Overview
Mill Valley is a city in Marin County, in the North Bay region of the Bay Area of California. The city begins in the canyons and ridges at the base of Mount Tamalpais and extends into a broad valley that reaches the Richardson Bay portion of the San Francisco Bay.
1 sights · 5 things to do · 6 places to eat · 3 bars & cafés · 5 places to stay
Updated from Wikivoyage on 1 October 2026 · Something wrong or missing? Improve it on Wikivoyage
Best things about Mill Valley
Green Gulch Farms & Zen Center
Daily meditation 8:30AM. Weekend and longer retreats and various workshops in Zen practice and organic farming.
Mill Valley Film Festival
Marin Theatre Company
Mill Valley Mill
Not much remains of the original structure, but it's a pretty spot in a redwood lined riverbed. A railroad car from the Old Railroad Grade — the main route up Mt. Tamalpais for sightseers in the early-1900s — stands oppo…
Hiking
Mill Valley is the starting point for long hikes in the redwood forests of Mount Tam and beyond to the coast.
Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
Plan your trip
Best time to visit & weather
Most comfortable: Mar–Nov. Summer highs reach about 72°F; winter lows dip to about 44°F. Wettest: Dec and Jan. (climate data from nearby San Francisco)
Blue bars: average daily high and low (°F). Purple columns: average monthly rain and melted snow (inches).
Getting there
- From you: to see whether to drive or fly, and how long it takes.
- OAK Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, Oakland — 22 mi away (major hub). Directions
- SFO San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco — 22 mi away (major hub). Directions
Mill Valley is easiest to see by car. From Highway 101 take the Mill Valley/Tiburon Blvd exit or the Mill Valley/Stinson Beach exit.
Full “Get in” guide ↓Budget & where to stay
No prices are listed for this place yet. See the Sleep guide ↓ for options.
Sample 2-day itinerary
Day 1
- Morning Green Gulch Farms & Zen Center, Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival
- Lunch Kitchen Sunnyside
- Afternoon Mill Valley Mill
- Dinner Piazza D'Angelo
- Evening Sweetwater Music Hall
Day 2
- Morning Marin Theatre Company, Hiking
- Lunch La Ginestra
- Afternoon Mill Valley Film Festival
- Dinner Joe's Taco Lounge
- Evening The 2AM Club
Stops are grouped by area so each day needs little backtracking. Check opening hours before you go.
Food for you
For a small town, Mill Valley has a wide range of excellent restaurants from cozy local joints to upscale eateries.
Cuisine (tap to filter)
What to ask about, for your diet
Diet labels come from each listing's description and cuisine; “likely” means the cuisine usually has good choices, not a promise. Check with the restaurant. Open the food finder
Map
Every listing with a location. Tap a pin for its Google Maps link.
Get in
By car
Mill Valley is easiest to see by car. From Highway 101 take the Mill Valley/Tiburon Blvd exit or the Mill Valley/Stinson Beach exit.
By bus
Buses from San Francisco drop off along the highway. Commuter buses from downtown and from the ferry in nearby Tiburon.
Mill Valley is served by Golden Gate Transit route 4, a commuter route to San Francisco, and by Marin Transit route 17. As of September 2019, Google Maps displays stops on both sides of the street as a single stop — make sure you are at the correct side for your destination.
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.
See
See Mill Valley Mill
Not much remains of the original structure, but it's a pretty spot in a redwood lined riverbed. A railroad car from the Old Railroad Grade — the main route up Mt. Tamalpais for sightseers in the early-1900s — stands opposite the mill.
Muir Woods
Muir Woods National Monument is home to 560 acres (2.2 km2) 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 200 feet (60 m) tall and over 600 years old. The woodland is served by a number of trails which weave between the redwoods - wheelchair-accessible boardwalks as well as hiking trails. The sunlight filtering through the redwood canopy to the valley below is incredibly beautiful and peaceful. In fact, when the UN was being founded in 1945, the delegates were taken to Muir Woods in order to inspire them with the peaceful ideal which the UN was intended to have.
