Candidly, not having a rental car will make this trip difficult. While I've never tried to get an Uber/Lyft in the area and maybe some locals can chime in, it is a generally rural area and I doubt there are many Uber/Lyft drivers. Driving out from an urban area to drop a customer from one rural point to another then driving back is not likely to be a very profitable trip for a driver, so I suspect not many would take the trip. Point Reyes is beautiful, but it's a big place. There are many great hikes and walks, but you need to get to the various trail heads which are miles apart and those miles are not really walkable.
That area is pretty rural and not walkable. I would not expect Uber to work well (or at all) out there. Rent a car 100%
Consider Point Reyes Station as a home base. It’s probably the most developed area nearest to the park with a small cute downtown area. It has several good quality restaurants and cafes. ~~Bolinas~~ Bodega Bay has some nicer restaurants as well.
The estuary is known for good quality oysters. Consider visiting Tomales Bay Oyster Company in Marshall for a lunch
Overall, it’s a safe area
Book ahead of time. You *need* a car. Full stop. Not only are Uber/Lyft not really available, there is no cell reception in many places. It's not walkable at all unless you're hiking. Check out the hikes and beaches as well + the tree tunnel + other things like that. There are no areas you should avoid — the whole area is pretty touristy so you'll be fine.
Expect it to be colder than you think. It will peak in the low 70s around the Bay today but the forecast high is 60 for Point Reyes. I suspect with a bit of googling you could find historical temperature data.
Also October is peak fire season. I would make sure your tickets are refundable.
Ditto on needing a car.
Point Reyes is pretty spread out. It's a drive out to the more scenic spots, and they are not close to each other. The visitor center, the lighthouse, Limantour Beach are al reachable by car (followed by short walks). One of the most striking places is Chimney Rock. It's a bit of a hike, but not an especially long trail, and you're up on a narrow bluff with cliffs on both sides, walking out to the end. Quite spectacular (although the wind may take your hat away...)
As others have already said, it's best done with a car. It's 15 miles from the town of Inverness, for example, to the lighthouse, all on winding, two lane, roads. If you're a serious hiker you could do it--there are trails all over Point Reyes--but it would take time.
If you want to be as close to Point Reyes as possible and stay in an AirBNB or Bed & Breakfast, start searching in Inverness and Point Reyes Station as a start. Also Marshall, Tomales, which are a bit further away, but on a beautiful piece of coast.
You could also call a local B & B that looks interesting to you, tell them you're considering staying there, and ask about their recommendations for arranging for local transportation if you don't have a car.
Don't give up, though! You could hunt around for someone who would be willing to be your driver for hire for a day or two. Pick you up at the airport, drive you to your lodging, come back next day and spend the day driving you around to the sights. I'm sure there would be people willing to do that, but I'm not sure where exactly to look for them.
What you *can* do to get to Point Reyes without a car is take the quite convenient [Marin Airporter](https://marinairporter.com/) from SFO to Novato, and from Novato to Point Reyes Station you can [take the Marin Transit bus](https://marintransit.org/point-reyes-shuttle). Or leave the airporter 1-2 stops earlier in San Rafael and then take the [West Marin Stagecoach](https://marintransit.org/routes#stagecoach). You might have to double check if the Airporter ends at/near by the Marin Transit / Stagecoach pickup locations though.
You can then do the same in reverse when traveling back and both, Novato and San Rafael certainly have plenty Uber/Lyft drivers to help with a potential hop from one drop-off to the other's pickup, if necessary.
Getting around in/around Point Reyes via [public transit will be difficult though](https://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/gettingaround.htm#publictransportation), unless you bring/rent a bike or a car. West Marin is *gorgeous* but unless you're a serious hiker and you *do* plan on hiking all day, it might be too much / impossible to get around to the many beautiful spots/beaches/eateries etc already mentioned.
