Cavallo Point Lodge is San Francisco’s national park lodge, set within Golden Gate National Parks at the foot of the famed Golden Gate Bridge. Once the site of the Fort Baker military base, today meticulously restored turn‐of‐the‐century officer’s quarters and sensitively designed new buildings respect the site’s stalwart history and majestic natural setting.
Opened in the summer of 2008, Cavallo Point Lodge is an enchanting and environmentally sustainable “base camp” where the city’s urban edge meets the rugged Marin coast. Since opening, it has earned much recognition, including LEED Gold certification and being named one of America’s top new national landmarks by Travel + Leisure Magazine.
The lodge’s upscale amenities, wellness offerings and sustainable ethos draw couples, families, weddings and groups. Locals frequent the spa or cooking school or mingle with guests at the lodge’s Farley Bar. Cavallo Point Lodge is a member of Preferred Hotels® & Resorts.
Accommodations: Cavallo Point Lodge offers two room categories, crafted with distinctive features but are a century apart in character and style. Built between 1901 and 1915, Cavallo Point Lodge’s 68 Historic rooms and suites once served as officers’ quarters for Army personnel. The restored landmark brick buildings feature expansive foyers and staircases, authentic tin ceilings, fireplaces, panoramic windows, and spacious front porches, many with breathtaking views of San Francisco Bay. San Francisco‐based Architectural Resources Group was responsible for the restoration’s architectural design and direction.
The 74 newly constructed Contemporary rooms and suites, set on a hillside, offer spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge through floor‐to‐ceiling windows. Cavallo Point Lodge’s new rooms feature sustainable design and construction with solar power, radiant heat floors, renewable materials, organic bedding and linens, and natural amenities appropriate to the lodge’s national park setting. Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects designed Cavallo Point Lodge’s new buildings. All accommodations provide the modern conveniences, including flat‐panel televisions, concierge services and Wi‐Fi. Pets may join their owners in select first‐floor rooms.
Dining: Melding rustic sensibility with the dramatic setting under the Golden Gate Bridge, Murray Circle restaurant offers refined, modern Northern Californian cuisine anchored to its Marin roots. Executive Chef Justin Everett sources local and responsible ingredients, building longstanding relationships with farmers and fishermen. House‐cured charcuterie and an extensive raw bar offer a shareable experience to enhance seasonal salads, appetizers and entrees. A similar market‐driven philosophy guides the seasonal specialty cocktails at the adjacent Farley Bar, where guests can enjoy a more casual bar menu in the clubhouse‐like atmosphere of the bar or outdoors on the terrace. An extensive wine list compiles wines from all over the globe, with particular focus on Californian and French selections.
Spa: Cavallo Point Lodge offers an 11,000‐square‐foot Healing Arts Center & Spa with 11 treatment rooms integrating the best cultural healing practices from around the world. Spa treatments include facials, massages and body wraps, while healing arts services include herbal consultation, hypnotherapy, acupuncture, and shamanic journeys. An oversized, heated meditation pool is a focal point for guests, as well as the Tea Bar, featuring teas, snacks and herbal tonics.
Cooking School: The cooking school, one of the few offered at a hotel, emphasizes local, seasonal ingredients and introduces well‐known chefs, local producers and vintners. It offers a range of afternoon and evening classes and demonstrations that focus on a variety of topics, such as an ingredient, a geographic region, a cooking technique or the season’s best picks at the farmers market. Housed in an airy demonstration kitchen above the restaurant and bar, the cooking school is also available for private parties and team‐building events.
Adventures & Activities: Personal discovery and growth is encouraged and nurtured at Cavallo Point Lodge through a variety of activities. Daily morning yoga, weekend afternoon teas, live music performances, discussions on environmental topics and walking tours are offered. Children enjoy the next‐door Bay Area Discovery Museum or playing on the parade ground lawn. Dogs can romp on the lawn or go for long walks on nearby trails, then lap up a drink from water bowls set out on the porch at Murray Circle. Doggie beds are provided in the room.
Cavallo Point Lodge is at the very heart of the Golden Gate National Parks, granting guests unprecedented access to activities such as hiking, biking, bird watching and kayaking. Forming a spectacular 118‐square‐mile greenbelt stretching 80 miles north to south, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) encompasses more than 30 national park sites, including famous forts, rugged Pacific coastlines, verdant redwood forests and hundreds of miles of spectacular coastline trails. Muir Woods, Angel Island, Alcatraz and the Marin Headlands are some of the park sites easily accessible from Cavallo Point Lodge. The world‐class attractions of San Francisco, Marin, Berkeley, and the fabled wine country of Napa and Sonoma are all a short distance away, and guests may enjoy local farm and vineyard tours, museums, concerts, shopping and sightseeing.
In addition, Fort Baker is home to the Institute at the Golden Gate, an environmental program of the nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in partnership with the National Park Service.
Art Collection: More than 800 original works of art and photography from upcoming and well‐known artists are featured throughout the lodge’s guest rooms and public areas. Featured artists include Imogen Cunningham, Gregory Colbert, Phil Borges and others. The art gallery adjacent to the mercantile presents a rotating exhibit that has showcased Douglas Gayeton’s “Tuscany Meets Marin” and David Liitschwager’s “One Cubic Foot” shows.
Mercantile: Across from the front lobby, the Mercantile offers local crafts and clothing, kitchenware for the inspired chef, Bay Area recreation guides and more. It hosts designer trunk shows and wine and cheese tastings.
Meetings & Events: Cavallo Point Lodge offers more than 29,000 square feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting and event space in a dramatic setting at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. The property offers historic and high‐tech green meeting facilities and outdoor event staging areas unlike anything found in Northern California or beyond. Many of Cavallo Point Lodge’s meeting spaces are named for local endangered species and offer unique features, including fireplaces and operable windows. The lodge is an ideal alternative meeting venue for corporate retreats, executive think tanks, sustainable conferences and weddings.
History: The site was originally selected by the military for a fort and battery because of its strategic position at the mouth of San Francisco Bay. Between 1901 and 1915, the 24 Colonial Revival buildings around Fort Baker’s 10‐acre parade ground took shape, and the post remained active through World War II. Fort Baker was listed as a Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. When the GGNRA was established in 1972, Fort Baker was designated for transfer to the National Park Service when no longer needed by the military. In 2002, it officially transferred from post to park – the last of the 10 military posts that are now incorporated in the GGNRA.
Getting There: Cavallo Point Lodge is five miles from San Francisco and 21 miles from San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Guests arriving via commercial airline will find the San Francisco and Oakland (OAK) airports equally convenient, with airport shuttles connecting to the lodge’s guest shuttle in Sausalito. The guest shuttle also meets the ferry service from downtown San Francisco.
Contacts/Reservations:
Cavallo Point – the Lodge at the Golden Gate | 601 Murray Circle, Sausalito, CA 94965
www.cavallopoint.com | (888) 651‐2003 or (415) 339‐4700