Unforgettable Places to Go Stand-Up Paddleboarding in the Bay Area, California

If you’d like to paddleboard in the Bay Area, consider a morning session with Mike’s Paddles, who are highly respected in the California paddleboard community. They host SUP Yoga sessions at Alameda, a city spread over a series of islands, south of Oakland, on San Francisco Bay. Not only will you get a meditative workout on water, but you’ll have the urban skyline as your backdrop. Afterward, treat yourself to brunch at South Shore Café close to the Alameda beachfront.

Stevens Creek Reservoir, an artificial lake in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains near Cupertino, is one of the best places to paddleboard of any of the lakes near San Francisco – especially if you’re a novice who’s nervous about waves. The reservoir, in a 1,063-acre (430ha) park, is known for its quiet, calm waters and for its extensive tree-lined picnic area, where you can chill after your SUP session. Outback Adventures run yoga-based tours that salute the serene setting.

Two historic cranes, called Nick and Nora, dominate this 7-acre (2.8ha) regenerated urban waterfront park (which opened in 2020) on a former shipbuilding site, along Mission Bay in San Francisco. Remnants of ships launched decades ago are visible from the concrete ramp leading into the water. You’ll have plenty of other recreational options, too, including picnicking amid flower-plotted grounds, cycling and playing on the beach. The best time for SUP boarding is during slack tides, preferably in the protected coves and inlets, with Dog Patch Paddle as your guide.

The Oakland Estuary, in the strait in San Francisco Bay, is an ideal spot for visitors who want to SUP board in the Bay Area. California Canoe and Kayak (CalKayak) offers three-hour SUP boarding sessions in the sheltered waters of Oakland Estuary, launching at the dock at Jack London Square. Morning SUP boarding classes are designed for novices and intermediate-level SUP boarders.

Combine your day of SUP boarding with hiking, wildlife-watching, or oyster-eating when you visit this slender 15mi (24km) inlet off the Pacific coast in Marin County, a 90-minute drive from San Francisco. But heed the advice from locals: Tomales Bay State Park, even with 2,000-acres (809ha) of beaches, dunes and green space, gets busy on weekends. Aim for a weekday if possible. You can rent a SUP board by the half-day, full-day, overnight, or for two nights from Blue Waters Kayaking, which also offers lessons for beginners.

Bodega Bay, an hour’s drive from downtown San Francisco, is a village of 912 on the eastern side of Bodega Harbor. What makes Bodega Bay one of the best places to paddleboard near San Francisco is the diversity of scenery you’ll see on your paddleboard: think rivers, bays and estuaries. Staff at Bodega Bay Kayak only take experienced SUP boarders out onto the open ocean. The five-hour session includes basic training and an intrepid SUP-boarding tour.

Regular SUP boarders in the Bay Area recommend Marina Bay for the perfect mix of serious paddleboarding and diverse scenery. With 510 Yoga, you can enjoy a hybrid vinyasa yoga and core workout on a paddleboard while taking in the views of downtown San Francisco, Oakland and Marina Bay. When returning to the Marina Bay waterfront, look for the Rosie the Riveter monument which honors the contributions of the American women labor force in World War II.