Our favorite foodie day trips less than 3 hours from San Francisco

We really have it all to explore in the Bay Area: beautiful beaches, dense redwood forests, charming small towns. Every year, we send writers throughout the nine counties — and then some — to check out our region’s hidden hikes and odd, forgotten corners. And while those weird, somewhat-secret spots are certainly a draw for readers, what you truly devour are our food writers’ adventures to find delicious stuff to eat and drink. 

Since good food “is a guarantee almost anywhere in the Bay Area,” as deputy managing editor Kendra Smith wrote in 2023, our food team set out this year to check out some spots both super popular and less so, all around the Bay Area — plus a couple of Central Coast entries. They hit up classic waterfront towns and ventured inland, as well.

Here are our favorite foodie day trips from San Francisco for 2024. 

On a day trip to Carmel, food reporter Nico Madrigal-Yankowski eschews the Michelin-starred restaurants and “bougie vibes” to uncover where locals in the posh coastal town actually eat. He finds its “down-to-earth, quirky side” in classic spots like Katy’s Place, a cash-only breakfast joint that’s been around since 1982 and serves killer pancakes and plate-sized omelets.  

After taking a walk along Carmel Beach, he heads back downtown for lunch at decades-old Bruno’s Market & Deli, where he finds a “local’s favorite” sandwich made with tender tri-tip “cooked over oak wood on a Santa-Maria style open pit.” The food coma sends him to a couple of watering holes, including Bud’s, the cocktail bar inside La Playa Hotel that’s known for a secret, dime-time happy hour and lemon oil-laced Manhattans. 

If you’re hankering for dinner to cap off the day, Madrigal-Yankowski suggests heading to Mission Restaurant for “immaculate” views of the Carmel River Lagoon and Wetland Natural Preserve and delicious Jidori chicken with pesto-flavored mashed potatoes.

The agricultural town of Castroville, 110 miles south of San Francisco, may be known as California’s artichoke capitol — the city even crowned a young Marilyn Monroe as its artichoke queen in 1948 — but its true claim to fame is a bowl of cioppino, according to food reporter Susana Guerrero. Phil’s Fish Market and Eatery, situated inside an old schoolhouse dating back to 1869, earned national acclaim for its seafood stew back in 2009, after chef-restaurateur Phil DiGirolamo defeated Bobby Flay on the Food Network. 

Per Guerrero, the $31.95 bowl of cioppino is still good, and literally brimming with seafood — enough to feed two.

“Each time I scooped my spoon into the thick, tomato stew, I discovered new pieces of … scallops, Dungeness crab, calamari, prawns, clams and more,” Guerrero writes. And if you must sample the city’s ‘chokes, Guerrero suggests getting an order of fried artichokes at the Giant Artichoke, a local institution dating back to 1965. The crispy artichoke hearts “are thickly coated with the restaurant’s secret batter” and hit the spot.

The 5-square-mile town of Occidental may have historic roots in the railroad industry, but, as senior food reporter Madeline Wells points out, the tiny Sonoma County hamlet between Bodega Bay and Santa Rosa is also a bastion of good eating. 

Wells stops in Freestone for fresh-baked treats at Wild Flour Bread — still-warm scones, sticky buns and a mushroom-studded cheese bread — before continuing on to Occidental for a dreamy vegetarian “boho” bowl at Altamont General Store. She shops for vintage clothes at Neon Raspberry and squeezes in a meditative walk at the LandPaths Grove of Old Trees, a 48-acre redwood grove just a 10-minute drive from downtown Occidental, before heading to decades-old Italian restaurant Negri’s. 

There, amid the stone fireplace and red-and-white checkered tablecloths, she feasts on fresh pesto gnocchi and crispy garlic bread. “Nothing crazy, just some classic, tasty Italian food” that “hit the spot” and reminds Wells what an overwhelming amount of delicious food can exist in just 5 square miles. 

When it comes to East Bay food, Oakland and Berkeley get all the credit, but there’s a thriving scene worth exploring in Richmond too, reports Wells in her dispatch from the waterfront town. After picking up a bag of doughnuts from old-school Andy’s Donut Stop on 23rd Street, Wells suggests heading to the Point Richmond Pier along the Miller/Knox Regional Shoreline to take in the sights, including the historic remains of an early 20th-century ferry landing. 

When hunger pangs set in again, head straight for the area’s most unique and hidden eatery, the outdoor Sailing Goat. A windy road takes you straight to the gravel parking lot and restaurant overlooking Point San Pablo Harbor. Be sure to order chef-owner and Chez Panisse alum Arnon Oren’s “magnificent” fish and chips served with coleslaw and tartar sauce. The rockfish, “battered in a thin, lacy crust,” is so tender it’ll melt in your mouth, Wells writes. If you want to explore more of Richmond, she suggests ending the day with a drink at the Factory Bar, a craft cocktail bar with 1920s-inspired decor and a spacious backyard and victory garden.

On her first day trip to Tiburon, Wells proves that the upscale Marin town is for everyone, even those who can’t afford the median price of a home there ($2.8 million). Start by traveling in style via the $14 ferry from San Francisco, she writes, then head straight to Sam’s Anchor Cafe, the oldest restaurant in town, for fresh-squeezed lemonade and a $37 smoked Maine lobster roll. 

“The smokiness of the delicate lobster transported me to childhood memories of summer campfires,” Wells writes. 

After grabbing espresso and gelato at family-owned Caffe Acri and taking in the bobbing sailboats and other views at Shoreline Park, Wells recommends heading to buzzy LA farm-to-table restaurant Malibu Farm for an early dinner. The waterfront restaurant, “minimalist coastal chic, all light wood and rattan chandeliers,” has a second-story deck from which to enjoy your ahi poke cones and thin-crust pizzas, including a crispy, cilantro-topped avocado pizza “slathered in jalapeño-spiked ricotta cream, drizzled with agave oil and affixed with slices of creamy avocado.”