When in Berkeley

So Brian and I have been living in Berkeley a while now, and we've found a lot of fun things to do in the area! Here's some info on traveling to the Bay, and things to do in the area:

First things first:

Arriving - San Francisco and Oakland both have airports (SFO and OAK). SFO is usually cheaper, but it takes longer to get to the east bay from there. Both airports are connected to public transport (BART, the subway/train system), though I would recommend taking an Uber/Lyft to your destination if: 1) you're arriving late at night, or 2) there is 2 or more in your party (it can be about the same cost as buying 2 BART tickets). 

Public transport - if you're new to using public transportation (as I was, when I first moved from WV), Google maps can be your best friend! It can tell you when to catch BART trains/ buses, and tells you where to make transfers. This is all made easier if you purchase a Clipper card; you can load up the card and use it on BART, MUNI, east bay buses, and the ferries. Cards can be purchased in the Arrivals at SFO, and at other locations. To use the card, look for blue circles that say Clipper when entering BART, getting on the bus or ferry, and simply touch your card to it.

In Berkeley:

Berkeley Marina & Bay Trail - This is a nice walk especially on a clear day; directly across the bay you can see the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz. Make sure to bring a jacket, it gets incredibly windy along the water.

Tilden Park & Grizzly Peak Point -  East of Berkeley lies Tilden Park, a large, beautiful area that provides a nice escape from the city. There is a free (and very large) botanical garden within the park that is nice to walk around. The garden is also a great (and free) spot to see some redwoods. Near the edge of the park is Grizzly Peak Point - a place on the road with a beautiful view of Berkeley below.

Farmers' Markets - In and around Berkeley, there are farmers' markets almost every day of the week. They are fairly low-key, but a great place to get fresh food.

1. Downtown Berkeley - Saturdays 10-3. This is a larger market; because of its location downtown, we take the bus. There are a lot of produce stands, along with cheese, meat, and mushroom stands, as well as bakeries and hot food stands. In addition, there are a lot of vendors that sell homemade crafts, clothing, and art.
2. El Cerrito - Saturday 9-1. This is a smaller market that is easy an easy drive. Although it is smaller, we are able to find everything we need at this market. There are plenty of vegetables, a couple flower stands, and a few vendors that sell hot food.
3. Albany - Wednesday 3-7.
4. North Berkeley - Thursdays 3-7. Also a smaller market, parking is harder to find here. Similar to El Cerrito.
5. South Berkeley - Tuesdays 2-6:30. This market is a good size (not as large as Downtown and not as small as El Cerrito). There are lots of produce vendors, a few mushroom, meat, honey, and juice/sauces, several made to order food, and some bakery stands.

UC Berkeley Campus - Located near downtown Berkeley, there is plenty to see in and around the UCB campus. One of the best things to see on campus is the Campanile (aka Sather Tower). Students can go to the top for free; everyone else only has to pay $3 (cash only). From the top, there is a beautiful view of Berkeley, and you can see across the bay to see the Golden Gate bridge. When walking around campus, you can see an abundance of redwoods and other California plants, as well as beautiful architecture. If you walk through the Valley Life Sciences Building, you can see some dinosaur skeletons! Another thing to see on campus is Sather Gate--the old edge of campus.

Other things in Berkeley -
Gourmet Ghetto - an area near campus that's great for foodies; be sure to check here if you're hungry!
UC Berkeley Botanical Garden - free for UCB students, $10 for adults

Nearby Berkeley:

Day in San Francisco - There are a few methods to getting to San Francisco (or as locals call it, "the city").

