End Summer Right with the Best Bay Area Day Trips for Every Day of the Week

Monday: Healdsburg

It’s no secret that Healdsburg is cool, but visiting on a Monday flips the switch on busy weekend crowd dynamics, especially in the bustling Plaza area. Little Saint does a great job creating a community space for their amazing plant-based menu, “closed-loop” cocktails, stellar wine shop, and coffee counter. A rich roster of talent rolls through their upstairs music venue, Second Story, where some surprise superstars are known to drop in (Beck was there on August 10th for a solo acoustic show). Just the fact that they stay open seven days a week is somewhat unusual, but the Monday Neighbor’s Night specials are even more astounding: For $55, you get a four-course prix fixe meal with ingredients sourced from the Little Saint Farm (optional beverage pairings, $35).

Stay the Night: The newly rebranded 27 North (formerly Hotel Les Mars) is a 16-room boutique hotel with a lively vibe in a killer location, steps from the Healdsburg Plaza.

Tuesday: Guerneville

You could head to Guerneville any day of the week and have a great time, but now, thanks to the newly opened River Electric, Tuesdays are extra special. The current that powers River Electric is Shelter Co., a team strongly committed to creating spaces for community members to access and enjoy. That is easy to do on Locals Day, when swim passes are just $5 for residents of lower Russian River towns, from Forestville to Jenner. That gets you a towel; access to the bathhouse with luxe, organic, river-safe bath products made exclusively for the property by Heliotrope; and permission to laze around in the 60-foot circular pool as much as you want from 11am to 8pm. (There’s also an adults-only pool.) The cheap pass might loosen your wallet a bit toward the killer menu from The Pool Bar (try the giant crudité bucket with green goddess dip). If you are not a river resident, day passes are still a steal—just $32 for the whole day.

Bring a change of clothes and head across the bridge to the legendary Rainbow Cattle Company at 6pm for their popular (and productive) Give-Back Tuesday fundraiser night, where various local organizations are selected to receive the earnings from tremendous raffle items. Word is that they hit a million dollars last month, so this is nothing to scoff at; it’s a party to be a part of.

Stay the Night: There are so many options. Stay in one of the tents at River Electric to maximize your pool time, or go up the road to Dawn Ranch, where the new menu and advanced sommelier Genero Gallo’s handwritten Sommelier’s Notebook is taking things up a notch. (Plus, the spa is a lovely way to soak up Guerneville’s relaxed vibes.)

Wednesday: Bodega Bay

Midweek is a really nice time to hit this coastal pocket, which can get very busy on the weekends. Any day of the week you can do a self-guided audio walking tour—an hour-long loop atop cliff edges and along the Bodega Bay trailhead—which gives you deeper insight than you’d get just stopping for some oysters (also a good thing to do). Plan to have lunch at The Birds Cafe, where the view is as fresh as your catch. Locals say the fish and chips, with local beer in the batter, are the best around, which is saying something this close to the ocean. Also, soft serve.

Stay the Night: The Lodge at Bodega Bay has been recently refreshed and is a perfect spot to serve as home base for all Sonoma Coast exploration.

Thursday: Occidental

Anyone who knows the sweet clump of towns in this part of West Sonoma County will tell you that, of all the weekly farmers markets, the one in Occidental is a standout. There’s meat, hot sauce, Indian food, jewelry, baked goods, a Japanese food truck, honey, and of course plenty of fresh produce and flowers—plus live music and interactive art installations and cultural performances in partnership with Creative Sonoma. It’s held every Thursday from 4pm to 8pm and goes until October 30th.

After shopping, pop into the Altamont General Store, the coolest mashup of bakery, coffee shop, mercantile, pottery studio, restaurant, and music venue—they have a special outdoor section called The Yard for live bands—that you could ever stumble upon. Chef Andzia Hofftin and partner Jenay created the community hotspot at the pandemic’s height in 2020, working (while pregnant) to renovate the large space.

The ceramics studio and clay school space in the back, Clayfolk, is another big part of Altamont, and a great spot to find awesome deals on the sale shelf. Everything is pickled in-house and sauces made from scratch (including the ketchup and the special Hawaiian chili pepper water); chef Hofftin admits that once you do it that way, it’s hard not to. Don’t miss any of the baked goods, especially the black sesame mochi donut.

