Two events take place on the Tiburon peninsula this fall, nine days apart, and offer different experiences. One is a boat tour with limited availability. The other is a festival that shuts down a lane of Tiburon Boulevard and draws thousands of people to Point Tiburon Plaza.
If you live here, the calendar between September 24 and October 3 offers two distinct events: a quiet, historical boat tour organized by the Landmarks Society and the Chamber of Commerce's 43rd annual festival. Knowing which one you want to attend can help you plan the next two and a half weeks.
The Float Your Boat History Tour
The Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society runs a two-hour boat tour called Float Your Boat, a slow loop around the shorelines of Tiburon and Belvedere narrated with the kind of local history that doesn't make it into a real estate listing. The Society's own newsletter puts the date on the calendar for this year as September 24, and it says something the Chamber's public event list doesn't spell out: tickets for this tour tend to go on sale the first week of September, and last year's batch sold out in two days.
That detail matters right now, in mid-September, because it means the ticket window for this particular fall may already be closing or closed by the time most residents think to look. If you haven't checked the Landmarks Society's site yet, this is the week to do it, not the week after.
Float Your Boat offers a smaller-scale way to experience the peninsula. The nonprofit historical society runs a single boat for a couple of hours, with a narrator who knows the peninsula's shoreline the way a longtime neighbor knows a street. The annual tour offers a look at Tiburon's shoreline and local history from the water.
The Tiburon Wine Festival on October 3
Nine days later, the same peninsula hosts the 43rd Annual Tiburon Wine Festival at Point Tiburon Plaza on Saturday, October 3, from 1 to 4 p.m. The Chamber of Commerce lists more than 60 wineries, 10 local restaurants, and live music, all inside the 1-to-4 p.m. window.
The Chamber names The Bungalow Kitchen, Malibu Farm, Woodlands Market, Luna Blu, Servino Trattoria, Tiburon Tavern, Caffe Acri, Salt & Pepper, The Caprice, and Petite Left Bank as the festival's food partners this year.
A few practical notes if you've never gone, or if it's been a few years:
- It's a rain-or-shine event with no refunds, so weather doesn't change the plan.
- It's 21 and over, with a government-issued photo ID required at the door.
- No infants, strollers, or animals are allowed on the event grounds, which is worth knowing if your usual Saturday afternoon involves either.
If you've got a stroller-aged household and still want a piece of the same weekend, the Chamber's calendar has a built-in alternative: a Kids and Caregivers Happy Hour on Saturday, September 26, the Saturday between the two bigger events.
Where the Two Events Actually Differ
| Float Your Boat History Tour | Tiburon Wine Festival | |
|---|---|---|
| Run by | Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society | Tiburon Peninsula Chamber of Commerce |
| Date | September 24 | October 3 |
| Format | Two-hour narrated boat loop | Outdoor plaza event from 1 to 4 p.m. |
| Scale | Small enough to sell out in two days | 60-plus wineries, 10 restaurants |
| Age policy | Open to all ages | 21 and over only |
| Character | Quiet, historical, intimate | Large-scale, outdoor festival |
The two events are organized by different institutions and offer different formats on the same stretch of waterfront, nine days apart.
The Practical Part: Boulevard, Not Boat
If you live anywhere near Point Tiburon Plaza, the Wine Festival's footprint extends past the plaza itself. In recent years, the Town of Tiburon has closed the outbound lane of Tiburon Boulevard adjacent to the plaza on the day of the festival, with traffic control in place from early morning through early evening. That's worth building into your Saturday if you're headed anywhere south on the boulevard, whether that's a grocery run or picking someone up.
The easier move, if you're hosting anyone coming from across the bay for the festival, is to skip the car entirely. The Golden Gate Ferry runs a boat from San Francisco that departs at 12:15 p.m. and lands in Tiburon at 12:45, a walk of a few minutes from festival check-in. It's a detail that matters more for guests than for residents, but if you're the one telling a friend how to get here without fighting for parking, that's the answer.
Planning for the Fall Events
Together, these events offer two ways to experience the Tiburon peninsula within the same two-and-a-half-week window: a boat tour focused on local history and a festival featuring wineries, local restaurants, and live music. Both are part of the fall calendar.
If you plan to attend the boat tour, check the Landmarks Society site now for ticket availability. The Wine Festival takes place on October 3.
Either way, the ten days between September 24 and October 3 are a reminder that this peninsula holds more than one identity at once. That's not a small thing to notice about a place you've decided to call home.
If you ever want to talk about what's happening on the Tiburon peninsula beyond the festival calendar, from what's shifting on Main Street to how the waterfront market is actually moving, Marin Life Elevated is always glad to have that conversation. Let's Connect.