1. Drive - the least appealing option. Traffic in the city is horrendous. There are several parking lots near Fisherman's Wharf and a parking garage across from Pier 39, but they are incredibly overpriced. There is also a toll going into the city over the Bay Bridge.
2. BART - cheaper option, but not very scenic. Taking the BART (subway) from Downtown Berkeley to the Embarcadero in the city costs $7.80 round trip, but you can't see much.
3. Transbay bus - cheap option, better view. A single transbay fare is $4.20 (so $8.40 round trip).
4. Ferry - best views, good price. This is the method we prefer; schedule here. If you drive south to Jack London Square in Oakland (or slightly farther to Alameda), there is free parking available if you can show you rode the ferry. From the Oakland terminal, scan your clipper card and parking ticket as you walk out on the pier. Using a clipper card on the ferry means you can immediately take your seat, instead of standing in line to purchase a ticket after boarding the ferry. Also with the clipper card, it costs $9.60 round trip, while paying with cash/credit costs $12.80 round trip. You can get off the ferry at either the Ferry Building or Pier 41, both within walking distance of many attractions.

Once in the city, there is a lot to see. We like to get off the ferry at Pier 41 because it is right next to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 (shopping, food, sea lions, and Aquarium of the Bay), Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museum, Ghirardelli Square, Maritime Museum, and the Hyde Street cable car turn-around. You can wait in line at the cable car turn-around and ride the cable car down to Union Square ($7 one-way). Even if you don't want to wait to ride, I recommend you watch them turn the car around. From there, you can walk to the Dragon's Gate entrance to Chinatown. Chinatown is a great place if you want to buy cheap souvenirs or t-shirts, and there are plenty of places to eat. If you stay on Grant Ave walking north, the best way to get back to the pier is turn left onto Broadway and then right onto Stockton, which goes all the way to the pier. Keep an eye on the street signs; when you see Lombard Street, look down the hill to the left and you can see "the crookedest street in the world". (This is a great view to see the street; when you get too close, 1. there are too many people, and 2. it's hard to see the whole street.)

Muir Woods - The first time we tried to go to Muir Woods, the park was so crowded, there was absolutely no parking. What I learned from that is: if you want to go during a busy time (summer), either get there as soon as they open or park where there is a free shuttle to take you in. Also, make sure you check the NPS website; they will have a warning if the park is really busy. The second time we went it was less busy, and it is absolutely beautiful! There are several longer hiking trails as well as a few short loops, if you bring older visitors along.
UPDATE: I discovered this article that lists other places to see redwoods around Berkeley if you don't feel like making the drive to Muir Woods.
UPDATE 2: Muir Woods now requires you to make a reservation ahead of time if you want to park there. See details here.

Golden Gate Bridge - There are several ways to see the Golden Gate Bridge from the East Bay. It is possible to see it without driving across it, because there is a an electronic toll (they send you a bill in the mail) when driving south (no toll northbound).

1. From San Francisco. It is very picturesque from the SF Maritime National Historic Park (near Ghirardelli Square), as well as several other points in the city.
2. From Sather Tower or Grizzly Peak. Although this is from a (very far) distance.
3. Drive across the Richmond Bridge and see it from the north side. (This avoids city traffic and can be included in your trip to Muir Woods.) From 101 south, take the last exit before the toll, following signs for Ft. Baker. Just past Ft. Baker is a small pier with a great view of the Golden Gate bridge. *When driving north towards Sausalito from Berkeley, there is a toll to drive over the Richmond Bridge (no toll southbound).

Bolinas - About an hour and 15 minutes north of Berkeley, this can also be combined with a trip to Muir Woods.  It's a little bit hard to find the turnoff for Bolinas because the locals kept stealing the sign, so eventually the state stopped putting one up. We discovered a couple of the signs in the Bolinas Museum and the Coast Cafe (see below). The main attraction here is Agate Beach. Make sure to go at low tide; we spent a long time walking along the beach and looking through the tide pools! We then ate lunch at Coast Cafe (the only real restaurant in town), and looked through the free Bolinas Museum. As a town, Bolinas is *very* small (even by my standards), and seems to be frozen in time. Everyone we encountered was very friendly, and when we got out of the car by the restaurant there were a couple of older gentlemen outside playing a fiddle and a guitar (it reminded me of growing up in West Virginia).

*Although this looks like mud, it is all solid rock that's relatively easy to walk on during low tide.