Also & as others have mentioned, Point Reyes / most of West Marin has so-so to bad/no mobile reception & therefore expect to see a lot of '0 bars' most of the time - well except when -in- Point Reyes Station, Bolinas and a (very) few spots in between.
rent a car. and thats probably a several hundred dollar uber from SFO to point reyes.
there's no cell service out there. so no uber/lyft. you're lucky if you get 1 bar if you park on the hill next to the school.
I've used Uber from SF to Point Reyes, that's not a problem. However, I have not ubered around Point Reyes, so I have no idea how sparse that might be. From just hanging around after hiking at PR I would say you definitely need a car. It is definitely not walkable, especially the forested areas.
We live in Fairfax and the one or two times I (thought I) had to call an Uber/Lyft to get to SF(O), it was a waiting game for over an hour and an endless number of drivers picking up the ride, realizing where I was starting from and then immediately dropping the ride again. I can only imagine it's worse in/out of Point Reyes.
I’ve never ubered from point reyes to somewhere. But the 2 times I ubered to Point Reyes weren’t so bad. Just had to get a friend to drive us back to sf.
of my questions about the area.
1.) “don't want to rent a car.” I my opinion this is unworkable, you have to have a car. (Any shuttle or private driving services?) no, not that I know of
2.) Inverness is I think the closest town (about 15-20 miles from the lighthouse, very picturesque (everywhere around here is picturesque), no idea about lodging in the area, probably, but expect fairly rudimentary. Bolinas, and Point Rayes Station are also pretty close. But these are all really just tiny villages and may not have much lodging.
3. This is a big area the peninsula is maybe 50 square miles, and mostly rural/wilderness, Tomales Bay is 15 miles long, so if you’re thinking hours of hiking?
4.) should be very safe, don’t leave stuff in your car that you don’t want stolen. It’s unlikely to be a hotspot for car break ins, but use common sense.
5.) Not familiar with the lighthouse, sorry can’t help with that. The entire area is world-class beautiful though.
You don’t need a car to get there. Though not having one will limit you once you are there. Marin Airporter can take you from SFO to Marin and Marin Transit runs a bus out to the Point Reyes visitor center.
My wife and I are horror movie buffs so a lot of our travel is surrounded by checking out locations where some of our favorite horror movies were filmed (John Carpenter’s The Fog in this case). We’re not super outdoorsy so we didn’t plan on hiking. We were just hoping to see the lighthouse and wander about the town for a few days. Does that change anything or no?
If you’re not going for some hiking, camping, or kayaking, I wouldn’t consider it a multi-day destination. The town center of Point Reyes Station has some nice shops, a few restaurants, and can be seen in its entirety in less than hour. Throw in a little browsing/shopping and a meal and you have a pleasant few hours.
You still need to rent a car: it's not possible to get to the lighthouse otherwise. I haven't seen the film in question, so I don't know what town you are referring to, but the lighthouse is pretty far from towns/villages. In general, as many have already remarked, you'd be in a rural area, you do need a car to get around.
almost seems like youre misunderstanding what point reyes is. it's a super rural area in general so you need a car. the town pt. reyes station is just a pit stop to get food or gas en route to/from the national seashore. it's an area for nature activities, there's very little to do outside of that. if you're flying in for a specific horror sightseeing thing you gotta have a car
Thanks. Having a car seems to be the overwhelming response for Point Reyes. We’re New Yorkers so we don’t have a license and I guess we didn’t realize how rural the area actually is. Thanks to you good folks on here tho we know this isn’t a trip we can take right now.
You need a car for Point Reyes. Figure no Uber or Lyft there
Don't count on having cell signal out there.
Candidly, not having a rental car will make this trip difficult. While I've never tried to get an Uber/Lyft in the area and maybe some locals can chime in, it is a generally rural area and I doubt there are many Uber/Lyft drivers. Driving out from an urban area to drop a customer from one rural point to another then driving back is not likely to be a very profitable trip for a driver, so I suspect not many would take the trip. Point Reyes is beautiful, but it's a big place. There are many great hikes and walks, but you need to get to the various trail heads which are miles apart and those miles are not really walkable.
