Tomales Bay State Park

This review is about hearts desire beach. Small beach area, calm and not-​so-​warm waters, plenty of BBQ pits; restrooms in good shape, running water available. A little windy when I came but very sunny. Great spot to relax. Light traffic on a Friday.

This little secluded Bay is such a great place for the family. We came here for the first time for our friends birthday party… We were definitely pleasantly surprised by this park.
It took us 2 hours to get here and so worth the long drive. Please be prepared to leave early. We got here at 8:30 and the park started filling up by 9:30. There is no reception, and limited parking space. Plan accordingly because next parking lot is over a mile away.
The park is equipped with bbq pits and tables. Garbage dumpster is close by so remember to bring garbage backs so you can haul your garbage at one shot. Very limited tables. First come, first serve. Caution to get there early. The tables are situated around the edges giving suave fie the middle area for playing football, frisbee, and even bocce ball.
Beach is one of the calmest place I’ve been too. Wonderful for small children! Absolutely a great place for kayaking and stand up paddle boarding. It’s very easy for anyone to learn at. My 8 years old daughter maneuvered a tandem kayak by herself. And she was able to do the stand up paddle board that is over 11 feet long but with a friend. There is a platform in the middle for you to swim and jump off.
The hike is actually really nice. It goes through the woods that leads to Pebble beach. That’s the easy hike for smaller kids. If you have time, you can hike to other locations.
Our friend purchased oysters at the Oyster Farm. Plan to buy early and BBQ at the park.

We just spent the entire day at this beautiful beach. Clean and secluded! But it is popular so come early to hold down a spot.
We are all oyster lovers and had a friend do an oyster run. We BBQ’d, kayaked, hiked and soaked up the perfect sun — not too hot or cold.
Quick tips:
–Parking is $ 6 per day.
–There is limited parking at Heart’s Desire. Overflow parking is a .5 mile hike away.
–No cell phone service.

Nice, Secluded beach. Come early because parking and tables are limited. No phone signals here so better know where you’re going.

Great place for hikers/​joggers. Loved Hearts desire beach. I went through the johnstone trail to pebble beach, which was empty! Loved it. Picnic area was mainly empty too. Parking $ 8. Lot fills at around 11am holiday weekends.

I received a message from Ezra from Unilocal HQ that my review was taken down because he thought my review was meant for another listing. So nice of him to tell me where I had been, but he was wrong. We had a permit to camp at Tomales Beach in this park, not Point Reyes National Seashore.
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Even though it rained heavily for about 75% of the time I was here, I still loved it. We paddled over from near the Marshall store, set up camp and just looked out at the loveliness. Then it started to pour by about 2pm.
I stood in front of the fire. I must have been thinking that the heat of the fire would dry me faster than the rain could soak me. I was dead wrong. I passed out early and had to get up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. It was gorgeous out. The sky was clear and the stars were huge and bright. If I wasn’t afraid of the nocturnal animals we’d already had a few visits from, I might have stayed outside longer.
There are clean toilets and trash cans for garbage and recycling. It’s hard to beat camping on the beach, especially if you get some oysters and steak out of it. Just watch out for the cow patties and maybe dead animals.

Great beach for families with small children. Fairly calm, shallow swim area. That said, make sure to bring aqua socks/​water shoes as sand is very coarse and the bay floor is very rocky.
Make sure to bring in food, beverages, etc, as it is quite a ways away from the nearest store and there are no concessions available.

Family destination. Features a little stream, fodder to any toddler pursuing the dream of damnation. Short walk to Indian Beach. Nascent community of bbq intelligentsia (soft spoken hispanic man always wins). Swimming for daayyyss.

Lots of families were here today playing, kayaking, swimming, etc. You’ll find the entrance to the beach before the entrance/​payment for parking. There’s a small little beach sign. It’s the more beachier of the other beaches as Pebble and Indian beach were covered in gravel, shells, and rocks. It is small so don’t expect anything extravagant. Also it’s fairly cold, so don’t think you can sun bathe here without wanting to pull blankets all over you.

We thought it was a hiking area but it really is just a beach. Walked around the side trails for maybe 30 minutes and decided to head off. Yeah self paid parking place.
I saw signs that they dont allow dogs but I saw some unusual looking black excrement all around the trails. Could be a large racoon or something but its just all over the place…

Tomales Bay State Park and Heart’s Desire beach are a must visit if you’re looking for a relaxing time near the ocean. In case it’s not obvious, this is on the Tomales Bay side, it does not get surf from the ocean and makes a great spot for swimming, especially for kids.
The water is often as clear as a Hawaiian beach. Late summer and early fall it’s warm and inviting. There are several hiking trails leading into and out of Heart’s Desire which connect several of the area beaches (as well as heading through the coastal woods) ranging from 1 mile round trip ranging to around 8 miles.
Pebble Beach, Shell Beach, and Indian Beach are all within reach depending on how much hiking you want to do. Pebble and Shell also have their own parking near by and are accessible by short hikes.
Heart’s Desire is the most sandy of the beaches. The others are more like pebbles and gravel. All are nice spots. Heart’s Desire also has picnic tables at the beach. There is a reservable picnic area on a bluff between Heart’s Desire and Pebble beaches. All of the beaches have a bathroom or bathrooms and Heart’s Desire offers shower’s as well.
We’ve been coming here for several years. Our kids love it. We love it.

