From the old cannon batteries along its 8-foot-thick walls, Fort Point offers some of the best and (judging from the ordinarily small crowds) most underappreciated views of the bay and the city waterfront. But the real reason to go to this gem of a National Historic Site at the tip of the Presidio is for its rich history. You can prowl the echoing corridors of the Civil War–era fort at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge anchorage and imagine what it must have been like as a soldier assigned to protect the most important navigation channel on the West Coast long before the bridge was ever built. While checking out the museum (which includes a must-see half-hour film that explains the fort's significance from the Civil War to World War II), be sure not to miss the permanent exhibit chronicling the bridge's construction.