For a trip to Angel Island last weekend, we played incognito tourist.

We rented bikes for the big views on the 5-mile Perimeter Road, ate lunch in the covered outdoor cafe that overlooks Ayala Cove and asked dumb questions.

We discovered that rental mountain bikes shifted perfectly up the hills, found not a single piece of litter on the trails, and decided that the food was the best at any state park in California. Everybody played nice, even in response to questions like, “Is that San Francisco?”

To our additional surprise, it seemed every person we ran across was not from the Bay Area or San Francisco.

When we sat in the cafe for lunch, it felt like a vacation to a small island with a view of the Mediterranean. Of the dozen tables or so, we picked up several different languages, including various English dialects, many that we did not recognize.

That’s when it hit us: Angel Island has joined Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge, Muir Woods and Fisherman’s Wharf as places where locals don’t go.

Vacationers from around the world will spend unbelievable thousands of dollars for a trip to San Francisco and then venture on a ferryboat to Angel Island for a chance to take in some of the most dramatic urban lookouts in the world.

Yet for those for whom the same trip is virtually right in their backyards and costs just a few bucks ($15, including park entrance fee, for the round-trip ferry ride from Tiburon), they seem more likely to spend a small fortune and go to, well, the Mediterranean (and have a similar experience).

To reach Angel Island, ferryboats depart from Tiburon (not Larkspur or Sausalito) in Marin, and from Pier 41 in San Francisco. To play incognito, I did not wear my hat, but a bike helmet, and to play tourist, I did not drive my truck either. We drove as little as possible, and found ourselves venturing into downtown Tiburon, then across from the ferry, turning left into a pay lot to park.

Surprises from start

At the parking lot, the first surprise is a gated kiosk, where upon your exit, you pay cash only; in an era in which everything is put on a credit or debit card, this had the feel of a tax-dodge. Then when you walk across the street and board the ferryboat — surprise! — it also accepts only cash, $30 for two (which includes a park-entrance fee). Can’t think of anywhere else we’ve encountered that.

It takes 12 minutes by ferry to cross Raccoon Strait to reach Ayala Cove at Angel Island. Along the way, the view of Belvedere and across the mouth of Richardson Bay to Sausalito provides glimpses of surreal homes etched into hillsides with views of the bay.

After landing at the dock, we rented mountain bikes, $13.50 for an hour, and took off. To reach the Perimeter Road, you cruise past the Visitor Center, located near the picnic area at the back of Ayala Cove, turn left and climb a switch-backed trail to the junction. The climb gives you a chance to run through the gears, and the rental bikes shifted perfectly as we pedaled right up the trail.

The Perimeter Road has several small hills and drops where you pass a series of historical sites, bluff-top lookouts and occasional picnic tables.

The views, of course, are sensational. The favorite lookouts are perched at benches oriented across the bay to the Golden Gate Bridge and to Alcatraz and San Francisco. Burnished into a wood support for one picnic table were the words, “Live The Life You Love.”

There’s a constant show with the passing sailboats, ferryboats, freighters and giant tankers. Years go, I saw a sailboat get T-boned by another sailboat that washed up on the shore of Quarry Beach, one of the island’s more secluded beaches. Last weekend, the big show was four humpback whales in the bay, spouting, rolling and showing off amid the sailboats.

We met people from all over the world enjoying the same ride, yet we didn’t come across a single piece of litter. Not one. Not a single candy wrapper. Not one tissue. Not one cigarette butt; smoking is prohibited on the island.

It all works

California State Parks runs 10 campsites, a group camp and 20 picnic sites. I’ve camped several times here and the payoff is at night, when you can climb 788-foot Mount Livermore and get a surreal 360-degree view of the lights of the Bay Area and its bridges, waterfront and cities edged by the black of the bay. By day, it’s better to find hidden beaches and coves; better yet, go by kayak.

The history of the island captivates many: as a Civil War outpost (once I was allowed to shoot off a cannon at Camp Reynolds), as the Ellis Island of the West (as an immigration center at the North Garrison), and with the Nike missile sites, defense batteries and military-processing station.

Like the tourists from around the world, we then had lunch at the Angel Island Cafe. I figured it would be the equivalent of ballpark food, like at most state parks that have some sort of walk-up food service. Instead, the chicken Caesar salad, $9, was a 10, and was created exactly right, “by the book,” as we say, a rare event even at high-priced restaurants where chefs often manage to screw it up and call it their “interpretation.” Others we talked to at the cafe were equally pleased, and the beer and wine for dessert is a plus.

On the ferryboat ride back to Tiburon, we looked back at Angel Island, a long familiar home port, but with a new perspective.

This is a getaway with world-class views and excellent recreation and food — where you are as likely to meet someone from 5,000 miles away from Europe as 3 miles away from San Francisco.

Tom Stienstra is the outdoors writer for The San Francisco Chronicle. His newest book is the 10th edition of Moon California Hiking. His Outdoor Report can be heard at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 12:35 p.m. Saturdays on KCBS (740 and 106.9). Email: tstienstra@sfchronicle.com

If you want to go

Where: Angel Island State Park, San Francisco Bay

Entry fee: State-park entry fee included in ferry ride. Note: State Park annual day-use pass not accepted at Angel Island State Park.

Map/brochure: Free at visitor center, pdf at www.parks.ca.gov.

Park rules: Bicyclists age 17 and younger must wear helmets. No bikes on North Ridge Trail. No dogs, wood gathering, wood fires, roller skates, roller blades or skateboards.

Angel Island concessions: Angel Island Cafe (full menu), mountain bike rentals ($13.50 an hour, $50 all day), two-hour guided tour by Segway ($68), TramTours (by small bus-style train, $15.50). www.angelisland.com.

Camping: 10 hike-in sites, $30 per site per night; one group kayak-in site, $50 per night. Reserve at www.reserveamerica.com. (800) 444-7275

Contact: Angel Island State Park, (415) 435-5390, www.parks.ca.gov.

Ferries

San Francisco: Blue & Gold Fleet, Pier 41, $16; tickets available on line at www.blueandgoldfleet.com; (415) 773-1188, ext. 7.

Marin: Angel Island Tiburon Ferry, $15, cash or checks only; (415) 435-2131, www.angelislandferry.com.

East Bay: From Alameda Main Street, Oakland Jack London Square, Vallejo Ferry Dock, buy round-trip tickets to Pier 41 in San Francisco. Then from Pier 41 at Blue & Gold Fleet, buy separate round-trip tickets to Angel Island; prices vary, discounts with Clipper Card;

www.sanfranciscobayferry.com; (415) 773-1188.