Travel Tips 24 > North Bay %28Bay Area%29 > Marin County >
Mill Valley
Table of Contents: Travel to Mill Valley, visa requirements / Get around / Mill Valley attractions and sightseeing / Muir Woods / City tours / Shopping, Mill Valley souvenirs / Good restaurants and cheap meals / Mill Valley nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs. / Hotels, youth hostels, lodging / Get out More from Marin County: Mill Valley culture, Point Reyes National Seashore tourist attractions More from North Bay Bay Area : Marin County culture Popular destinations Istanbul (Marmara region ) travel tours, Barcelona (Catalonia) tourist attractions, Rome (Lazio) souvenirs, Singapore (Southeast Asia) tourist attractions, Western Europe (Europe) culture, South Africa (Southern Africa) hotels and youth hostels, United Kingdom (Western Europe) travel tours, Europe (Home) souvenirs, Vancouver (Greater Vancouver) travel tours, Morocco (North Africa) travel tours |
Mill Valley [1] is a city in Marin County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area of California.
Travel to Mill Valley, visa requirements
Mill Valley is easiest to see by car. From Highway 101 take the Mill Valley/Tiburon Blvd exit.
Buses from San Francisco drop off along the highway. Commuter buses run into downtown as well as to and from the ferry in nearby Tiburon
Get around
While downtown is nice to see on foot, the parks and woods are best reached by car. Mountain bikes were invented near here, and remain a popular way to get around.
Mill Valley attractions and sightseeing
- Mill Valley Mill -- Not much remains of the original structure, but it's a pretty spot in a redwood lined riverbed
Muir Woods
Frank Valley (Muir Woods) Road (Golden Gate Transit #63), Phone: +1 415 388-2596, [2]. 8AM-sunset every day. $3.
The Muir Woods National Monument is home to 560 acres of unlogged stands of old-growth redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens), and is one of the few remaining places where these trees (the tallest living things on the planet) can be seen in their full glory. Many of the redwoods are over 300 feet tall, 20 feet in diameter and 2000 years old. The woodland is served by a number of board-walks and other walking trails where visitors can get a close look at the magnificent trees.
City tours
- Hikes Mill Valley is the starting point for a number of long hikes in the redwood forests of Mount Tam and beyond to the coast.
- Green Gulch Farms & Zen Center, 1601 Shoreline Highway, Phone: +1 415 383-3134, [3]. Daily Meditation 8:30AM. Weekend and longer retreats and various workshops in Zen practice and organic farming.
- Mill Valley Film Festival, [4].
Shopping, Mill Valley souvenirs
- Depot Bookstore A famously nice spot with a cafe and excellent selection of books.
Good restaurants and cheap meals
For a small town, Mill Valley has a wide range of excellent restaurants.
- Piazza D'Angelo, 22 Miller Av. A Marin institution, D'Angelo's is no simple pizza place. Casual-dressy Italian food. Reservations recommended on weekends or holidays. $16-$20
- Joe's Taco Lounge, 382 Miller Av. Healthy Californian-Mexican. Seafood tacos and burritos are their specialty, but the decor is worth the trip. $5-$10
- Jennie Low, 38 Miller Av. Upscale Californian-Chinese
Mill Valley nightlife, bars, clubs and pubs.
- Sweetwater Saloon, 153 Throckmorton Av., Phone: +1 415 388-2820, [5]. Local bar and music venue with a surprisingly Big Name shows.
- The 2am Club
- Buckeye Roadhouse, 15 Shoreline Hwy, Mill Valley CA 94941 415.331.2600
Hotels, youth hostels, lodging
Budget options (a relative word in Marin County) can be found along Highway 101 -- the further north you go, the more reasonable they will be. Other, more romantic options are scattered on the mountain behind town.
- Mountain Home Inn, 810 Panoramic Highway, Phone: +1 415 381-9000, [6].
- Alpine Lodge 730 Panoramic Hwy and Echo Summit Lodge. Located on Mt. Tamalpais are open to California Alpine Club Members and their guests, Alpine lodge is open as a hostel-style B&B July and August
- Tam Valley Bed & Breakfast, 508 Shasta Way, Phone: +1 415 383-8716, [7]. $170-$190.
- Mountain Meadow Inn, 3 Hart Ln., Phone: +1 415 388-2541, [8].
- Holiday Inn Express, 160 Shoreline Highway, +1 415 332-5700, [9].
Get out
- Tiburon and the ferry to San Francisco
- San Francisco
- Stinson Beach
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