8.1 out of 10

Sausalito

37.8620443676564 -122.498582407044
Great for
  • Clean & Green
  • Eating Out
  • Safe & Sound
  • Parks & Recreation
  • Resale or Rental Value
Not great for
  • Cost of Living
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
Who lives here?
  • Professionals
  • Singles
  • Families with kids
  • Retirees
  • Tourists

Reviews

5/5 rating details
  • Neighborly Spirit 4/5
  • Safe & Sound 5/5
  • Clean & Green 5/5
  • Pest Free 1/5
  • Peace & Quiet 4/5
  • Eating Out 5/5
  • Nightlife 4/5
  • Parks & Recreation 5/5
  • Shopping Options 4/5
  • Gym & Fitness 5/5
  • Internet Access 4/5
  • Lack of Traffic 4/5
  • Parking 4/5
  • Cost of Living 1/5
  • Resale or Rental Value 5/5
  • Public Transport 3/5
  • Medical Facilities 3/5
  • Schools 5/5
  • Childcare 4/5
2yrs+

"Cross Bay Getaway"

This is definitely not your average sleepy seaside town. This is an affluent little tourist Mecca just over the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County. Although it is home to barely 8,000, it has enough restaurants to please ten times that amount and enough natural beauty for much more than that.

Sausalito is actually perfectly positioned. On the one hand, it is the place where Bay Area residents go to get away from the urban living and enjoy a sophisticated little bucolic vill. On the other hand, it is on the southern end of super affluent Mill Valley area, which means that it gets the best of both worlds. People with disposable income are literally coming at it from all directions.

So what restaurants make their homes here? You have everything from Tommy Wok’s and Dario’s Pizza, to Avatar’s and Spinnaker’s.

This is predominantly a family neighborhood, which you can tell by the number of schools in this little town, both public and private.

Sausalito also has a handful of parks and a marina, filled for the most parts with the yachts of local residents.

The homes here, as you would expect, are also quite attractive. They are perched along the hills with their balconies pointed towards the water—mostly facing Belvedere and Angel Island.

If you can afford it, this is definitely the place to live.
Pros
  • Great Restaurants
  • Beautiful
  • Great Schools
Cons
  • Expensive
  • Golden Gate Traffic for Commuters
  • A Touch Snooty
Recommended for
  • Professionals
  • Families with kids
  • Tourists
  • LGBT+
  • Country Lovers
  • Trendy & Stylish
  • Beach Lovers
4/5 rating details
  • Neighborly Spirit 4/5
  • Safe & Sound 5/5
  • Clean & Green 5/5
  • Pest Free 4/5
  • Peace & Quiet 4/5
  • Eating Out 5/5
  • Nightlife 2/5
  • Parks & Recreation 4/5
  • Shopping Options 3/5
  • Gym & Fitness 3/5
  • Internet Access 5/5
  • Lack of Traffic 2/5
  • Cost of Living 2/5
  • Resale or Rental Value 4/5
  • Public Transport 5/5
  • Medical Facilities 3/5
  • Schools 4/5
  • Childcare 3/5
2yrs+

"A Great Day Elsewhere is just a good day in Sausalito"

Check out the Sausalito Film Festival, held in mid-August. This year, the dates are August 13-15th. The films selected are carefully screened by the committee and those that make the cut are said to, “appeal to our naturally rebellious nature and passion for cultural understanding.” You’ve got to admire a neighborhood that cleared its own path toward a collective identity and community spirit. This film festival was built from within. It’s no mere PSA campaign or TV commercial montage of images calculated to draw in tourist dollars.

Every community wants to develop and support its identity. While I love garlic as much as the next person, The Gilroy Garlic Festival, two hours south of Sausalito, is community spirit run amuck. Likewise, it seems now every neighborhood in the South Bay has a weekend carved out for its own Art and Wine Festival. Yet, go to any two or three of these and aside from a few local differences, you will see the same vendors, wines, jewelry, paintings of bears, women’s scarf clothing, kiddie attractions. It would be much more convenient if the company behind these festivals would put a calendar on the web showing which Bay Area community they plan to descend next. It’s like a circus. It is a circus.

Back to Sausalito. In addition to the Film Festival (just a three weeks from now), there’s a lot to see, not the least of which is the view of the city, the bridge, and they bay, dotted with sailboats and catamarans. And in my humble opinion, the best restaurant to view the scene from is Horizons on Bridgeway, which is the main drag in Sausalito. They have brunch every day and make a superb spicy bloody Caesar with at least a serving of veggies sticking out. For brunch, I love the Chesapeake, which is like eggs benedict except crab cakes replace the ham. And on the crab theme, they have their own version of a tuna melt, a crab melt, on lemon pepper brioche. If you’ve never had brioche, it’s a wonderful buttery, tender, substantial bread, and whoever thought to make a savory version to pair with this crab melt should win the Nobel prize. All lunch and brunch entrees are around fifteen dollars.

A stroll down Bridgeway on a sunny Sunday, a delicious brunch and delectable view, and a stint people-watching from one of the benches in the park strips: this would be a beautiful day anywhere, but in Sausalito, it is the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more: houseboats, hilly hikes, and artists-aplenty. This is a place that need not waste money on a “please come again” sign.
Recommended for
  • Professionals
  • Singles
  • Retirees

Unranked Neighborhoods in Sausalito

New Town

3/5
"Caledonia Street pretty much has it all!"
37.8580550708847 -122.487981002582
"Bay views, privacy, interesting neighbors"
37.8484332234685 -122.484884218143

The Hill

4.5/5
"Great Bayside Living and Eating"
37.8543325521262 -122.484845260441

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