They have a whole kids’ zone to keep the little ones occupied while parents enjoy the special happy hour from 4pm to 6pm, when their stock of natural wines by the bottle (all biodynamic, organic, and/or BIPOC producers) is 25 percent off with no corkage fee, plus some food specials. It’s basically a farmers market afterparty.

Stay the Night: Inn at Occidental has quaint B&B vibes, giant bathtubs, a wine bar open for sips on their outdoor deck overlooking town Wednesday through Sunday.

Friday: Berkeley

It’s hard to narrow down what to do and where to go on a Friday, but Berkeley has you covered on all fronts. Check in at the newly refreshed Claremont Resort & Club, which just turned 110 years old, and hit the pool for their special Friday Pizza Party, with a live DJ and kids’ movies. The pizza party is just for hotel guests or members of the club, so it’s an extra bonus when you stay the night, but the kids’ movie nights are open to the public through the end of September, paired with fun, themed activities like making pretzels or learning to hula dance.

Venture out a few blocks to Book Society, a cool reading-and-sipping concept for those of us who want to throw our phones away and tuck into a good novel. The wines, served via their “sip station” tap system, rotate and are curated to pair with book themes. Founded in 2023 and woman-owned, they have many special events and readings, plus recently extended hours until 10pm on Friday nights.

If wine is more your main goal, cross town to Donkey & Goat, the anchor tenant to the popular “Drinks District” urban wine region and pioneers in the natural wine community. They have fun block parties each month for First Friday, plus happy hour every Friday from 4pm to close. Be sure to order a glass (or bottle) of their Ramato Pinot Gris.

Stay the Night: Claremont Resort & Club—See above!

Saturday: San Jose Japantown

The eight-block length of Japantown north of downtown San Jose makes for an awesome day trip anytime. It’s a deeper dive into the real community of folks that live here, offering special restaurants, shops, and even the Japanese American Museum of San Jose with permanent and rotating exhibits like the recent Letters from the Camps, a bilingual display featuring translations and transcriptions of original labor camp letters.

A little unexpected is the historic sports bar that opens at 6am on weekends, showing pretty much every game available. It is also a soccer hub for watching local Bay FC games and English Premier League matches. Arrive early to grab some authentic manju from the 72-year-old Shuei Do (it’s been owned by two couples that entire time), where all the creamy, bean-filled confections are handmade. For lunch, duck into Gombei for country-style Japanese food like croquettes and broiled mackerel. Then pull up a barstool at Jack’s to watch a few games and sip on a pint of Pliny.

Stay the Night: Hotel DeAnza in downtown San Jose, within walking or short driving distance of Japantown, is one of the last remaining Art Deco-style hotels around, with 100 rooms and suites with patterned wallpaper and mauve accents that evoke the sophistication of that bygone era.

Sunday: Felton

You may have spent plenty of time at the Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, but chances are you haven’t had a whole day to enjoy Felton, the first little Santa Cruz Mountain town along the San Lorenzo River on Highway 9. Start things off early at Trout Farm Inn, a historic place that used to host trout fishing. Today, it’s a renovated and redesigned eatery, lounge, and pool, with enough striped umbrellas and slushy cocktails to make you feel like you're on vacation. At 10am every Sunday, local yoga teacher Robin hosts a class on the outdoor pool deck, which means that for $25 you get an all-level flow class and all-day access to the pool—towel service and chaise lounge included. The DJ arrives at 12pm to keep things rolling through the afternoon.

Skip the extra pool snacks and head out a little early to check out another mountain gem, Emerald Mallard. Located onsite and in partnership with the buzzy Humble Sea Tavern (which took over the previous incarnation of this historic local favorite, Cremer House), chef Lance Ebert has been wowing visitors with massive smash burgers since popping up here permanently last summer. He also slings impressively elevated weekly menu items like peach and ricotta tartine with onion jam and grilled wagyu bavette. Ebert started his original business selling focaccia and cannoli at the beach, both of which still reside on the expanded menu here. On Sundays, get here by 4pm before closing, but Wednesday through Friday you can snag a $10 smash burger from 4pm to 5pm, and $2 off beer. The bread program alone makes this place worthy of a visit.

Stay the Night: The Fern River resort on Highway 9 is an old-school option that’s rented out its rustic, creekside cabins for almost 100 years. If you feel like going down into Santa Cruz, Dream Inn is a fun, iconic beachside spot with ocean views from every single room.