This is a do not miss! We started out in the Heart’s Desire Beach parking lot. The signage for the actual hiking trail was pretty much non-​existent but we figured it out. The beach and water were packed with 4^th of July picnicers and there was almost no one on the trails (they were missing out). We took the Jepson and Johnstone Trails from Heart’s Desire Beach to Shell Beach which is about 4 miles. The trail was beautiful, we picked and ate blackberries along the way. There are no difficult ups and downs, the grading and switchback made for a very easy trek.
It was great wading in the shallow, warm and pretty clear water after the first 4 miles. Next time I will pack a blanket, swimsuit and food and make a day of it.

I had a bbq lunch at Heart’s Desire Beach. Sometimes hard to get tables but as long as you get here early in the morning, no problem. after eating I hiked 2 miles. including Pebble Beach. Trail is sometimes covered with trees but still very nice to hike.

This is a great beach for kids. The water is shallow and still along a nice, wide stretch of beach. Unlike the beaches on the Pacific side of Marin, where you always have to be concerned about big waves and rip currents, the water here is gentle and even little kids can wade and play safely.
Drive all the way through Inverness and turn right at the sign for Heart’s Desire Beach. Google Maps tells you to go to the next driveway, but just follow the sign. The cost to park is $ 8. There’s a machine that takes either cash or credit cards, but when we arrived it wasn’t accepting cash, just cards. I’d bring both, to be safe. There’s a good sized parking lot right down at the beach (no hiking required!) and an overflow lot a little further up the hill. There’s no snack facility or restaurant at this beach. Bring your own food and water. There are public restrooms available.
We arrived in the afternoon and were concerned the beach would be packed. Although there were a lot of people there, it wasn’t so crowded as to be uncomfortable, and we were actually able to find a space to sit in the shade, at the back of the beach near the hill. Not bad! Spent a blissful few hours wading in the water, searching for shells and just relaxing. The beach appeared to be fairly clean, which was nice. While it doesn’t have the rugged beauty of beaches on the Pacific side, it was very pleasant.
While we were here, we saw groups of people having parties and picnics around the handful of picnic tables scattered at the entrance to the beach. There was a game of volleyball in progress. A few kayakers came and went with their kayaks. Good day.

Quaint little cozy beach, slightly warmer clime in Tomales Bay as opposed to Point Reyes. The water is still cold, so bring warm clothes, blankets, beach gear, etc. Bring a hearty lunch and relax on this beach. Great for families with little kids, nice trails. Besides the parking not being free, everything else is pleasant about this beach.

If you’re looking for a hidden beach nicely tucked away in Tomales Bay look no further than Heart’s Desire Beach. There’s a lovely walking trail as well so you can check out the tepees which were quite cool. If you’re looking for a relaxing spot, stop here. Our friends brought a barbeque so we made the best of our day, snapping scenic pictures and laughing over food.
You can’t really ask for anything more. I know there is a fee for parking so carpool ad bring all your friends in one car, unless they have a pass to the parks. Overall, I liked this beach a lot.

Nice clean hidden beach with a few trails leading other beaches that don’t have driving access.

Prime area, clean clean.
Really nice views.
Tip: bring water and light snacks.
We strafed the water in a double kayak from across the bay. We rented from a store in Marshall.

A best kept secret as evidenced by the lack of reviews. And here I am to spoil the fun.
I love oysters, I love water, I love paddling, I love being outdoors and I love planning adventures. This all came together with a kayaking /​camping trip up on Tomales Beach — which is a boat in camp site.
I called the very helpful Bear Valley Visitors center to procure a camping permit … and after renting some kayaks, a group of us spent a rainy night out on the beach. Lots of coastline to explore, birds and other wildlife to see and at night — the bioluminescence is amazing. If you have the time /​energy — go past Duck and Hog Island, chill out on the random stretches of beach or just float in the middle of the Bay and soak in the beauty.
It’s a bit of a drive from the Bay Area — especially with 2 canoes strapped to your truck … but absolutely worth every bit of effort. The experience here is unique and the different seasons always gives you something new to discover.

Wow what a drive to make it to Tomales Bay. We took a good 2 hours or so to get here and there were no connections at certain places. But well worth it because my beau wanted to check out Point Reyes. The drive was curvy… as expected. We went on the Tomales Trail ~4.7 miles. Pretty easy trail — we were able to make it with sandals. On the hike, you will see infinite caterpillars… alot which were dead since we (the hikers) were stomping on them along the path. There were plenty more though on the plants that we noticed later. Along the path, we could see/​hear the elks. They were far enough so that we wouldn’t disturb them. Best visualized 2 miles down the hike with the volunteers/​rangers. They had set up telescopes for all of us hikers to get a closer glimpse of the elks. We saw 2 males and a whole batch of females.
Also, along the path, we walked side by side to with the bay. BEAUTIFUL and breathtaking view! We didn’t finish the entire hike because I’m lazy… but still well worth the trip!