Things to Do in Bodega Bay, California
In short
Bodega Bay is a working harbor town on the Sonoma Coast, 65 miles and about two hours north of San Francisco. Come to walk the 1.7-mile loop at Bodega Head, spend a day on the sand at Doran Beach, watch gray whales between December and May, and stand where Hitchcock filmed The Birds. Expect fishing boats, crab pots, and fog that lifts by midday.
Written by the Casago Sonoma team — we manage 17 homes in Bodega Bay and answer guest texts about it seven days a week.
Last updated August 17, 2026 · Last checked on the ground August 17, 2026
Know before you go
- Fog and layers
- Bodega Bay stays cool all year. Fog sits on the harbor most mornings and burns off by midday, and the wind at Bodega Head keeps blowing even after the sky clears. Bring a warm layer and a wind shell no matter the month, July included.
- Which beach for which purpose
- Each beach here has a job. Doran Beach is the calm two-mile stretch where families go for kids, kites, and leashed dogs. Salmon Creek belongs to surfers and long walks — rip currents run there, so stay out of the water. The state-park beaches beyond it get sleeper waves, so enjoy them from dry sand.
- Doran day-use fee
- Day use at Doran Regional Park costs $7 per vehicle, paid at the entrance. Inside you get a boat launch, a jetty, an accessible boardwalk, and beach wheelchairs. Most of our guests spend a full day here.
- Dinner closes early
- Kitchens in Bodega Bay stop serving around 8:30, so plan dinner early. Terrapin Creek serves dinner Thursday through Monday and closes Tuesday and Wednesday — reserve ahead. Drakes Sonoma Coast at the Lodge takes reservations too. Tides Wharf serves all day, year-round, when everything else has gone dark.
- The everyday grocery
- Diekmann's Bay Store at 1275 Highway 1 is open daily and covers the everyday shopping — milk, bread, deli sandwiches, and whatever you forgot on the drive in. The nearest full supermarket is 40 minutes inland in Santa Rosa, and most guests never make that drive.
- Crab is a winter food
- Dungeness season typically opens in late fall, so crab at the harbor is at its best in winter. Visit in July and the crab rolls come from last season's catch. If crab is the point of the trip, come in winter.
Things to Do in Bodega Bay, California
Bodega Head Trail
Start with the walk everyone asks us about. The Bodega Head Trail runs a 1.7-mile loop around the headlands at the mouth of the harbor, with the Pacific on three sides of you. Gray whales pass between December and May. The wind up there is serious, so bring a shell and stay on the marked path.
West of town on the headlands, a short drive from most Bodega Bay homes.
Official siteDoran Regional Park
Doran gives you two miles of sand on the calm side of the harbor, which is why it's the family beach — kids, kites, and leashed dogs. Day use is $7 per vehicle. A boat launch, a jetty, an accessible boardwalk, and beach wheelchairs sit at the harbor end. The water is still the cold Pacific, so keep children within reach.
South side of Bodega Harbor, a few minutes from most homes in town.
Official siteUC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory Friday tours
The UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory is a working research lab at 2099 Westshore Road, and on most Friday afternoons it opens for free docent-led tours. Reserve on Eventbrite before your trip, because groups are capped at ten and walk-ups don't get in. The tour takes about an hour, and almost no Bodega Bay list mentions it.
2099 Westshore Road, west shore of the harbor, about 10 minutes from Highway 1.
Official siteThe Birds film sites — Bodega and Bodega Bay
Hitchcock filmed The Birds here in 1963, but the two most famous locations aren't in Bodega Bay. Potter Schoolhouse and St. Teresa of Avila church stand in Bodega, the small inland town five minutes east. The waterfront scenes used the Tides, now Tides Wharf, on Highway 1. Drive inland first, then finish at the Wharf.
Tides Wharf is on Highway 1 in Bodega Bay. The schoolhouse and church are in Bodega, 5 minutes inland.
Official siteLinks at Bodega Harbour
Links at Bodega Harbour is a public 18-hole Robert Trent Jones Jr. course laid over the dunes south of town — about 6,300 yards of coastal wind and long grass. Book a tee time ahead, and bring the same layers you packed for Bodega Head.
