RunRace USA › California › SF Marathon › Spectators
Watch the actual route
Where to watch
A course-aware spectator plan for San Francisco.
Read the geography first
The course returns toward its starting district. Use the map to choose a fixed anchor and the finish, and never build a plan that requires crossing the live route.
Gold is the selected modeled course; route provenance is stated beside the flyover.
Landmarks that make useful anchors
San Francisco Ferry Building
Course mile 0.0
A fixed landmark in the 3D model and a practical orientation point. Confirm the accessible side of the course after closures are posted.
Palace of Fine Arts
Course mile 3.7
A fixed landmark in the 3D model and a practical orientation point. Confirm the accessible side of the course after closures are posted.
de Young Museum (Hamon Tower)
Course mile 18.2
A fixed landmark in the 3D model and a practical orientation point. Confirm the accessible side of the course after closures are posted.
Oracle Park
Course mile 25.1
A fixed landmark in the 3D model and a practical orientation point. Confirm the accessible side of the course after closures are posted.
Moving around race morning
The single fact that decides your morning is that BART does not run early enough. BART's first Sunday trains are around 8:00 a.m. systemwide, and the race is off before dawn: SFMTA gives a 5:30 a.m. start with staggered waves from 5:15 a.m., and SF Travel's guide says 5:30 a.m. at Embarcadero and Mission (SFMTA locates the start at The Embarcadero and Howard). So Embarcadero and Montgomery Street BART stations are useless to you on the way in and only become useful after you have already finished. Overnight, the N Owl is the thing that actually runs, and it is rerouted midnight to 7:00 a.m. in both directions, so its stop is not where the map says. The practical rule: get yourself within walking distance the night before, walk to the start, and save transit for the trip back once BART wakes up and the barricades come down around 3:00 p.m. If you need a Muni line on race morning, SFMTA's own advice is to call SF 311, open 24/7, for the alternate stop rather than trusting the posted one.
Course geometry provenance is stated beside the player; elevation profiles always use the same route loaded there. City geometry is OpenStreetMap, ODbL. Aerial imagery is from USGS and USDA; other images carry their own source credits. Weather figures use Open-Meteo reanalysis for July 21-29 across 2016-2025 at the start line. Schedule, prices and expo hours were checked in 2026-08-26 and are the fields most likely to move: confirm them on www.thesfmarathon.com before you book anything. Spot an error? Tell us and we'll fix it fast.