A great spot to spend the day in the San Francisco area. Just a quick ferry ride from the busy bay area is a lovely refuge with hiking and biking trails. There are also historic sites to take in along the trails. Make sure you pack a picnic and enjoy your lunch with a fantastic view of San Francisco, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a good idea to make a ferry reservation a few days in advance.

I have been here a few times in the past and it is very different now. First, the cantina is closed so make sure you bring food or eat before you go. Second, you have to buy tickets outside the Ferry building and the prices are different than the website. It’s a short 30 minutes to get to the island. The tours and trams are not set up to coincide with the ferry times. We got there at 1145 and the first tram tory was 1:45. My kids and myself could walk to immigration station but my mom couldn’t do the steep hills and 1.3 mile walk. I bought her a single tram ticket but it wasn’t until 1 pm and they only run the single ticket tram a few times a day. She got stuck at the immigration station as we were able to walk down. I had to ask a park ranger to get her as she could never walk back. I do not recommend this hike to people with physical disabilities or the elderly unless they are in good, physical shape or pay for the tram tour around the entire park, which had a few set times.

This is a beautiful place with amazing views. It's also a sobering place in our country's immigration history. I appreciated the chance to experience both sides of Angel Island. The ferry trip from Tiburon was only 15 minutes and provided a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog. It is about a 30 minute walk / climb (1.3 miles one way) from the dock to the area with the Barracks Museum and the Immigration Station Museum. Immigrants were held in the barracks for weeks or months in crowded rooms, where they carved emotional poems in Chinese into the walls. The exhibits provide a lot of information about discrimination against Asian immigrants. The building has only been preserved versus restored, so it felt authentic and you can really imagine the conditions faced by the immigrants. If coming from Tiburon, note that you'll have to park in one of the public lots in town for at least $5 and allow extra time to walk to the dock. We took the 11:00 ferry there and the 1:20 ferry back, which wasn't enough time to see both museums. I'd recommend taking the 10:00 instead.