Novato is in Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.
Via Highway 101, the major north-south freeway or from Highway 37 which crosses marshland from Vallejo and Highway 80 or from west Marin on Hicks Valley Road/Novato Blvd.
Marin Transit offers service from other Marin County cities, and the affiliated service Golden Gate Transit goes north to Sonoma County and south to San Francisco.
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, or SMART, connects Novato with San Rafael, Larkspur, and places in Sonoma County: Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Santa Rosa, and Sonoma County Airport. An extension is planned to Cloverdale. The Larkspur station allows connections to the Golden Gate Ferry to San Francisco.
Conditions may be too windy for bicycles to go "upwind."
There is limited Marin Transit (bus) service, which is primarily used by commuters. The bus serves a major stop "downtown" on Old Redwood Highway.
Essentially a bedroom community but there are various hiking opportunities in the open space around Novato and Marin County (e.g. Mt. Burdell). Immediately west of town are rolling hills, cow farms and 60-acre-plus ranches—a pleasant, scenic ride by car or motorcycle.
2nd-order administrative division
Primary administrative division