weekender.
Weekend trips from Cal Maritime
Hidden spots near Vallejo, day trips and weekend road trips from Cal Maritime in November, scored 1–10 on price, timing and what's happening, with gas, park fees, a campsite or room and food included.
Plan your own trip from Cal Maritime →Local finds near campus
Tilden Park & Inspiration Point
Berkeley's backyard: a ridge trail over the bay, a swimming lake and a tiny steam train.
Sonoma Valley
Bike between family wineries, then picnic on Sonoma's mission plaza.
San Francisco
Mission burritos and murals, cable cars, the Castro and fog rolling over Twin Peaks.
Mount Diablo
The summit view on a clear day reaches the Sierra; Rock City's sandstone caves are a scramble.
Muir Woods & Mount Tam
Old-growth redwoods in a canyon, then the sunset over the fog from Mount Tamalpais.
Angel Island
A ferry to a car-free island with 360° bay views and the immigration station's poems.
Day trips
Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area
Free: thousands of geese and sandhill cranes in winter, and millions of bats leaving the causeway on summer evenings.
Monterey & Carmel
Sea otters on kelp, 17-Mile Drive and Carmel's fairytale cottages.
Point Reyes
Tule elk on the bluffs, a lighthouse 300 steps down a cliff, and oysters on Tomales Bay.
Locke & the Delta
The last rural Chinatown in the US, on a levee road through the river delta.
Calistoga & Napa
Volcanic mud baths, an erupting geyser and the valley's grand wineries.
Bodega Bay & Sonoma Coast
Where Hitchcock filmed The Birds: whale-watching headlands and secret coves.
Weekend trips
Monterey & Carmel
Sea otters on kelp, 17-Mile Drive and Carmel's fairytale cottages.
Bodega Bay & Sonoma Coast
Where Hitchcock filmed The Birds: whale-watching headlands and secret coves.
Half Moon Bay & Pescadero
Tide pools at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve and warm artichoke bread in tiny Pescadero.
Russian River & Armstrong Redwoods
Float the river on an inner tube under giant redwoods, then Guerneville at night.
Columbia State Historic Park
Pan for gold and ride a stagecoach in a preserved 1850s mining town.
Nevada City & South Yuba
A gaslit Gold Rush town and emerald swimming holes on the South Yuba River.
Long weekends
Death Valley
Salt flats below sea level, rainbow-colored hills and the darkest night sky in California.
Big Sur
McWay Falls dropping onto a beach, Bixby Bridge and the purple sand at Pfeiffer Beach.
Pinnacles National Park
Crawl through talus caves with a flashlight while California condors circle above.
Morro Bay & Montaña de Oro
Sea otters under Morro Rock and wild bluff trails in Montaña de Oro.
Bishop & the Buttermilks
World-class bouldering, Keough's hot springs and Erick Schat's famous bakery.
Hearst Castle & San Simeon
A newspaper tycoon's hilltop castle with a marble pool, and elephant seals below it.
Personalize it
Set your budget, how many friends are coming, your car (or no car: train and bus), and what you're into (hiking, beaches, camping, stargazing, food and more), and Weekender re-ranks every trip for you, with a day-by-day plan, directions and campsites.
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