Park entry costs $15 (children 15 and under are free). Address: Frank Valley (Muir Woods) Road, +1-415-388-2596. Hours: 8AM-sunset every day.
Despite being in the San Francisco Bay Area, access can be difficult. There are several options, ordered from best to worse (when available):
- Muir Woods Shuttle is the cheapest option at $4 round-trip (and free for ages 15 and younger), but tickets must be bought in advance online or by phone: +1-800-410-2419. The shuttle runs on limited dates: Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and not during the winter. Check your exact date carefully to make sure the shuttle is available.
- Tour companies run organized tours to Muir Woods. See list.
- Driving to Muir Woods is possible all year round, but parking is extremely limited, costs $8, and requires a reservation online or by phone +1-800-410-2419 (using the same system as for shuttle tickets). You are recommended to carpool, and to come at the beginning or end of the day.
- There is no cell phone service in and near Muir Woods. You can order an Uber/Lyft to take you to Muir Woods, but you won't be able to order one back, unless arranged ahead of time. Sometimes there are taxis waiting in the Muir Woods parking lot, but don't assume this will be the case. The park office can call a taxi for you, but it might take a long time to come. Taxi fare to Sausalito Ferry is about $40.
- From the park entrance, you can hike about 1.5 miles, mostly uphill, to Panoramic Highway where the bus 61 runs - 6 times a day westbound and 5 times a day eastbound.
Do
Do Hiking
Mill Valley is the starting point for long hikes in the redwood forests of Mount Tam and beyond to the coast.
Buy
Eat
For a small town, Mill Valley has a wide range of excellent restaurants from cozy local joints to upscale eateries.
Eat Kitchen Sunnyside
For great breakfast foods where the locals eat.
Eat Piazza D'Angelo
A Marin institution, D'Angelo's is no simple pizza place. Casual-dressy Italian food. Reservations recommended on weekends or holidays.
Eat La Ginestra
Great family-style Italian food including pizza and ravioli.
Eat Joe's Taco Lounge
Healthy Californian-Mexican. Seafood tacos and burritos are their specialty, but the decor is worth the trip. $5–10
Eat El Paseo Restaurant
For a delicious, and rather expensive, dinner out, try this upscale Italian/California cuisine restaurant and Mill Valley institution.
Eat Sol Food
Puerto Rican food that's very popular with the locals. Limited seating.
Drink
Drink Sweetwater Music Hall
Local bar and music venue.
Sleep
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. There are a lot of Vacation Rentals by Home Owner (VRBO) and Home Away options available in this community as well, if one is interested in a more 'local' experience, people actually rent away their actual houses. There are great places usually very central to town and have great prices for weeks and nights.
Stay Alpine 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 on some weekends in July and August.
Stay safe
Mill Valley has a very low crime rate, thanks to high property values and insulation by other exclusive towns like Tiburon, Larkspur, and Corte Madera. Prevalence of dangerous crimes is low enough to actually induce stricter enforcement of traffic infractions, since the police would not have much to do otherwise.
Common sense should prevail, though. Do not hike alone when rambling across the trails in Mill Valley and Mt. Tamalpais. The likelihood of having a negative encounter during a hike is minimal, but you will benefit greatly with the aid of another person should you meet an unsavory character — animal or human — along the way.
Go next
- Tiburon and the ferry to San Francisco
- Corte Madera. Home to a major shopping center and some nice parks.
- San Francisco. The toll for the Golden Gate bridge is $6.
- Stinson Beach. Try to avoid the mid-day crowds. Leave early, and take backroads instead of Highway 1.
Nearby
Larkspur and Corte Madera
City / town · 11 listings · 2 mi away
Sausalito
City / town · 33 listings · 5 mi away
San Anselmo
City / town · 4 listings · 5 mi away
Tiburon
City / town · 14 listings · 5 mi away
Stinson Beach
City / town · 5 listings · 5 mi away
San Rafael
City / town · 27 listings · 6 mi away
Marin Headlands
Rural area · 13 listings · 6 mi away
Fairfax
City / town · 14 listings · 6 mi away
My experience
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