Picnic Valley

Picnic Valley is a very woodsy hillside neighborhood at the southern end of San Rafael. It comes right off of Lindaro Street. This is the kind of neighborhood where the streets are narrow and it is hard to fit two cars next to each other.

The homes here are a mix of very old homes (a century old in some cases) and homes dating from the 1960’s. The older homes tend to be on the lower, straighter northern part of the neighborhood and the newer ones tend to be up in the hills.

This is a pretty nice spot and homes here climb with the elevation, going from about half a million dollars at the lower elevations to more than 3 quarters of a million at the upper reaches.

Of course, this is hilly forest living, so you need to be prepared for extra home costs related to erosion, critter nuisances (like knocked over trash cans) and the fire worries.

You do, however, get strong schools, a safe area and you are close to an okay number of restaurants and things of this nature.

Overall, a pretty good spot for families--especially if you are into an outdoorsy sort of a feel.