Hitchcock horror town voted California’s hottest Labor Day getaway

A sleepy fishing village north of San Francisco that was made famous by one of Hollywood’s most unsettling movies is suddenly the state’s hottest Labor Day getaway.

Bodega Bay — the Sonoma County seaside town forever linked to Alfred Hitchcock’s horror movie “The Birds” — has landed among the fastest-rising vacation destinations in America for the upcoming holiday weekend, according to a popular vacation rental marketplace.

The coastal escape ranked number 10 nationwide in HomeToGo’s 2026 Labor Day travel report, with searches for stays soaring a whopping 139% compared to last year. It was the highest-ranked California destination.

While Tippi Hedren spent her time in Bodega Bay running for her life from bloodthirsty crows, modern vacationers head there for striking cliffs, dock-to-table seafood, and ocean breezes. The famous Potter Schoolhouse and St. Teresa of Avila Church scenes were filmed inland in the village of Bodega, while the bay and its coastline provided the setting for some terrifying bird attacks.

Just 90 minutes north of San Francisco, escaping to Bodega Bay carries a median nightly tab of $207 per person, HomeToGo reported. The town’s Labor Day boom reportedly fits into a broader shift toward nature-heavy and waterfront escapes, with HomeToGo saying that this year’s popular destination skew towards under-the-radar locales.

The surge in searches puts the tiny Northern California getaway in the company of other destinations like Mississippi’s Bay Saint Louis, which topped the national ranking with a staggering 561% jump in searches, Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, which was ranked number two, and Washington’s Orcas Island as the third most searched destination.

Bodega Bay isn’t the only California spot picking up interest from prospective travelers looking to soak in the last bits of summer. Lake Tahoe ranked as the 13th most-searched getaway overall, San Diego as the 15th most-searched, and Cayucos as the 14th top trending spot nationwide.

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