California
From San Francisco
Within two hours, and not another postcard lot.
From downtown San Francisco, these are under-the-radar days within about two hours. Muir Woods and the famous coastal pullouts are left off on purpose. Drive times assume a calm midday. Summer weekends and bridge traffic will add time.
Drive times start at downtown San Francisco. They are typical midday figures, not a promise.
Who is coming
Kids and big-group filters show the places marked for them.
- 01Point Reyes, Drake’s Beach1 hr 20 minPoint Reyes is a peninsula on the Pacific plate, with a lighthouse, a beach, and tule elk if you go far enough north.
Crowd level: Mixed. Go early, or pick a weekday
- 02Bolinas1 hrBolinas is a lagoon, a cliff, and a town that spent years taking down its highway sign.
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
- 03Pescadero1 hrPescadero is one street, a marsh, and a beach of pebbles a few minutes west.
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
- 04Mount Diablo summit1 hr 15 minOn a clear day the summit is a survey point with a ridiculous view: the Sierra one way, the Farallones the other, if the air agrees.
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
- 05China Camp40 minChina Camp is a bayshore state park with a 19th-century Chinese shrimp-fishing village still standing on the point.
Crowd level: Quiet. Room to linger
- 06Samuel P. Taylor redwoods50 minSamuel P.
Crowd level: Quiet. Room to linger
- 07Angel Island45 min to the ferryAngel Island is a state park in the bay and, more importantly, the immigration station where people were held between 1910 and 1940.
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
- 08Tennessee Valley25 minTennessee Valley is a flat ranch road to a small cove, about a mile and a half each way.
Crowd level: Mixed. Go early, or pick a weekday
- 09Petaluma55 minPetaluma is a river town that got rich on eggs and iron-front buildings.
Crowd level: Quiet. Room to linger
- 10Glen Ellen and Jack London’s ranch1 hr 15 minGlen Ellen is a few doors and a state historic park on Jack London’s Beauty Ranch.
Crowd level: Easy. Busy only at the obvious hour
- 11Purisima Creek Redwoods45 minPurisima Creek is a redwood canyon in the Midpeninsula preserves, logged and then protected.
Crowd level: Quiet. Room to linger
- 12Tomales1 hr 20 minTomales is a village of a few corners on a bay that follows the San Andreas.
Crowd level: Quiet. Room to linger