Point Bonita Lighthouse Tours Will No Longer Be Free

After a thorough public review last spring, and following a separate process later in the summer, the National Park Service will raise parking fees at two NPS-controlled lots in the Presidio of San Francisco starting April 1, 2022. This is the final step of a fee review initiated by the NPS in May 2021 and will provide funding for trash collection, custodial services, and maintenance of park signs. These changes are unrelated to a later review of fees concerning eight coastal parking areas, which will not go forward as proposed.

The May 2021 review also included an increase to camping fees and a new fee for ranger-led after-hours tours at Fort Point National Historic Site; those fees took effect earlier this year. The two parking lots where fees will be raised, Battery East and West Bluff, are popular with visitors to the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point NHS.

In August 2021, the NPS also considered adding fees for an after-hours tour at the Point Bonita Lighthouse and for parking at eight coastal areas in San Francisco and Marin counties. Following a robust public engagement period, the park will only add fees for the lighthouse tour and for the Northwest Commuter lot, located on the west side of the Marin County end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

A summary of the upcoming fee changes, with their effective date, is shown below:

*Fee collection at this lot will expand from weekends only to every day.

For more information about other fees at the park, please visit the Fees & Passes webpage.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which does not charge an entrance fee at any of its sites, was the third most-visited national park in 2021 with 13.7 million visitors. According to a study from the NPS last year, visitors to the park spent $684 million in nearby communities in 2020, which supported 6,862 jobs in the local economy.

Read more at the National Park Service.