhood, on the border of the Presidio, a steep hill has been transformed into a beautifully landscaped series of stairways.

The stairs were built in 1916 by Louis M. Upton, the architect who designed many of the mansions nearby. The purpose was to connect the residential areas above and below the hill.

The imposing Gold Coast mansions of Billionaire's Row run along Broadway to Divisadero Street, from the top of the Lyon Street stairs.

The Lyon Street stairs are a favorite exercise spot for the locals but also popular with visitors and photographers.

The stairs are open 24 hours a day, every day, and are another one of San Francisco's great, free attractions. With easy, free parking as well.

View from topof Lyon Street Stairs in San Francisco

View from Top of Lyon Street Steps

Visiting the Lyon Street Steps

The steps on Lyon Street in the Pacific Heights neighborhood are actually a cascade of separate stairways that take you from high up on Broadway down to the bottom of the hill in the Cow Hollow neighborhood near the Marina.

Halfway down the stairs, there's a landing, then more stairs down to another landing with a beautifully landscaped area with a balustrade and one of the San Francisco hearts.

The late Dianne Feinstein's house is right on the stairs, at the landing with the SF heart.

Diane Feinstein's former house on Lyon Street Steps in SF

Diane Feinstein's former home

One of the hearts from the San Francisco Hearts program is just below on the second landing. The hearts are auctioned off as a fundraiser for Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. The program started in 2004 and they have artists create more hearts every year. See heartsinsf.com.

Migrant Heart is one of the original hearts in the program and was created in 2004. All the hearts are privately owned.

San Francisco heart on the Lyon Street steps

Halfway down the stairs

Cross Vallejo Street to find the final set of steps. The last set of stairs is fairly steep and narrow, and takes you down to a Lyon Street Loop, where there are some attractive homes to check out, and finally to Green Street.

Last Lyon Street Stairs to the bottom

The Pacific Heights neighborhood is worth exploring as well. There are rows of spectacular mansions built in the early 1900s by the wealthy of San Francisco, with great views of the bay and Marin Headlands beyond.

Walking the Stairs

Some say there are 332 steps, others say 288 (but who's counting? There are a lot!) from top to bottom. Over the years, this has become a very popular spot to work out, and it's easy to see why.

It's a beautiful spot to exercise and it's walking distance from the residential areas nearby, like Cow Hollow and the Marina District neighborhoods below the stairs, in addition to Pacific Heights. The landscaping is lush and attractive, and the air is fresh with a cool breeze off the bay. Plus there's the added benefit of being in a very safe area of the city.

As a result, you'll usually see a number of folks doing the stairs as a workout. Just give them a space to get by; the stairs in places can be a bit narrow because of the railings dividing them.

What You Can See From the Steps

From the top of the stairs, and most of the way down, you can see the dome of the Palace of Fine Arts (worth a visit) and the hills of Marin County.

Palace of Fine Arts View

Off to the right is Alcatraz and below you are the homes in nearby neighborhoods. In the distance are the hills of the Marin Headlands and East Bay.

Alcatraz from the Lyon Steps

Who Lives in this Neighborhood?

The residential area next door to the Lyon Street Steps is one of the wealthiest in San Francisco. These mansions were mostly built in the early 1900's and this area was often referred to as the Gold Coast. Millionaires Row has morphed into Billionaires Row with inflation.

In fact, one of the spectacular homes on the stairs is on the market for the first time since the house was built. The Jewett house at 2990 Broadway (top of the stairs) is the most expensive house for sale in San Francisco right now (October, 2024), listed at $32 million. Check out the photos of the rooms and views at SFGate.com.

Lyon Street Steps view with Jewett House

Jewett House on Right

The house used to film the school in the Princess Diaries movie starring Julie Andrews is at the bottom of the Lyon Street stairs, at 2598 Lyon Street. It was on the market last year for "only" $8.5 million. See the SF Gate article on the house with photos of the house.

Princess Diaries House

To get a taste of the opulence, just walk down Broadway (at the top of the stairs) a couple of blocks to Broderick. The houses at the bottom of Lyon Street are worth a look as well.

Current residents of this neighborhood:

Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp.
Gordon Getty, billionaire businessman
Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House
Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal

Former residents:

Dianne Feinstein, former U.S. Senator, on 2601 Lyon St. at Vallejo St.
Linda Ronstadt, 2518 Jackson St.
Danielle Steele, best-selling author, in the Spreckles mansion 2080 Washington St.

Getting to the Lyon Street Steps

By public transportation

By Bus It's not that convenient to get here by bus.

From Union Square, go one block to Sutter & Stockton and catch the #2 California & Presidio Ave bus on Sutter. Get off at the Presidio Ave stop and take the #43 Fort Mason bus to Presidio & Jackson. From there, walk three blocks to the top of the stairs (one block west on Jackson, then two blocks north on Lyon Street). You'll be at the top of the stairs.

Bus routes going to the Lyon Street steps

Here a link to plan a trip by bus and streetcar via the SF Muni system.

By car - driving to the Lyon Street Steps

This is a surprisingly easy area to park in. Street parking is free and there's a 3 hour limit, so there's plenty of time to explore.

If you're not in the mood for stair-climbing, you can still see the great views from the top if you park on Lyon Street near Broadway.

Parking at the Lyon Street Steps

You can park either on Lyon Street at the top or along Vallejo Street halfway down (just below the broad landing where the Feinstein house is).

Green Street is at the bottom of the stairs, but there's considerably more traffic and less parking down there. I would avoid it.

I took the photo below of Lyon Street above the stairs around 10:30 in the morning. There were quite a few people on the stairs, but look at the parking available!

Parking spaces on Lyon Street above the steps

Lyon St. above the stairs. Hard to believe this is San Francisco!

Caveat: notice the sign on the right in the photo below. When in San Francisco, always pay close attention to the parking signs. This one tells you there is street cleaning twice a month and when. Make sure you don't park there during street cleaning hours; big ticket!

Lots of parking above the stairs

Maps of the Lyon Street Steps

Map showing Lyon Street Steps in SanFrancisco

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Like the area and want to stay nearby? There's a great hotel near the top of the stairs, the Hotel Drisco. It's highly rated, three blocks from the stairs, and located in the safe and charming Pacific Heights neighborhood.

See Hotel Drisco for details.

What to see near the stairs

The Presidio. The stairs run along one side of the Presidio, a large park-like setting that was formerly a U.S. Army post. The Walt Disney Museum is here in the Presidio and it explores his life and accomplishments. And the Andy Goldsworthy's art works are in the Presidio as well.

The Palace of Fine Arts, visible from the stairs, is a beautiful holdover from the Panama-Pacific Exhibition from 1918 with attractive grounds to explore.

Chestnut Street in the Marina District: good restaurants and shopping.

Crissy Field is a broad expanse of beach and walkways on the water, on the bay beyond the Palace of Fine Arts, with a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Lucas Arts headquarters with its Yoda Statue and fountain are further down Lyon Street; just turn left on Lombard Street and head into the Presidio a short distance to find it.