Offbeat San Francisco and NorCal: 4 Days
Four days adds a Highway 1 coast day to the 3-day base-camp plan: two city days, Muir Woods and Sausalito, and now Half Moon Bay’s cliffs and tide pools. This extends the 3-day itinerary with one more NorCal day; the 5-day version adds a full Napa or Sonoma wine day on top of this.
Book these before you go:
- Alcatraz, the one non-negotiable advance booking on this trip: book directly through Alcatraz City Cruises (tickets release ~90 days out)
- Muir Woods parking or shuttle, required year-round: reserve at gomuirwoods.com
- A rental car for Day 4’s coast drive: compare rates on Discover Cars
| Stop | Distance | Drive time |
|---|---|---|
| Muir Woods | ~12 miles | ~45 min |
| Sausalito | ~10 miles (or ferry) | ~20 min drive / 30 min ferry |
| Alcatraz | in the bay | ~15 min ferry from Pier 33 |
| Half Moon Bay | ~30 miles | ~45 min |
Day 1: The bridge, the wharf, the cable car
Walk the Golden Gate Bridge from the San Francisco side early, free the entire way, with the Presidio’s old barracks and Crissy Field’s flat path giving you somewhere calmer once the crowds catch up. Drift to Fisherman’s Wharf in the afternoon to watch the sea lions that took over Pier 39’s K-dock uninvited in 1990 and simply stayed, then walk 10 minutes into North Beach for lunch rather than anything sold within sight of them. Ride the Powell-Hyde cable car, $9 in 2026, boarding mid-route to skip the worst of the Powell turnaround queue, and let it drop you near Lombard Street’s crooked block. Dinner back in North Beach.
Day 2: Muir Woods and Sausalito
Muir Woods needs an advance parking or shuttle reservation year-round, booked at gomuirwoods.com before you leave the city; standard parking runs about $10, or take the weekend and holiday shuttle from Larkspur Landing for about $4 round trip with no parking reservation needed. The redwoods, some near 250 feet, are worth every bit of the paperwork. Spend the afternoon in Sausalito, a small waterfront town that runs on houseboats and good views, then either drive back over the bridge or leave the car and take the Golden Gate Ferry instead, about 30 minutes and $14 one-way, which hands you a better skyline than the windshield does.
Day 3: Alcatraz and the neighborhoods
This only works if Alcatraz was booked weeks ahead: Alcatraz City Cruises is the only operator, tickets release roughly 90 days out, and summer sells out early, so it’s the one non-negotiable advance booking on this whole trip. The Day Tour runs $47.95 for an adult in 2026 and eats a solid morning. Back on land, get a burrito in the Mission; La Taqueria or Taqueria Cancun, $12 to $16, beats anything sold near the water. Walk the Balmy Alley murals after, then pick Twin Peaks for the steep citywide view or Alamo Square for the Victorian postcard, leaving nothing visible if parked at either since both are known smash-and-grab spots despite the city’s break-in rate sitting at a 22-year low overall. Evening in Chinatown, dim sum for $15 to $25 a person down Grant Avenue.
Day 4: Highway 1 south to Half Moon Bay
Pick up the car this morning if it isn’t already with you. Half Moon Bay is about 45 minutes down Highway 1, past Devil’s Slide’s cliffside curves, and it’s a car-only trip; there’s no useful transit down here. Pillar Point Harbor is the local claim to fame, home to Mavericks, one of the biggest big-wave surf breaks in the world, though the formal contest itself has sat on indefinite hold since 2016 for lack of a title sponsor, so don’t plan the day around watching it live. Tide pools and a genuinely good stretch of beach fill the rest of the afternoon, along with a farm stand or two selling produce that makes the Mission’s grocery prices look unreasonable by comparison. Fresh seafood for a late lunch, then back into the city before the fog thickens on the coast road.
Is Half Moon Bay worth a full day or just an afternoon?
Just an afternoon, honestly. There’s enough here (tide pools, the beach, a farm stand lunch) to fill 3 to 4 hours well, but not a full day unless a winter swell has the Mavericks break actually working, which only happens a handful of times each season. Pair it with a late departure from the city rather than clearing your whole Day 4 for it.
Do you need a rental car for this 4 day version?
Yes, but only from Day 4 onward. Muir Woods and Sausalito on Day 2 work fine by shuttle and ferry, and Alcatraz and the neighborhoods on Day 3 run entirely on Muni. Half Moon Bay has no useful transit alternative, so pick the car up that morning rather than carrying a parking bill for days you don’t need it.
Getting around across all four days
Muni handles the city, buses and cable cars on the same Clipper card worth loading on Day 1; BART only matters for the SFO run. Once the car’s in play on Day 4, remember the coast doesn’t follow San Francisco’s grid logic, so budget extra time you don’t think you’ll need.
What catches people out
Summer here, June through August, is the cold and foggy season, nicknamed Karl by locals who’ve stopped fighting it, so pack a jacket regardless of the month. September and October are the real sunny window, worth remembering for a future trip. Parking runs $50 to $75 a day in the city before the car’s actually useful, and Muir Woods turns away anyone without a reservation at the gate, no exceptions made for a good excuse.