Day trip from San Fransisco - Muir Woods or Santa Cruz?

[princess annie]

We went to Muir Wood when we visited San Francisco - it was so beautiful, I can definitely recommend it.

Sausalito is an amazing place to see as well. We booked our tour with Viator.

[motherofthree]

Originally Posted by jdouds

Hi are you doing the cycle go the bridge, if not do this and over to sausilito and back on the ferry.

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Thanks for the tip, yes we are planning to do this one day.

[Bozza]

We picked up a hire car on the spur of the moment and drove across the bridge, stopping the other side for the views and photos. We then went to Sausalito and mooched around a bit and had a bite to eat.

We then headed up to Muir Woods and spent a fair few hours there - it's truly spectacular and one of the highlights of our trip.

On the way back into SF, we went via Lombard Street for photos etc.

It was a great day.

When we left SF and started our trip down to LA we intended to stop in Santa Cruz for a look around and some lunch before heading off to our first stop in Monterey. Unfortunately it was a sunny Saturday and the place was gridlocked. We ended up crawling into town, there was nowhere to park, and we crawled out again without stopping.

So, if you do go to Santa Cruz, my suggestion would be to park on the outskirts of town away from the coast and walk in, just in case you get snarled up like we did!

[bluebell2go]

I've not been to Muir Woods but I've visited Santa Cruz several times as I have a cousin who lives there. It's nice but I wouldn't class it as a 'must see'. I much prefer Pacific Grove or Carmel.

[kirstenjet]

I would vote for Muir Wood I went about 13 years ago and still think of it as a wow place.

[florida girl]

I would vote for Muir Woods as closer to SF , well worth a visit.

[LostGirl]

Muir woods is a miracle of nature, but as others have mentioned does have a teeny carpark and can get very busy.

I loved going to Santa Cruz, but mainly as the boardwalk doubled as Santa Carla boardwalk in my favourite movie of all time, Lost Boys.

[Captain Ethan]

DH is a huge Lost Boys fan so Santa Cruz was a must do for us. It didn't disappoint went to many iconic places from the film. Even saw the original comic from the film in the new comic shop in the town centre. The shops there were lovely, the boardwalk and the beach too.
Loved Muir woods also though, we too went with Dylan Tours. Beautiful serene place to wander and explore.
Two very different places so hard to say which would be best for you, depends what type of day you want busy and active or calm and relaxing.