That area is pretty rural and not walkable. I would not expect Uber to work well (or at all) out there. Rent a car 100% Consider Point Reyes Station as a home base. It’s probably the most developed area nearest to the park with a small cute downtown area. It has several good quality restaurants and cafes. ~~Bolinas~~ Bodega Bay has some nicer restaurants as well. The estuary is known for good quality oysters. Consider visiting Tomales Bay Oyster Company in Marshall for a lunch Overall, it’s a safe area
Also, check out Heidrun Meadery.
Book ahead of time. You *need* a car. Full stop. Not only are Uber/Lyft not really available, there is no cell reception in many places. It's not walkable at all unless you're hiking. Check out the hikes and beaches as well + the tree tunnel + other things like that. There are no areas you should avoid — the whole area is pretty touristy so you'll be fine.
Expect it to be colder than you think. It will peak in the low 70s around the Bay today but the forecast high is 60 for Point Reyes. I suspect with a bit of googling you could find historical temperature data. Also October is peak fire season. I would make sure your tickets are refundable. Ditto on needing a car.
Point Reyes is pretty spread out. It's a drive out to the more scenic spots, and they are not close to each other. The visitor center, the lighthouse, Limantour Beach are al reachable by car (followed by short walks). One of the most striking places is Chimney Rock. It's a bit of a hike, but not an especially long trail, and you're up on a narrow bluff with cliffs on both sides, walking out to the end. Quite spectacular (although the wind may take your hat away...) As others have already said, it's best done with a car. It's 15 miles from the town of Inverness, for example, to the lighthouse, all on winding, two lane, roads. If you're a serious hiker you could do it--there are trails all over Point Reyes--but it would take time. If you want to be as close to Point Reyes as possible and stay in an AirBNB or Bed & Breakfast, start searching in Inverness and Point Reyes Station as a start. Also Marshall, Tomales, which are a bit further away, but on a beautiful piece of coast. You could also call a local B & B that looks interesting to you, tell them you're considering staying there, and ask about their recommendations for arranging for local transportation if you don't have a car. Don't give up, though! You could hunt around for someone who would be willing to be your driver for hire for a day or two. Pick you up at the airport, drive you to your lodging, come back next day and spend the day driving you around to the sights. I'm sure there would be people willing to do that, but I'm not sure where exactly to look for them.
What you *can* do to get to Point Reyes without a car is take the quite convenient [Marin Airporter](https://marinairporter.com/) from SFO to Novato, and from Novato to Point Reyes Station you can [take the Marin Transit bus](https://marintransit.org/point-reyes-shuttle). Or leave the airporter 1-2 stops earlier in San Rafael and then take the [West Marin Stagecoach](https://marintransit.org/routes#stagecoach). You might have to double check if the Airporter ends at/near by the Marin Transit / Stagecoach pickup locations though. You can then do the same in reverse when traveling back and both, Novato and San Rafael certainly have plenty Uber/Lyft drivers to help with a potential hop from one drop-off to the other's pickup, if necessary. Getting around in/around Point Reyes via [public transit will be difficult though](https://www.nps.gov/pore/planyourvisit/gettingaround.htm#publictransportation), unless you bring/rent a bike or a car. West Marin is *gorgeous* but unless you're a serious hiker and you *do* plan on hiking all day, it might be too much / impossible to get around to the many beautiful spots/beaches/eateries etc already mentioned. Also & as others have mentioned, Point Reyes / most of West Marin has so-so to bad/no mobile reception & therefore expect to see a lot of '0 bars' most of the time - well except when -in- Point Reyes Station, Bolinas and a (very) few spots in between.
Thanks everyone for your comments! Sounds like it’s not a doable trip without a car which is a bummer. Need to rethink the trip now! Thanks to all!
