Places to Eat / Shop

  • Coast Cafe - Downtown Bolinas, open Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
  • People's Store - Cute little place to get your groceries, behind the community center @14 Wharf Road, damn good Chai.
  • Gospel Flat Farm - The farmstand on Olema Bolinas Road (@ Horseshoe Hill) has delicious produce and farm fresh eggs (every day at 5 o'clock). Stop here on your way into town, cash only.
  • Bolinas Surf Shop - Not what you'd think. True Bobo T-shirts on Wharf Road.
  • Bolinas Hardware and Mercantile - Fulfill your need for souvenirs and kitsch.
  • Parkside Snack Bar - @ the beach in Stinson, get your soft-serve and fries fill. Parkside Cafe next door is a nice restaurant as well.
  • Cowgirl Creamery- In Pt Reyes Station, Delicious cheese from the cows grazing the hills around you.
  • Bovine Bakery - In Pt Reyes Station, pastries and cakes galore.

Activities

Go to the Beach
The beach in Bolinas is a great place to hang. You can access it by going to the end of either Brighton or Wharf roads (easiest to walk as parking can be tough). The beach is protected from the prevailing Northwest winds so it is generally warmer and less foggy than other California beaches. The water temps are somewhat low (we'll be lucky if the ocean temps break 60 degrees!), but on a hot day it feels great. The best thing to do at the beach in Bolinas is learn to surf! Almost every day is a perfect beginner day in Bolinas. There's a surf shop in town, 2-mile, where you can rent everything you need. They even give lessons!

You can also head to Stinson beach, a huge 3 mile expanse of white sand with lifeguards, waves, a snack bar, and everything you need. On really hot days it almost looks like you've been transported to SoCal.

Play Tennis
There's a public tennis court on Brighton Road right near the beach in Bolinas, so bring your racket!

Hike
There are a number of excellent hikes very close to Bolinas. You can access the southern part of Pt. Reyes National Seashore from the Palomarin Trailhead right in Bolinas, maybe a five minute drive from downtown. From that trailhead you can hike to Bass Lake, which is a wonderful freshwater lake for swimming and rope-swinging. This hike is rather easy, and 5 miles round trip. If you have time, you can make a 7.5 mile round trip by going all the way to Alamere falls.

If you want something a bit more strenuous, take hike in Mt. Tam state park from Stinson Beach on the 7.5 mile Matt Davis-Steep Ravine Loop trail. This hike is a workout, as there is 1600 feet of elevation gain,but it is worth it: there are views of Stinson beach and Bolinas *and* the Golden Gate Bridge and the city through grasslands, redwoods, chaparral, everything that makes coastal California beautiful.

 

Sight-see
Go 30 minutes farther north from Bolinas and you can access the main entrances to Pt. Reyes Seashore. You can check out the Pt. Reyes Lighthouse at the tip of the San Andreas fault, view the Roosevelt Elk, or walk along the massively empty and gorgeous Limantour Beach. You can stop in Inverness for some Tomales Bay oysters.

Drive 30 minutes south from Bolinas and you can go to Muir Woods, "the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world". Walk through a stand of old growth redwoods protected in perpetuity.