Turns out all those tourists are on to something

If I were to poll travel writers about the most uncool place in the country to visit — a destination so overrun with camera-toting tourists that its very name triggers a shudder of disdain among the travelerati — I’d wager my most beloved suitcase on Sausalito.

Forget Branson, Mo. If Pepperidge Farm has immortalized your town in a cookie — Sausalito, Nantucket or Chantilly, anyone? — it’s a safe bet your days as a respectable, emerging destination are long past.

Which doesn’t explain why last month I decided: Let’s go to Sausalito!

There was some logic behind the decision. In looking for car-free vacations, the idea of arriving in Sausalito by way of plane, BART and ferry made me wonder whether a journey without traffic jams or inflated taxi fares could make the destination more appealing. More important, was it possible to like Sausalito — and admit it publicly?

I left L.A. on a Saturday morning and quickly encountered Surprise No. 1: San Francisco International Airport. Though I have favored the Oakland airport for years, this time SFO was a breeze. A year-old BART extension links SFO to downtown San Francisco. It was $4.95 one way, and just 52 minutes after stepping off the plane, I was standing downtown on Market Street, one block from the Ferry Building.

The 1898-built transit hub, beautifully restored and reopened last year as a gourmet marketplace, made me wish I had brought a second suitcase. Merchants here are a roll call of Bay Area foodie favorites. I snapped up Parisian cookies filled with hazelnut, pistachio and vanilla-lemon cream at the organic patisserie Miette and hustled off to the boat landing.

With the Bay Bridge as a backdrop, the Golden Gate Ferry eased out of the dock to a skyline panorama. The Transamerica Pyramid poked at a few stray clouds in an otherwise blue sky. We cruised along for half an hour, past Alcatraz, past the Golden Gate Bridge in its vermilion splendor.

By the time the ferry pulled into Sausalito and I disembarked for a walk through town, it was hard to play the part of a cynical writer. Souvenir shops and overpriced ice cream counters notwithstanding, Sausalito didn’t seem as bad as I remembered.

I booked a room at the Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa, a longtime Sausalito favorite two blocks from the ferry landing. The hotel finished a $15-million renovation two years ago that added 31 rooms to the existing 32. Many guests still prefer the old, Victoriana-filled cottage units that sprawl like a patchwork quilt across a hillside above Bridgeway, the city’s main drag.

I was happier in the expansion wing, which had contemporary décor. The accommodations were pleasant, if cramped. (Imagine a four-poster bed, massive armoire and desk wedged into a space not much bigger than a parking slot.) The bathroom was vast by comparison, with extra floor space that seemed odd, given the lack of square footage elsewhere.

Casa Madrona was a study in contrasts in other ways too. Much of the staff seemed young, exuding a frat-boy friendliness that teetered between refreshingly casual and annoyingly unpolished. The hotel had resort amenities such as a spa and a good restaurant, and it charged resort prices — $259 Saturday, $189 Sunday on the weekend of my visit — but the property lacked a fitness room, a pool, tennis courts or simply a garden or lobby in which to lounge.

Given its location and peak season, though, the hotel was a decent value. One of its better features is Poggio, the ground-floor restaurant that many people consider among Marin County’s best. After a nice panino with chicken and sweet peppers for lunch, I could see why.

Dinner Saturday night was good too — pad Thai and chicken satay at a hole-in-the-wall called Thai Terrace. My anti-Atkins diet continued the next morning at the Lighthouse Diner, where chicken apple sausage was dwarfed by an epic blueberry pancake.

Of course, there is more to do here than eat. You’ll find the kid-friendly Bay Area Discovery Museum, Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the Marine Mammal Center, where you can watch injured seals being nursed back to health.

I chose the San Francisco Bay Model because it was within walking distance of the hotel. The Army Corps of Engineers project is a three-dimensional, 1 1/2-acre re-creation of the bay and the California Delta, built to scale and filled with water that simulates realistic tides and currents. The sheer scope of the project made it a worthy stop.

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Maddeningly enjoyable

On my second day here, I left the bustle of Bridgeway and walked along quiet Caledonia Street, which is lined with restaurants, shops, an art house movie theater and a yoga studio. Chagrined that Sausalito was proving disappointingly pleasant — I needed story fodder, darn it — I decided on another ferry ride, this time to San Francisco’s touristy Fisherman’s Wharf. I thought I’d surely find something worth mocking there.

Alas, even this journey was hexed. As my Blue and Gold Fleet ferry approached the wharf, cute sea lions did pirouettes in the water. After an innocuous hour or so of people-watching at the wharf, I boarded the ferry back to Sausalito, a ride that was equally pleasing.

By the next morning, as I cruised back to San Francisco, I knew what I’d have to write:

I went to Sausalito for a weekend.

I liked it.

Branson, here I come.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Rediscovering Sausalito

GETTING THERE:

From LAX, nonstop service to San Francisco International is available on American, United and Alaska; direct service (stop, no change of planes) on America West. Restricted round-trip fares start at $109.

Travelers can access BART directly from SFO. Ride to BART’s Embarcadero station in downtown San Francisco for $4.95. Contact: (415) 989-2278, https://www.bart.gov .

At Embarcadero station, walk to the waterfront Ferry Building. Golden Gate Ferry departs six to nine times daily. One-way fare to Sausalito is $2.80-$5.60. Contact: (415) 455-2000, https://www.goldengate.org .

WHERE TO STAY:

Casa Madrona Hotel & Spa, 801 Bridgeway, Sausalito, CA 94965; (800) 223-7637 or (415) 332-0502, https://www.casamadrona.com . Two blocks from the ferry. Brochure rates start at $255; I paid a nightly average of $224 for a bay view.

WHERE TO EAT:

Poggio, 777 Bridgeway; (415) 332-7771, https://www.poggiotrattoria.com . Dinner entrees $10-$23.

Thai Terrace, 1001 Bridgeway Suite B1; (415) 331-8007. Good food, unassuming spot. Most entrees under $10.

TO LEARN MORE:

Sausalito Chamber of Commerce, 10 Liberty Ship Way, Bay 2, Suite 250, Sausalito, CA 94965; (415) 331-7262, https://www.sausalito.org .

— Craig Nakano