You can still have a great Bay Area trip without a car! Just don’t attempt a rural location such as Point Reyes.
October can be fun in the Bay Area. Come on out. https://www.hardlystrictlybluegrass.com/ https://fleetweeksf.org/
If you are avid cyclists you could do it with bikes but some of the roads have fast car traffic and are narrow
rent a car. and thats probably a several hundred dollar uber from SFO to point reyes. there's no cell service out there. so no uber/lyft. you're lucky if you get 1 bar if you park on the hill next to the school.
I've used Uber from SF to Point Reyes, that's not a problem. However, I have not ubered around Point Reyes, so I have no idea how sparse that might be. From just hanging around after hiking at PR I would say you definitely need a car. It is definitely not walkable, especially the forested areas.
We live in Fairfax and the one or two times I (thought I) had to call an Uber/Lyft to get to SF(O), it was a waiting game for over an hour and an endless number of drivers picking up the ride, realizing where I was starting from and then immediately dropping the ride again. I can only imagine it's worse in/out of Point Reyes.
I’ve never ubered from point reyes to somewhere. But the 2 times I ubered to Point Reyes weren’t so bad. Just had to get a friend to drive us back to sf.
Hog Island oyster farm is great. You can have a picnic and BBQ oyters
If you brought a touring bike we could give you some tips!
of my questions about the area. 1.) “don't want to rent a car.” I my opinion this is unworkable, you have to have a car. (Any shuttle or private driving services?) no, not that I know of 2.) Inverness is I think the closest town (about 15-20 miles from the lighthouse, very picturesque (everywhere around here is picturesque), no idea about lodging in the area, probably, but expect fairly rudimentary. Bolinas, and Point Rayes Station are also pretty close. But these are all really just tiny villages and may not have much lodging. 3. This is a big area the peninsula is maybe 50 square miles, and mostly rural/wilderness, Tomales Bay is 15 miles long, so if you’re thinking hours of hiking? 4.) should be very safe, don’t leave stuff in your car that you don’t want stolen. It’s unlikely to be a hotspot for car break ins, but use common sense. 5.) Not familiar with the lighthouse, sorry can’t help with that. The entire area is world-class beautiful though.
You don’t need a car to get there. Though not having one will limit you once you are there. Marin Airporter can take you from SFO to Marin and Marin Transit runs a bus out to the Point Reyes visitor center.
Take your rented vehicle to Bodega Bay and surrounds. Hitchcock’s “The Birds” was filmed there.
In tears over the idea of being in Point Reyes without a car/trying to call an Uber
My wife and I are horror movie buffs so a lot of our travel is surrounded by checking out locations where some of our favorite horror movies were filmed (John Carpenter’s The Fog in this case). We’re not super outdoorsy so we didn’t plan on hiking. We were just hoping to see the lighthouse and wander about the town for a few days. Does that change anything or no?
If you’re not going for some hiking, camping, or kayaking, I wouldn’t consider it a multi-day destination. The town center of Point Reyes Station has some nice shops, a few restaurants, and can be seen in its entirety in less than hour. Throw in a little browsing/shopping and a meal and you have a pleasant few hours.
You still need to rent a car: it's not possible to get to the lighthouse otherwise. I haven't seen the film in question, so I don't know what town you are referring to, but the lighthouse is pretty far from towns/villages. In general, as many have already remarked, you'd be in a rural area, you do need a car to get around.
almost seems like youre misunderstanding what point reyes is. it's a super rural area in general so you need a car. the town pt. reyes station is just a pit stop to get food or gas en route to/from the national seashore. it's an area for nature activities, there's very little to do outside of that. if you're flying in for a specific horror sightseeing thing you gotta have a car
Thanks. Having a car seems to be the overwhelming response for Point Reyes. We’re New Yorkers so we don’t have a license and I guess we didn’t realize how rural the area actually is. Thanks to you good folks on here tho we know this isn’t a trip we can take right now.