Marin County

Marin County in the Bay Area of California is a bedroom community across the Golden Gate Bridge to the north of San Francisco. Affluent Marin County is home to ex-hippies and dot-com millionaires. It has rugged wilderness areas on its western coast, while towns on the Bay have a nautical air dating to the 1800s.

Cities

  • 🌍 Bolinas: A counterculture enclave whose residents notoriously remove any signs pointing the way into town.
  • 🌍 Fairfax: Another counterculture enclave and the gateway to the rural western half of the county
  • 🌍 Larkspur and Corte Madera: A pair of small towns best known for upscale shopping and the county's main ferry terminal.
  • 🌍 Mill Valley: The starting point for hikes in Muir Woods and on Mount Tamalpais.
  • 🌍 Novato: Large and quiet bedroom community
  • 🌍 San Anselmo
  • 🌍 San Rafael: The cultural and political center of Marin, home to the unique Civic Center, lively Fourth Street, the historic mission, and China Camp State Park.
  • 🌍 Sausalito: A picturesque hillside town with sailing and views of San Francisco right across the bay.
  • 🌍 Tiburon: A small, wealthy town on a peninsula, home to historic buildings, attractive hills, and the gateway to Angel Island State Park.

Other destinations

Understand

Marin is known for affluence and left-wing politics, even compared to the rest of the famously liberal and economically booming Bay Area. To give you an idea of the politics, Marin County's Fairfax is the only town in the nation with a Green Party majority in its town council. Meanwhile, the money in the area means that there's no shortage of fine restaurants and shopping, as well as a fair share of performances, festivals, and so on.

But the big draw for most visitors is Marin's nature: steep hills, rugged beaches, ancient forests, and state parks for hiking, biking, and camping.

Climate

Marin has a temperate climate, with warm, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. Temperatures rarely go below freezing. During the summer, it's usually sunny and almost never rains, which means that this is the best season for planning outdoor activities, and it's the time when outdoor festivals and other interesting events tend to be scheduled.

The temperature tends to change a lot over the course of the day, so dress in layers. Always bring a sweatshirt or jacket (even on warm days), especially if you plan to be out past sundown.

Like its neighbor to the south, Marin can sometimes get foggy. The typical pattern is for the fog to come in overnight and burn off during the day. Be careful if you plan to drive after midnight. The fog can interfere with the views on a hike, but the good news is that it burns off—so if you get to a lookout and feel like the fog is blocking a good view, it might be worth waiting a few minutes to see if it clears.

Get in
Golden Gate Ferry

By plane

The closest major airports are San Francisco International Airport (SFO IATA) in San Francisco and Oakland International Airport (OAK IATA) in Oakland. Convenient airport bus service is provided by the Marin Airporter from San Francisco International Airport (every 30 minutes) and by the Airport Express from Oakland International Airport (every 2 hours).

  • 🌍 Marin County Airport (NOT  IATA) (at Gnoss Field). For those with the means to charter their own flight, Marin does have its own small airport.But not served by commercial airlines.  

By car

The three main routes into Marin County are the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco, the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge from the East Bay, and US 101 from Sonoma County.

By ferry

The Golden Gate Ferry from San Francisco to Larkspur or Sausalito is a pleasant way to get to Marin. Sit on the top level to enjoy the fresh air and views of the bay.

By bus

Golden Gate Transit offers public bus service from other parts of the Bay Area.

Greyhound buses stop at the San Rafael Transit Center (3rd St and Hetherton St).

By commuter rail

SMART (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit) provides commuter rail service to Sonoma County on a line from the Sonoma County Airport to San Rafael, with stops in between including Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Petaluma, and Novato. Fares range from $3.50 to $11.50 depending on how far you go, and must be paid by Clipper card or an "eTickets" app.

Marin is not served by BART, the commuter rail system that connects San Francisco with the East Bay and the Peninsula. If you're travelling by BART, you'll have to transfer to a ferry or bus in San Francisco, or to a bus in Richmond. The San Francisco option is probably better in terms of safety.

Get around

By car

Most people get around by car. The main highway is US 101, which continues north to Sonoma County and south to San Francisco.

By bus

Marin Transit provides bus service. In addition to connecting the Marin County cities, it offers a seasonal shuttle to Muir Woods (buses 66 and 66F), and the West Marin stagecoach goes to Stinson Beach (bus 61) and Point Reyes (bus 68). The system's biggest hub is the San Rafael Transit Center in San Rafael, with smaller hubs in Novato, San Anselmo, and Marin City. Connections to Golden Gate Transit buses to San Francisco, Richmond, and Sonoma County are available.

