Best Redwood Forest Near San Francisco?

My family and I are planning a visit to California this summer. I am a forester, so I want to see the giant redwoods in addition to the giant sequoias. My family would rather visit tourist destinations in San Fransisco, while I would rather see the trees. They refuse to travel to Redwood National Park due to the distance from San Fran. In your opinion, what is the best redwood forest or park that is within a couple hours of San Fran?Best Redwood Forest Near San Francisco?
If you can't convince the rest of your family to make a day's drive from SF, then Muir Woods is about the only place.



To be technical, you won't find Giant Sequoias at Muir Woods, Redwood National Park or any of the coastal areas mentioned here. The Sequoias grow on the western side of the Sierra Nevada. You'd have to drive east from SF across the Central Valley to Yosemite or Calaveras Big Trees to find them. On the coast, you'll find the Coastal Redwoods. They are big impressive Redwoods but a little different. To a visitor the biggest difference is the forrest: the Coastal Redwoods grow in lush, wet, foggy places while the Sequoias' forrests are dry, and naturally sparce. (Not so sparce anymore because we put out the fires that naturally burn away the smaller trees and brush around the Big Trees.)



All this to say that Muir Woods is your best compromise unless you want to fight the family and take at least two full days away from SF. And that you should expect a wet forrest experience rather than dry mountainous pictures of Sequias that you might have seen. I do heartily recommend one day at Muir Woods. You can sell the family with thoughts of driving across the GGB, taking a very pretty (and curvy) drive, a great walk through a lush coastal forest, maybe finding a bananna slug, then a drive to the Marin Headland for great views back at the City from over the GGB, maybe into Sausalito for dinner if you want, stopping at the GGB viewpoint for other great views and walking out on the bridge as far as they want to go (the middle is the best part to stop and watch tankers pass below you but its a half mile each way). It would be a great exploration of the prettiest parts of beautiful Marin county.
Check out the county parks and state parks in Marin county. Muir woods is very crowded. Avenue of the Giants on Hwy 101 is a bit north but check it out. They have the tallest tree.Best Redwood Forest Near San Francisco?
I'm going to recommend the Santa Cruz Mountains. It's about an hour and a half south of SF, with plenty of touristy things to to.



One of the most popular tourist spots here is the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. It's a small amusement park on the beach, with a couple of roller coasters, lots of rides, an arcade, and mini-golf, right on the beach.



If you drive north from Santa Cruz about 10 minutes, you'll get to Felton. Felton is the home of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, which has some fabulous hiking trails, as well as nice picnic areas.



Just next door to Henry Cowell Park is a nifty little spot called Roaring Camp Railroad. Here, you can take a train tour up through the redwoods, seeing many of our fabulous Sequoias that grow almost exclusively on the coast of California, and you'll learn some history of the logging industry along the way. Additionally, there are daily train rides that will take you from Roaring Camp down to the Boardwalk and back. It's a fun, family-oriented way to get a little of both worlds.
LOTS of possibilities. I recommend Henry Coe state park, in the South Bay area, AND the Santa Cruz Mountains, South of San Jose. Find a map and look up State Highway 9, beginning in Saratoga, and meandering through the oaks and redwoods to Felton and the beachside community of Santa Cruz.



While in Felton, I recomend stopping by Roaring Camp and Big Trees park. From there, you can take a picturesqe steam train up the winding switchbacks, through the hauntingly beautiful, cool green trees. There will be a stop, at the summit, where one can enter what they call, "The Cathederal," which is small clearing amid a grove of giant redwoods. You can stay and picnic, and catch a later train back down the mountain.



As an added plus, you can enjoy the rest of the day on the beach and boardwalk attractions, then, go back to San Francisco via the coast Highway 1, for some excellent ocean views, (some whale watching, if you are lucky) surfing and photo opportunities.
Big Sur has a small area, Golden gate park may have some, you can drive to Willits California, north of San Fransisco, that area is the gateway to the Redwoods,
I think Muir Woods is the closest. Another one that's less well-known is Memorial Park in San Mateo County. If you like to camp, it's first-come-first-serve and will be your only chance to camp if you haven't made reservations in the state park system months in advance.



If you're just interested in hiking, it would look more like this:



Short hikes: the 1-mile loop at Henry Coe (I've hiked all over Henry Coe and the Redwoods are mostly in this one loop and along the creek, not the river, so that you get out of the redwoods pretty quickly IMO)



Muir Woods - beautiful, but usually packed full of tourists.



Longer hikes requiring most of a day:



Big Basin - lots of trails to choose from

Butano State Park - a little smaller park, but still plenty of hiking
Very close to San Francisco is Muir woods. It is just north of the city. The redwoods are not the biggest, but are plenty large. You can walk for miles along nice paths to see these beautiful trees. Well worth a visit.
Big Basin Redwood State Park, close to Santa Cruz or,

Muir Woods National Monument, close to Mill Valley.

Both have nice 2nd growth trees but, not much old growth. These parks are both beautiful, but you need to see a true old growth grove of trees to be blown away. Old growth are further north and a longer drive.