Muir Woods Visitor Center

Beautiful national park with a wheelchair accessible boardwalk to take you through the trees. Came here with a group of four on a Sunday (apparently Saturdays are the busiest days) and we made a parking reservation for noon online in advance (a reservation is required). It’s fairly close to San Francisco but feels like a different world. It’s absolutely beautiful and the atmosphere is quite serene.

There is a cafe available for food/drink purchases that’s right next to the gift shop. It’s good for families and big groups. There are some trails that veer off the boardwalk that are a bit for difficult but for the most part, you’ll be taking a walk in the woods. I’d budget anywhere from a couple of hours to half a day to spend here.

Reservations to park are required. Period. Now the visit to Muir Woods was great. You can spend as long as you want there with the large number of trails. Main trail and highline trail back to visitor center was about 3 miles from car to visitor center around and back to car. Beautiful scenery and well maintained trails. Main trail is paved or wood covered so lots of strollers about. Great day in the woods.

I drove 45 minutes from SF (need parking reservation beforehand) but others told me taking the boat from SF then shuttle may also be another relaxing option. In any case, the park is a very good spot for a hiking day trip, it is tidy, well labeled, with lots of red wood to see. I haven't done any of those more extensive trail this time but hope to do that later.

Highly suggest you make reservations for your parking. It absolutely makes it so much easier to park. The first parking area you come to the normally have a sign up showing it is full. If you got a reservation just stop there and let the person know. The woods them self are really interesting. The hike to make a circle is 2 miles long.

Went to SF for 4 days and this was on my list. Some people recommended me the park … they told me they have the tallest trees in the world.. and that it was the set on the movie the planet of the apes. I really like this park. You can take great pictures …. Very safe park … you have to pay about 25 $ to get a parking spot and the entrance ticket. The bathrooms are very clean and the park is well maintained. If you go to SF with your family or your partner this is a very good option.