Beaches in Bay Area?? (San Francisco, San Mateo: employment, good schools, safe)

[seattleite6]

My husband and I are a young couple looking to move to the Bay Area. My husband loves surfing, and I love hiking. We would love to find an area suitable for both our hobbies. So we don't want to be in the heart of San Francisco, but would like to be within an hour's drive.

We don't have children, but are looking for an area to settle down and raise kids some day. So a safe place near a decent school is also appreciated.

We don't know the Bay Area well at all and are just looking for suggested cities and areas as starting points that we could research a little further.

Thank you!

[llowllevellowll]

Where will you and your husband be commuting to? Do you have a job lined up? Will you be looking for employment post-move?

Upon knowing that, we can chime in with a range of areas to look at.

[seattleite6]

i am a math and science teacher, and my husband has a lot of experience in business management. but we don't have jobs lined up. we wouldnt move for a few months or a year

[mayorhaggar]

There is hiking pretty much anywhere in the Bay Area and it's easy to get to if you have a car.

For surfing, some main spots are Ocean Beach in SF, the beaches in Pacifica. There is surfing all down the Peninsula south of Pacifica down to Santa Cruz which is about 1.5 to 2 hours away. I'm not really sure what the spots in Marin or Sonoma Counties are, maybe Stinson Beach. I think if you were somewhere in northern San Mateo County you'd be good, there is hiking in the hills in San Mateo and you'd be close to Pacifica and the other SM Co. beaches.

[bmw335xi]

Originally Posted by seattleite6

My husband and I are a young couple looking to move to the Bay Area. My husband loves surfing, and I love hiking. We would love to find an area suitable for both our hobbies. So we don't want to be in the heart of San Francisco, but would like to be within an hour's drive.

We don't have children, but are looking for an area to settle down and raise kids some day. So a safe place near a decent school is also appreciated.

We don't know the Bay Area well at all and are just looking for suggested cities and areas as starting points that we could research a little further.

Thank you!

I'd look into San Rafael and Mill Valley. Both are in Marin County...you have miles of gorgeous hiking and biking trails at your footsteps and the beach isn't far away (although the ocean is freezing) probably the best surfing beach would be Ocean Beach which is located in San Francisco. Santa Cruz has good surfing, but it's more than an hour drive from San Francisco. I prefer Mill Valley, but it's a bit more expensive than San Rafael. Both are nice areas though and they both have some good schools. There's also a lot of fresh produce available, good weather and are only about a 20 minute drive from San Francisco.