Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Northern California → San Francisco Bay Area → Sutro Bath Ruins

Location: San Francisco

Distance: 0.5 miles roundtrip (depends somewhat on how much exploration you include)

Elevation Gain/Loss: varies depending on stops and amount of exploration

Red Tape/Notes: no permit required, buildings that are okay for exploration are open and unlocked.

What’s Nearby?: Muir Woods, Golden Gate Bridge

I have a thing for ruins. I think I might like them more than historical buildings that haven’t been ruined. There’s something about wandering around and imagining what it had been like that’s more fun than seeing the real (un-ruined) thing. These are the ruins of an indoor swimming pool constructed in 1894. Like so many awesome historic sites, it burned. But not until 1966, so it’s cool that they lasted that long!

It’s easy to get to the Sutro Baths – they’re at the north end of Ocean Beach and there’s a parking area at the intersection of Point Lobos and 48th. It’s a short walk from here down to the ruins. If you choose to go, I highly recommend searching the web and finding photos of what it looked like and printing some of them out (this website is a nice resource). It’s fun to have the pictures handy so you can stand in the same spots and compare the ruins with the photos.

Epic Travel → North America → The West Coast → Northern California → San Francisco Bay Area → Sutro Bath Ruins