Sonoma County - There are so many options when visiting Sonoma! When you want to visit wine country, Sonoma is more budget-friendly than Napa. A really great winery is Cline's Family Cellars ($6/person tasting). The property is SO beautiful, and they have a museum that has models of all the Californian missions. Cafe Citi is a great Italian place to eat lunch; only get a whole sandwich if you're really hungry. Korbel does free champagne tastings, and their property is really nice.
Gundlach-Bundschu winery has really fantastic wines and a beautiful property. Great places in the town of Sonoma include: Sonoma Cheese Factory (wine and cheese pairings; check to see if they have a Groupon), Highway 12, Wine Country Chocolates, and Sweet Scoops ice cream. If you drive north to Calistoga, the Petrified Forest is a really fantastic place to walk through the woods and see enormous petrified redwood logs!

Monterey County - So many things to see in Monterey too! Point Lobos ($10/car) is very nice for hiking and tide pooling. Make sure to download or print out a map ahead of time, otherwise maps are $2. (Check out my GoPro video I made of our hike!) A good place to grab lunch is Bruno's Market (go to the deli in the back) in Carmel, a very cute little town. If you have time, stop by the Carmel Mission ($6.50/adult to enter). If you're visiting between October and February, make sure to visit the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove (free); it is absolutely magical! If you go in the afternoon, they have docents to tell you about the migrations, and the butterflies are very active. Also stop by Point Pinos Lighthouse ($2/adult), the oldest on the west coast. There are several areas to pull off the road along Sunset Drive to explore more tide pools. The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a state-of-the-art aquarium, which is worth the splurge.

Harbor seals!

Moss Beach - Just south of San Francisco, this is a great place for tide pooling and short hikes. There are a few places to eat, but we brought a picnic lunch and ate at Montara Beach.











Half Moon Bay - One of my favorite towns to visit! On the peninsula south of San Francisco, Half Moon Bay is a quaint small town that provides a welcoming escape from the city. Nearby Poplar Beach has a beautiful cliff trail, or you can walk in the sand. In town, a couple good places for lunch are: Cunha's Country Store (1 of their deli sandwiches is enough for 2 people) and Jersey Joe's (a fast-food style cheesesteak joint). I always like to stop in their olive oil shop and pick up a new flavor of EVOO. Note that a lot of shops/restaurants are closed Monday-Wednesday. Additionally, HMB hosts a Pumpkin Festival every October, complete with a market full of local artwork.

A longer drive from Berkeley:

Lassen Volcanic National Park - About 3.5 hours northeast of Berkeley lies an under-appreciated gem of the National Park System. This area often has snow well into June, so it's only accessible for a few months out of the year. With that in mind, check the forecast before you go, especially the nighttime temperatures. Lassen is great for hiking, camping, kayaking/swimming in one of the many lakes, and checking out one of the volcanic areas of the park (be warned -- these areas smell VERY strongly of sulfur...you smell them before you see them). Here are some of the hikes we've enjoyed (distances given are round trip):

• Manzanita Lake Loop - 1.8 miles, easy. Beautiful views of two mountains reflected in the lake. The lake is near a nice campground, and also has kayaks and canoes for rent.
• Reflection Lake - 1.0 mile, easy. Trail is hard to locate at some places, but you can walk all the way around the lake.
• Cedar Cone - 2.4 miles, moderate. The trail starts off as an easy walk through the woods and by lava fields. Once you reach the base of the mountain, however, the difficulty increases dramatically. The path goes straight up the mountain, and the sand-gravel surface makes it difficult to get good footing. The view at the top makes it all worth it, though!
• Mills Creek Falls - 3.6 miles, moderate. In mid-June, this trail is abundant in wildflowers, and the waterfall at the end is spectacular.

Manzanita Lake

 Wildflowers near Mills Creek Falls

Cedar Cone

Places we still want to go in California:
Sequoia National Park
Sea Glass Beach
Joshua Tree National Park
Lalaveras Big Trees State Park
Enerts Beach
Disneyland
Santa Monica and Venice Beach