Having a wedding in Mill Valley ,CA in August. Expecting about 30 people from the East coast for about 4 days before the wedding. . Any ideas for some interesting things to see and do as a group and the best places to contact. . Thought of hiring a mini bus to do the wine country on one day. Maybe a sunset cocktail cruise on SF bay another. what about the Duck boat is it worth it? Also trying to find a reasonable spot to stay. Thinking of the Marin Suites. Suggestions??

San Francisco City Guides offers group walking tours for $12 per person. City Guides is an "off shoot" of the SF Public Library and is a non-profit. All the guides are volunteers. You can schedule the group tour to fit your needs. You might arrange for 2-3 different tours on different subjects, and let the attendees choose which tour they want to attend. Thirty people on one tour would perhaps be too large of a group to manage, but 10-18 would be fine.

Here is a description of the group tours:
http://www.sfcityguides.org/group_tours.html

And here are the 30-40 different tours you can choose from:
http://www.sfcityguides.org/descriptions.html

The City Guides web site is
www.SFCityGuides.org

A nice "outing" might be a tour in the morning, followed by lunch on Union Street (Betelnut), Union Square (many choices), Embaracadero/Financial District/Ferry Bldg (Slanted Door) after the tour (or before).

Stu Dudley

PS - August is our foggy period - so I would not schedule any cruises on the Bay. It can also be quite hot in the Napa Valley.

Stu Dudley

Stu is the local "guru" when it comes to touring San Francisco.

What day is the wedding? If you're thinking the group might split into smaller groups, I'd suggest that part of the group might love the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on Saturday morning (I think it was NY Magazine that referred to the farmers market as "the granddaddy of them all), a "tour" of the Ferry Building (which is a reclaimed building filled with food-related shops) and lunch at The Slanted Door (for which you would need reservations even if you were just 2 people, let alone a group!).

Be aware, however, that there is no great option for transporation from Mill Valley into San Francisco --- no subway or anything like that. You could drive to and park at the Larkspur Ferry and take the ferry into the city, and there are nice public buses, but other than that, you'll have to drive (across the Golden Gate Bridge, which is a great drive of course).

Is your goal to keep all 30 people together all the time?

What about Muir Woods? Or the Armstrong Redwoods State Park?

If the weather breaks : Go up to Mt Tamalpais? Drive/hike around Point Reyes?

Plan one group outing and then let everyone else go on their own. It will be difficult with a group that big to please everyone, so be prepared.

We stayed at the Holiday Inn in Mill Valley for a school field trip. Sausalito has some nicer, more $$ options.

MY