Bodega Harbour, a few minutes south of Highway 1.
Official siteSalmon Creek Beach
Just north of town, Salmon Creek Beach and Bodega Dunes stretch for miles inside Sonoma Coast State Park. Surfers go here, and it makes a beautiful long walk. Rip currents run here, so stay on the sand and out of the water. Bodega Dunes Campground sits on the same stretch.
Just north of Bodega Bay on Highway 1.
Official siteWhale watching charters
You can watch gray whales for free from Bodega Head between December and May. If you want to be on the water instead, two operators run charters out of the harbor — Bodega Bay Whale Charters, and Sonoma Coast Adventures aboard the Shauna Lee. Book ahead during the season.
Charters leave from Bodega Harbor. Bodega Head is a short drive west of town.
Official siteGoat Rock and the Jenner harbor seals
Twenty minutes north on Highway 1, a harbor seal colony hauls out where the Russian River meets the ocean at Goat Rock Beach in Jenner. Watch from a distance and give the seals the river mouth — this is a look, not a swim. Cafe Aquatica in Jenner makes a good coffee stop on the same drive.
About 20 minutes north of Bodega Bay on Highway 1, at Jenner.
Official siteOsmosis Day Spa Sanctuary
Osmosis Day Spa Sanctuary sits in Freestone, about ten minutes inland — a quiet garden setting and a warm answer to a wind-blown morning on the Head. Book treatments ahead.
Freestone, about 10 minutes inland.
Official siteEat & drink
Spud Point Crab Company
Spud Point Crab Company is the counter on the harbor that everyone lines up for — crab rolls, clam chowder, and picnic tables looking out at the boats. In winter the Dungeness comes fresh off those boats. In summer you're eating chowder and last season's crab, and the weekend line forms anyway.
On Bodega Harbor, a few minutes from Highway 1.
Official siteTerrapin Creek
Terrapin Creek at 1580 Eastshore Road is the dinner reservation in town. It serves Thursday through Monday and closes Tuesday and Wednesday, so book ahead — especially for a Friday or Saturday night.
1580 Eastshore Road, east shore of the harbor.
Official siteDrakes Sonoma Coast
Drakes Sonoma Coast is the dining room at The Lodge at Bodega Bay. Reservations are the rule for dinner, especially on weekends.
At The Lodge at Bodega Bay on Highway 1.
Official siteTides Wharf
Tides Wharf on Highway 1 serves breakfast through dinner, all day and year-round, and it's the Bodega Bay building from The Birds. When Terrapin closes on Tuesday and Wednesday, this is the room still serving.
On Highway 1 in the center of Bodega Bay.
Official siteGroceries & essentials
Diekmann's Bay Store
Diekmann's Bay Store at 1275 Highway 1 is the town's daily grocery and deli, open every day. Pick up milk, bread, sandwiches, and the things you forgot on the drive in. For a full supermarket aisle you're driving to Santa Rosa, 40 minutes inland.
1275 Highway 1 in Bodega Bay.
Official siteEmergency care and Santa Rosa hospitals
For a medical emergency anywhere in Bodega Bay, call 911. The nearest hospitals are in Santa Rosa, about 40 minutes inland — this harbor town doesn't have one of its own.
911 from Bodega Bay. Santa Rosa hospitals about 40 minutes inland.
Official siteThe ocean is in charge
The Pacific at Bodega Bay does not give second chances. Sleeper waves climb higher than the set you are watching, rip currents run at Salmon Creek, and the water stays cold all year. Never turn your back on the surf, even on a flat-looking morning.
Doran Beach is the calm alternative, with two miles of harbor-side sand, a jetty, and the families to prove it. Even there, keep kids within reach. Salmon Creek and the state beaches beyond it are for walking and looking, not swimming.
If the ocean feels too big that morning, stay on the Doran boardwalk, or drive twenty minutes north to Jenner and watch the harbor seals from the sand.
