NFT - Not For Tourists - San Francisco

San Francisco

Mill Valley

Tucked at the foot of Mt Tamalpais in Marin County, Mill Valley makes a delightful day trip from San Francisco. In its early days, the town’s plentiful redwoods provided much of the lumber that built San Francisco. Later on, Mill Valley was famous for its creek-fed canyons and superb hiking as well as “the crookedest railroad in the world,” a steam-and gravity-powered train that connected the town with the top of the mountain and nearby Muir Woods. Although the invasion of the automobile and the great fire of 1929 put the railroad out of business 75 years ago, the town’s natural beauty is as seductive as ever. Downtown Mill Valley is delineated by Throckmorton and Miller Avenues. Depot Plaza and adjacent Lytton Square form the center of the action. Though the town’s present reputation rests on the tiny boutiques and galleries that wouldn’t seem out of place on Rodeo Drive, there are also quality restaurants nearby, such as the famously romantic El Paseo, tucked into a brick-lined street. Nightlife is more attractive here than in most shopping meccas, too—the Throckmorton Theater offers theater, music, and performance in a gorgeous old building, and the Sweetwater is your best bet to catch one of Marin County’s many reclusive rock stars in an intimate, sometimes unannounced set. Rest your head at the Mill Valley Inn and get a massage the next morning at the Tea Garden Springs Day Spa around the corner.