Not so long ago, this idyllic stretch of Marin coastline echoed with the sound of marching boots and shouted drills. These days, you’re more likely to hear the clink of wine glasses and the hushed tones of tech execs plotting their next pivot.
Welcome to Cavallo Point, the only luxury resort in America where you can sleep like an Edwardian-era soldier — but with spa treatments instead of latrine inspections.
Tucked beneath the Golden Gate on the site of the former Fort Baker military base, Cavallo Point is part eco-resort, part historical reenactment, part corporate retreat bunker. The parade ground still rolls out in front of the main circle like it’s waiting for Teddy Roosevelt to inspect the troops. But nowadays the only drills involve morning yoga and afternoon picnics.
Lenka Ulrichova
“The larger residences were officers’ quarters and family housing,” says the resort’s general manager, Martin Nicholson. “The rooms behind them were for non‑commissioned officers and their families. And then the enlisted men stayed in the barracks.” That old command structure is still subtly in place — only now your rank is determined by whether you booked the parade-ground view suite.
When Fort Baker, built in 1915, was decommissioned in the late 1980s, the land was handed over to the National Park Service, which spent years debating how to repurpose it — at one point even floating plans for a large convention complex. Eventually, two Bay Area hoteliers, Michael Freed and Peter Heinemann, pitched a different vision: a smaller, preservation-minded retreat that would reuse the original housing rather than replace it.
That restoration work has never really ended. In fact, the property has just undergone a major glow-up, with Cavallo Point’s 68 guest accommodations in the landmark structures getting phased upgrades — starting with the signature ground-floor suites and now extending to the residences above. Many have already been refreshed with Restoration Hardware interiors, new carpet, fresh paint and what Nicholson calls “very high-end products.”
For guests who prefer their lodging with clean lines, air conditioning and a bit more distance from the past, Cavallo Point also offers a wing of contemporary hillside suites built when the resort opened in 2008. The modern rooms feature radiant heat floors, private decks and floor-to-ceiling views of the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s the Army–brat fantasy reimagined by Dwell magazine.
Weekdays, the property is packed with brain trusts and boardrooms on sabbatical. “We’re ideally set up for those who want to have a think tank-type setting, get away from all the distractions,” Nicholson says. Weekends have a different vibe altogether — wedding parties, Bay Area couples ditching the Central Valley heat, city dwellers chasing a calmer scene. “It’s a restful pause button on your busy day when you get back home to your suite, have a nice cocktail or a drink on your veranda,” Nicholson says. Or, if you’d rather skip the cocktail, there’s the 11,000-square-foot Healing Arts Center & Spa, where guests book everything from deep-tissue massages to acupuncture and other “holistic” treatments.
Lenka Ulrichova
Of course, history buffs get their fix, too. Guests can take guided tours of the old brig, a small military jail still standing on the property, and then wander into the reception area and dining spaces now housed in what used to be the enlisted men’s barracks — though the rations have improved considerably. Sula, the resort’s upscale restaurant, serves modern American cuisine with a heavy side of scenery. Can’t wait to see what they end up doing with the fort’s old hospital, still untouched by renovations but something Nicholson says the owners have been eyeing for possible future development. A wellness wing seems almost too perfect.
Just don’t expect any double-paned windows. “The single-paned glass goes back to the early 1900s,” says Nicholson, noting that the National Park Service has very strict rules about windows. “Changing them would ruin the integrity of the buildings.”
