Discover Corte Madera

Corte Madera offers several ways to plan your stay: a named hiking trail, a coastal salt marsh, a weekly market, and several ways to explore local history. If you’re looking for a hotel in Corte Madera, these highlights can help you shape your days around nature, a regular weekly event, or history.

Nature: Hiking Trail and Salt Marsh

The 1.76-mile Phyllis Ellman Loop Trail in Ring Mountain Preserve passes through oak woodland and grasslands covered in wildflowers; seasonal streams are also part of the landscape. Its name and stated length make the trail a specific hiking option to include in your plans. The varied landscape gives the route its character.

The Corte Madera Marsh Ecological Reserve offers a different nature-focused experience: this 620-acre area is a northern coastal salt marsh. This gives you two distinct themes to plan around—a named hiking trail and an expansive marsh habitat. This distinction is helpful if you’d rather shape your stay around a hike or the salt marsh landscape.

Wednesday Farmers Market

The Farmers Market takes place every Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Center Court at Town Center Corte Madera. The market has a specific day of the week and set hours that you can take into account when planning your stay.

There’s a useful calendar comparison: the market takes place during the day on Wednesdays, while the Corte Madera History Group meets on the first Wednesday evening of the month. So both events fall on the same day of the week on the first Wednesday, but at different times of day.

Local and Online History

The Coast Miwok inhabited the area now known as Corte Madera. Indigenous history is therefore part of the local context. In the Old Corte Madera Square area, Holy Innocents Church is among the historic resources.

The Corte Madera Heritage & History Archives offers an easy-to-search online database with hundreds of photographs and printed documents. Images and printed materials offer different ways to explore local history, and can be viewed independently.

A meeting of the Corte Madera History Group can also be a time-specific opportunity to connect with local history. On August 13, 2026, the city announced that the group meets at 6:30 p.m. on the first Wednesday evening of each month at the Corte Madera Community Center. Check the schedule before visiting. Richard plans to share a few historical images or stories at each meeting.

Recreation and Travel Planning

The 20-acre Town Park is one of the places in Corte Madera where recreation programs, classes, sports leagues, summer camps, and events take place. It adds a focus on recreational activities and programs to the nature and history themes.

A specific landmark for cyclists is the bike rack location at the southbound US-101 on-ramp near Tamalpais Drive. Along with the hiking, market, and history highlights described above, this offers another starting point for planning your stay in Corte Madera.

Discover more destinations: Sausalito, Larkspur, Muir Beach, Bolinas, San Rafael, Point Reyes Station, Dillon Beach, Stinson Beach.

For the broader travel overview: Marin.