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Muir Woods - tour or ferry?

Fernandina Beach...
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28 posts
Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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I read somewhere that taking the ferry over to Sausalito would be easiest to get into Muir Woods but I'm not sure how we'd get there from the ferry? They said being on the bus/tour would possibly be spending a lot of time in traffic. Any thoughts?

I can't find where I read that at to go back and research further. We are considering doing that on one of our days in SF.

TIA!

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1. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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From the ferry in Sausalito you catch a shuttle to Muir. You have to have a reservation on the shuttle and it only runs weekends this time of year.

Go to the Muir website and there is a link for shuttle/parking reservation information.

Fernandina Beach...
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28 posts
2. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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Thank you! I know this is subjective, but is this an all day event or what do you think? We will stay on the regular paths and not on the harder trails (hip injury). We just want a great place to walk, take photos and see the Redwoods.

Elk Grove...
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for Hong Kong
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3. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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Generally it is not an all day event unless you hike many of the trails in the park. Typically tourists spend about 2 hours there. But using the shuttle bus, both ways, plus the ferry rides will take some time as you are driven by their schedules. Thus you may or may not have time for other things for your day.

San Francisco...
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60,973 posts
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4. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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I would say an hour is the median time -not two hours and there is a flat loop you can do and get a flavor of the Giant trees

By the way did you miss the top questions -- As volunteers we love to help but we have a self-service portal that answers the basic FAQs

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g60713-i30-k11113810-Muir_Woods_Car_Parking_Permit_Jan_17_2018-San_Francisco_California.html

Houston, Texas
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878 reviews
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5. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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You would need a good 3-4 hours to see the Muir Woods, so it isn't an all day event.

San Francisco, Ca
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6. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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I personally think an hour is the minimum time to see Muir Woods. It may well be the amount of time most people spend there, but I tend to think people rush through most of their sightseeing anyway. I'm not a hiker, but a very easy walk is to take the main path into the woods, then as it starts to loop back to the visitor center, take the upper path. It's not paved, and you occasionally have to watch your footing over tree roots, but getting the 10-15 feet above the valley floor (and away from the other visitors) makes for a substantially different experience.

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7. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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I was at Muir in mid-August (although a weekday). We hiked down into the Woods from Mountain Home but we wandered through the boardwalked path of the Woods.

I think the new parking reservation scheme has limited the number of people in the Woods. I thought it much less crowded than my last visit in January of 2017. We didn't deal with shuttle or parking, of course, as we hiked back up the hill (2.5 miles constantly uphill so not for the faint of heart) back up to Mountain Home.

Fernandina Beach...
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28 posts
8. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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@belimisor - I did see the FAQ but the last questions were 6 months old and I didn't see my question asked unless I just overlooked it.

@SFSusanW - thank you for the tip on the upper path.

Thank you all for your input. It's greatly appreciated!!!

Cherry Hill, New...
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9. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?
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I was at Muir Woods last week. I took the Gray Line Tour. It's a four hour tour stopping at Muir Woods for about 90 minutes and then stopping at Sausalito, where you have the option of returning with the bus or taking the ferry back to SF. We took the ferry. Take the ferry, as you can take as much time in Sausalito as you like. You don't want to drive there as parking is a problem at Muir Woods. Not to mention, you should NEVER rent a car in SF.

10. Re: Muir Woods - tour or ferry?

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