Vallejo CA California
Frequently Asked Questions
At the ferry terminal pier on the Mare Island Strait, in the northern part of San Francisco Bay. The gangway leads straight onto a waterfront esplanade.
Yes. The first shopping streets start a five-minute walk away, and the promenade beside the landing follows the strait among palms, lawns and benches facing the water. That ease of access is rare in this region.
Because the Napa Valley begins less than thirty minutes' drive away. Vallejo serves as the gateway to wine country for San Francisco Bay cruises.
Either an excursion to the Napa wineries or Sonoma's historic plaza, or a morning on Mare Island followed by a downtown stroll. The two do not fit in the same day.
The very first US Navy shipyard on the Pacific, founded in 1854 and active until 1996. Dry docks, brick workshops and officers' houses lined up under the palms make for a striking industrial landscape, reached by road bridge.
Housed in the former workshops, it covers a century and a half of shipbuilding, from gunboats to nuclear submarines, with period photographs and oversized tools. Nearby, St. Peter's Chapel, built in 1901, holds a fine set of Tiffany stained glass that many locals do not know about.
Yes, by the fast ferries that dock at the same terminal: about an hour each way. It works on a long call, but the return margin gets tight if the ship sails early.
The US dollar and English. Credit cards are accepted everywhere, including Napa and Sonoma tasting rooms.
Only moderately. The waterfront, the anglers and the cormorants on the pilings appeal to children, and the downtown naval museum is a quick visit. Wine tasting, the region's main draw, is not for them.
Early 20th-century facades, murals and unpretentious cafés. The naval and historical museum occupies the former city hall and recalls a forgotten episode: young California briefly made Vallejo its legislative seat in the early 1850s. The Empress Theatre, a century-old venue with a retro marquee, rounds out the picture.
