Filbert steps in San Francisco (cool stairs, views and quiet local neighborhood)

The lush landscape around Filbert Steps

The lush landscape around Filbert Steps in San Francisco

It’s Monday morning, time to enjoy some gorgeous travel photography and inspiration from around the world. Let’s banish those Monday blues by sharing gorgeous imagery and story telling. You can also check us out on Twitter for Travel Photo Mondays at #tpMondays for more updates and submissions for the day. It’s a great day to explore the Filbert steps in San Francisco, check out the magnificent views and captures some amazing scenes of the city and bay area below.

 

 

 Let’s explore the Filbert Steps in San Francisco

Do you love to take hidden walks or back streets to very popular cities to see something different from the typical tourist destinations? If so, come and take this walk with me today down the Filbert Steps in the North Beach area – it’s a small neighborhood with little Victorian homes, community gardens and spectacular views of the San Francisco Bay.

 

Coit Tower in San Francisco

Coit Tower in San Francisco

 

 

Visiting the Filbert Steps from the top down tour of the stairs

Starting from the top, we are at the famous Coit Tower landmark so we can admire the views to the city and the entire Bay Area.  Typically the scenery of the city and San Francisco bay is beautiful, but today it’s mostly hazy with cloudy skies and limited views. Oh well, it’s still nice, but we’ll have to come back another time when the weather is clearer.

 

Cloudy day views to the Golden Gate bridge

Cloudy day views to the Golden Gate bridge

 

 

 

Where to find the Filbert Stairs

Just to the left side of Coit Tower is the entry to the Filbert Steps which is easy to locate.

It starts to descend quickly into lush forested areas that you wouldn’t expect to find in a very dense and urban environment like San Francisco.

 

Trees in bloom on Filbert Steps

Trees in bloom on Filbert Steps in San Francisco

 

 

 

 

We keep descending down more stairs and the forest clears to a neighborhood with Victorian homes and small gardens adjoining the steps. It seems like everything is starting to bloom all at the same time in the gardens – a very colorful scene with the roses, annuals, vines and even flowering trees sending out cascades of blooms in every direction.

 

Roses in bloom on Filbert Steps

Roses in bloom on Filbert Steps

 

 

Don’t you just love to explore back streets like this and not knowing what you’ll see next? It’s as if you were walking unexpectedly into someone’s private garden, which in this case, you are actually climbing down some public stairs and looking into these private gardens.  What a surprise to find something like this especially when all this springtime beauty greets you – it’s so far removed from all the tourists and tourist traps around the city.

 

Peeking into a beautiful private garden on Filbert Steps

Peeking into a beautiful private garden on Filbert Steps

 

Community gardens on Filbert Steps

The tour just gets better as we descend further down the Filbert Steps into some community gardens with stunning views of the bay and city. It must be wonderful to see a sunrise or sunset along with views to these gardens and San Francisco Bay.  Ah yes, location, location, location – this is what prime real estate property looks like – and for those of us that cannot afford to live here, it’s just as nice to get a glimpse of this idyllic place and lifestyle.

 

Filbert Steps community gardens

Filbert Steps community gardens

 

The community gardens are lovingly maintained by local neighbors that want to grow and enjoy flowers and even plant some fruit and vegetables from the garden.  What a better way to hang out with your neighbors enjoying something fun and connected to nature even especially in an urban environment.

 

 

Roses in bloom on Filbert Steps

Roses in bloom on Filbert Steps

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful annuals and perennials in at Filbert Steps

Beautiful annuals and perennials in at Filbert Steps

 

 

Well that was a fun tour, don’t you think?  Now that we are finally close to the bottom of the steps and the next decision is a tough one, should we walk up all those the steps back to Coit Tower or just take a taxi to the next destination….hmm what do you do in this situation?

 

 

Looking back up Filbert Steps

Looking back up Filbert Steps

Check out more of the Filbert Steps on this video below

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this post, please do check out these other posts on visiting San Francisco

Places to eat in San Francisco

20 quirky, fun and trendy places to visit in San Francisco

San Francisco views from above

The cool stairs of San Francisco

Gardens at Golden Gate Park

Fun and unusual things to do in San Francisco

Mission district food tour

Cool graffiti at Clarion Alley

Exploring North Beach and the Greenwich steps

Filbert Steps from Coit tower

20 quirky and fun places to explore in San Francisco

Best views to photograph in San Francisco

Conclusion to Filbert Steps in San Francisco

I hope you enjoyed this tour of Coit Tower and the Filbert Steps in San Francisco, a not so discovered spot among San Francisco’s many tourist attractions.  This is my contribution for Travel Photo Mondays, please do check out the other links below for more travel posts and pictures.

 

 

 

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