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Point Reyes National Seashore Plan Your Visit
The park is open daily (with overnight camping available by permit only) from sunrise to sunset throughout the year.
Visitor center hours are as follows: Bear Valley Visitor Center
Sundays: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Mondays through Thursdays: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Fridays (except for July 4): 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Saturdays and July 4: 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Throughout the rest of the year, the Bear Valley Visitor Center is open weekdays, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., weekends and holidays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Lighthouse Visitor Center, Thursday through Monday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Lighthouse stairs and exhibits (weather permitting), 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Lens Room open as weather and staffing permit, all Lighthouse facilities closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays; Ken Patrick Visitor Center, weekends and holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. All visitor centers are closed December 25.
The closest major airports are San Francisco International and Oakland Airport. You will most likely need to rent a car to reach the park.
Point Reyes is located approximately 30 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 1 along the west coast of California. Travelers may approach the park from the winding scenic Highway 1, either northbound or southbound. You can also reach the park via Sir Francis Drake Boulevard or Point Reyes/Petaluma Road.
Public transportation to the Bear Valley Visitor Center from San Rafael along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is available through the West Marin Stagecoach.
To visit attractions beyond Bear Valley, such as the Lighthouse, the beaches or Tomales Point, most visitors tour Point Reyes by private automobile. Due to limited parking at the Lighthouse and Chimney Rock areas, on good-weather weekends during the whale-watching season (usually the last weekend of December through early April), Sir Francis Drake Blvd. is closed to private automobiles beyond South Beach from 9 am to 5:15 pm. To visit these locations, visitors must park at the Drake's Beach parking lot and ride the buses provided. Bus tickets may be purchased inside the Ken Patrick Visitor Center at Drake's Beach between 9 am and 3 pm. Buses leave every 15 -20 minutes between 9 am and 3:30 pm. Tickets are $5/person, children 16 years or younger ride free.
Maine ocean islands provide the only nesting sites for Atlantic puffins in the United States. Eastern Egg Rock in the midcoast region, Seal Island and Matinicus Rock at the mouth of Penobscot Bay, and Machias Seal Island and Petit Manan Island off the downeast coast provide habitat for more than 4,000 puffins each summer.