• Bear Valley Visitor Center - Welcome to Point Reyes National Seashore! This National Park offers miles of stunning beach views, fascinating stories of past inhabitants, and the iconic Point Reyes Lighthouse at its tip. Let’s begin our journey!

Note: This 30-mile-long tour highlights the key attractions of Point Reyes National Seashore in 2-3 hours.

• Tomales Point - Up ahead, we have the option to detour to the remote and windswept beaches of Tomales Point, a favorite spot on the peninsula. The detour takes 45 minutes round trip. Be sure to allocate some time for walking around and taking photos.

• Drakes Estero - Drakes Estero is coming up soon. If you’re curious about what an Estero is – it’s simply a fancy term for a marshy inlet. If you’d like to walk a 2.5-mile round-trip trail through the estero, there’s a trailhead just ahead. I’ll point it out. In a moment, you’ll cross coastal grasslands and enjoy a scenic footbridge over the bay.

• Drakes Estero Trailhead - If you want to hike the Drakes Estero Trail, turn left. Otherwise, continue driving.

• Cypress Tree Tunnel - Look at all those cypress trees ahead! That’s our next stop. The trees form a sort of tunnel. Where does it lead? To the historic KPH Radio station! Random, right? In the early 1900s, Morse code radio stations were established along the United States coast. The Radio Corporation of America, or RCA, determined the best locations for these stations to effectively communicate with ships at sea. One of the chosen spots was right here at Point Reyes! In 1929, they built the station and planted rows of cypress trees leading up to it to complement the beautiful landscape.

• Point Reyes Beach - Coming up soon is Point Reyes Beach, featuring 11 miles of sand and stunning ocean views. To make it even better, gray whale sightings are often reported from this beach in the winter and spring!

• Drakes Beach - Drakes Beach is coming up soon. It’s a popular spot among visitors because it faces Drakes Bay, meaning the winds aren’t as strong and the waves aren’t as intense as on the ocean-facing side. The beach also has white sandstone cliffs as a backdrop.

• Chimney Rock Trail Head - To take a quick detour to the lifesaving station, see an overlook for elephant seals, and hike to Chimney Rock for ocean views, turn left at the fork.

• Historic Point Reyes Lifeboat Station - The first life-saving station in Point Reyes was located on a plot of ranch land near the point at the end of this peninsula. It began operations in 1878. The station leader was called the “keeper”; the staff were called “surfmen.” They patrolled the beaches looking for wrecks and listening for voices through the fog. And the system worked! That first station saved people from 14 major shipwrecks over its 37 years of operation.

• Elephant Seal Overlook - Hundreds of thousands of northern elephant seals once called the Pacific Ocean home. But then European settlers discovered they could use the seal blubber for oil. By 1892, only around 75 individual seals were left along the entire coast of North America, down from hundreds of thousands! Mexico and the US Government federally protected them in the 1920s, and thankfully, the elephant seal population slowly rebounded! In 1981, the first breeding pair returned to Point Reyes. Now, there are around 200,000 northern elephant seals along the Pacific Coast of the US and Mexico.

• Sea Lion Overlook - Coming up in just a moment is Sea Lion Overlook. Here, 54 steps lead down to a coastal view you won’t soon forget… because it’s usually teeming with sea lions! But how do we tell seals and sea lions apart? To identify one, check for ear flaps and folded-in back flippers. Sea lions use these back flippers to shuffle upright when moving on land. Males are about 8 feet long and females about 6 feet. Breeding season for sea lions is between May and August. During this time, the sea lions stay on the beach as long as possible, defending their territory. This requires them to fast, using their accumulated blubber to sustain them for months. They vie for females through calls, barks, and territorial fights with other males. For the rest of the year, sea lions roam the ocean, feeding. Females have a 12-month gestation period, usually giving birth in June or July.

• South Beach Overlook - We’re approaching the parking lot for the South Beach Overlook and the Point Reyes Lighthouse. This is the only parking lot for the lighthouse, so I recommend parking once we get there. You can park on the street too if the lot is full, but street parking near the lighthouse can get congested, especially on weekends.

• Leaning Tree - Soon, we’ll see a little tunnel of cypress trees similar to the cypress tunnel by the radio station we saw earlier. They’re easy to spot because, as you may have noticed, there are very few trees here! If you pass under the tunnel of trees that bends toward the side of the hill, you’ll see what people call the Leaning Tree. It’s a cypress that leans over the path but never seems to fall.

• Easy-to-use app: download Action’s Tour Guide App onto your phone
• Great value: purchase per car, not per person. More affordable than bus or guided tours!
• Engaging storytelling: Uncover unique tales and thrilling history for a memorable journey!
• Perfect narrator: nothing can beat listening to a great voice. Proven with tons of rave reviews!
• Offline maps: no signal, no problem! Works perfectly without cellular or wifi.
• Comprehensive route and stops: See it all, miss nothing, leave no stone unturned!
• Go at your own pace: Start anytime, pause anywhere, enjoy breaks for snacks and photos freely!
• Hands-free: audio stories play on their own based on your location. Easy to use!

• Foods & Drinks