What a Saturday morning here actually looks like
We walk the harbor first, while the fog is still a wall. Boats are already working the channel, crab pots are stacked on the docks, and Highway 1 is half asleep. By late morning the gray burns off and Doran fills with kites — two miles of sand, kids at the water's edge, leashed dogs, the jetty holding the bay.
From December through May we drive out to Bodega Head and walk the 1.7-mile loop in the wind until a spout shows. On Fridays we book the tour at the UC Davis marine lab — an hour, ten people, 2099 Westshore Road. Then we eat on the harbor and get home before the kitchens close around 8:30, sand in our shoes from Doran and windburn from the Head.
From our team
- A harbor town keeps one real shop — buy the day's food at Diekmann's Bay Store at 1275 Highway 1, and skip the 40-minute grocery drive to Santa Rosa.
- The gray whales keep a calendar — stand on Bodega Head from December through May and wait for a spout, then the 1.7-mile loop is the whole show.
- Hitchcock split the map — drive five minutes inland to Bodega for Potter Schoolhouse and St. Teresa of Avila, then come back to Tides Wharf in Bodega Bay so the movie matches the town.
- Bodega Head doesn't do summer clothes — bring a wind layer for the loop, and the fog will lift off the harbor by midday while you still have the jacket on.
- Kitchens here punch out early — reserve Terrapin Creek Thursday through Monday, and you won't be standing on Eastshore Road at 8:30 with a closed dining room.
Bodega Bay questions
What is there to do in Bodega Bay?
Walk the 1.7-mile Bodega Head Trail, spend the day on the two miles of sand at Doran Regional Park, and watch gray whales from the Head between December and May. Book a Friday tour at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab, play the public Robert Trent Jones Jr. links, or stand at Tides Wharf where Hitchcock filmed The Birds. Salmon Creek is the beach for surf and long walks, and Goat Rock in Jenner is 20 minutes north.
How far is Bodega Bay from San Francisco?
Bodega Bay is a working harbor town on the Sonoma Coast in Sonoma County, California, 65 miles north of San Francisco. The drive takes an hour and a half to two hours. Take Highway 1 for the coastal route, or Highway 101 north and Highway 12 west for the faster inland run. Santa Rosa sits about 40 minutes inland, and the separate town of Bodega is 5 minutes east of the bay.
Is Bodega Bay worth visiting?
Yes — if what you want is a working harbor, a 1.7-mile headlands loop, and a two-mile family beach rather than a resort strip. Bodega Head and Doran Regional Park justify the 65-mile drive from San Francisco on their own. Whale season, which runs December through May, and a Friday marine-lab tour give you reasons to stay the night. Come for crab in winter, or for kites at Doran once the summer fog lifts.
Can you swim at Bodega Bay?
Doran Regional Park has the calmest water in Bodega Bay — it's the kid, kite, and leashed-dog beach on a two-mile harbor strand, though the water is still cold Pacific and children should stay within reach. Salmon Creek Beach and the Sonoma Coast State Beach strands are not swimming beaches. They carry rip currents and sleeper waves, so walk them and stay out of the water.
Where was The Birds filmed?
Alfred Hitchcock filmed The Birds (1963) in two neighboring places that share a name. Potter Schoolhouse and St. Teresa of Avila church are in Bodega, the inland town about 5 minutes east of the bay. The Tides — now Tides Wharf — is the film site in Bodega Bay proper, on Highway 1. See the inland pair first, then come back to the Wharf.
Is Bodega Bay dog friendly?
Doran Regional Park allows leashed dogs on its two-mile beach. Sonoma Coast State Park beaches set their own dog rules, so check the state-park page before you head to Salmon Creek. Many of the homes we manage in Bodega Bay allow dogs — open the Bodega Bay homes page and use the dog-friendly filter. Keep dogs leashed at Doran and out of the surf at Salmon Creek.
When can you see whales in Bodega Bay?
Gray whales pass Bodega Bay between December and May, and the free lookout is the 1.7-mile loop at Bodega Head — no boat required. If you would rather be on the water, Bodega Bay Whale Charters and Sonoma Coast Adventures (aboard the Shauna Lee) run trips from the harbor. Book ahead during the season, and bring a wind layer either way.
