Muir Woods National Monument: Tours & Tickets

Loved the visit ! The ride up there is harrowing at times but our driver was excellent. The only way to go, in my opinion, is by mini tour bus. We had 7 people in our van and even though admission wasn’t included in the tour it was worth the cost to not have to drive on those zigzag roads. You can’t go in your car without a parking reservation. People not informed hold up traffic because they have to have this explained by the park rangers when they pull up to park with no reservation. They then can’t go online to make a reservation because there is no cell service up there. Parking for cars can be a mile away. The walk is all uphill and then walking around the forest would be exhausting for kids and older people. I didn’t see any strollers so I don’t think they are permitted.

Our tour to Muir Woods and the winery tour of Sonoma and Napa was a great day to spend a day out of the City by the Bay. It was on 11 March. The tour included a small detour for some great pictures of the Golden Gate Bridge. Lunch at Sonoma Valley on a sunny March afternoon did not just taste good, it was a burst of fresh colours around the park. The wife loves cherry blossoms - now we know Japan does not have a monopoly on them; the stretch of cherry blossoms on the way out of Cline vineyard was as impressive as those we saw in Japan. The view of the lush green landscape was very impressive. A great day for pictures. Kudos to our tour guide who was superb and made the whole day a great day. Cheers.

Our guide “Ro” was so kind and informative. Perfect size bus. Every stop was well timed, his recommendations for our stay in the city were spot on. It was a perfect first day in the city and going to Muir Woods was magical and spiritual. My only suggestion for making this tour beyond awesome would be to add another 1/2 hour for the Muir Woods portion. The stop in Saulsolito was perfect including the deli recommendation. Just 30 more minutes in the Woods would be perfection. And the sound track coming back from the Woods was a great touch!

The voucher that we received was a bit misleading as it said we had to be there by 8:30, but our tour to Alcatraz didn't start until 10:30. Our tour to Muir Woods was supposed to start at 2:00, which did not give us much time for the tour of Alcatraz including the ferry wait time, getting back to the meeting point, etc. Sausalito was only 20 minutes which was also not made clear on the voucher. Also the bus driver was about a half hour late going to Muir Woods.

I only had a half-day free for SF and really wanted to see the Forrest - this fit the bill although it is listed as a 3hr tour, then I got my confirmation it said 3.5hrs and in reality, it was more like 4.5 hrs so plan accordingly - The 9 am tour was perfect not too crowded and Muir Woods did not disappoint just breathtaking! Our tour guide was great and very informative - I would do it again if I was short on time! Also super safe for a woman traveling alone!