Marin Transit's service is sometimes late and not always convenient, but if you're visiting Marin without a car, it gets the job done.

By commuter rail

In addition to providing service to Sonoma County, SMART connects Novato and San Rafael, with two stops (and another planned) in Novato, and two in San Rafael, one at the Civic Center and one downtown. An extension to Larkspur is expected to be completed in 2019.

See
Point Reyes Lighthouse
  • Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed government building in the world
  • Point Reyes Lighthouse at the end of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Point Reyes National Seashore
  • Old-growth redwoods, the tallest living things on the planet, in Muir Woods
  • Views of San Francisco across the bay from Sausalito

Do

Marin has lots of beaches and mountains and is a great destination for outdoor activities like hiking, biking, kayaking, horseback riding, and sailing.

  • Hike from Mill Valley to the peak of Mount Tamalpais, which has beautiful views of Marin and (on a clear day) San Francisco and the East Bay.
  • The annual Dipsea Race is one of the oldest footraces in the U.S., a 7.5-mile (12-km) cross-country race on a scenic route from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. Held on the second Sunday in June.

Sleep

As a rule, lodging is expensive in Marin.

Hotels range from familiar chains to more distinctive local inns. Airbnbs are available too. If you want to sleep out in nature instead, there are a couple of hostels (one in the Marin Headlands and one at Point Reyes) and plenty of campsites.

Stay safe

Lower-income areas (the Canal in San Rafael and Marin City) can carry a slight risk for violent crime. In central San Rafael, exercise caution at night. In other parts of Marin, crime is generally not a significant concern.

Be careful to check for ticks after hiking in fields in the bay area. There is a high rate of lyme disease transmission in the Bay Area. If a bulls' eye rash develops at the tick bite site, immediately seek medical help and treatment with antibiotics.

Rattlesnakes, bobcats, and coyotes can be found in Marin, but they usually avoid humans, and you're unlikely to see one. If you do, don't bother them and they won't bother you.

Connect

The Marin County Free Library has branches scattered throughout the county's cities, with public computers and free Wi-Fi.

Go next

  • 🌍 Sonoma County - Although its wineries may not be as famous as those in the Napa Valley, Marin County's northwestern neighbor is actually the largest wine producer in California Wine Country and home to over 250 wineries. More than seven million visitors each year explore the county's open spaces and beautiful coastline, including the big trees at Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve and the seaside town of Bodega Bay where Alfred Hitchcock's thriller The Birds was filmed. For those interested in early California history, Fort Ross is a state historic site that preserves a fur trading outpost that was operated by Russia from 1812-1841.
  • 🌍 Napa County - Neighboring Marin County across the Bay to the northeast, America's preeminent wine-producing region attracts more than five million annual visitors to over two hundred wineries, often overcrowding the roadways on summer weekends. Travelers will find world-famous restaurants to complement the wines, and lodging that includes luxury spas, B&Bs, and upscale hotels. Those uninterested in viticulture may choose to enjoy the hot springs of Calistoga or hike/bike the many parks and trails in the area's beautiful rolling hills.
  • 🌍 Solano County - Located across the Bay to the east of Marin County, Solano County is far more rural than the other Bay Area counties, and includes significant portions of the California Delta, as well as parts of San Pablo Bay. Two of the county's cities served as early state capitals: Vallejo was the capital in 1852 and again in 1853, while Benicia served as the capital from February 1853 until February 1854; today Benicia Capitol State Historic Park provides the opportunity for visitors to explore the Capitol building from that era.
  • 🌍 Contra Costa County - Across the bay to the east, Contra Costa County is a primarily residential county that offers a vast array of food, shopping, and lodging options for Bay Area visitors. The landscape is dominated by Mount Diablo, a peak that provides excellent hiking opportunities and, on clear days, summit views that stretch for well over 100 miles in all directions. Other attractions include the John Muir Historic Site in Martinez, the estate of Nobel winning playwright Eugene O'Neill in Danville, and a WWII shipyard, now a national historic site, in Richmond.
  • 🌍 Alameda County - Alameda County is located across the Bay to the southeast of Marin County. The densely populated northern part of the county is home to the many parks and museums of Oakland, the counter-cultural hub that is Berkeley, and even a historic aircraft carrier in Alameda. The county's southern region provides a chance to experience dozens of immigrant communities, particularly in Fremont, while the eastern part of the county is rural, with the windmills and rolling hills surrounding Livermore offering opportunities for outdoor activities.
  • 🌍 San Francisco - The heart of the Bay Area, famous for its scenic beauty and unique culture

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