Air
Most visitors arrive at San Francisco International Airport, 14 miles south of the city centre. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit – www.bart.gov) operates a fast rail service from the airport to northern San Mateo County, San Francisco and the East Bay. The station is located on Level 3 (Departures and Ticketing) of the International Terminal. The BART station is also easily accessible from any terminal by riding the free Airtrain (www.flysfo.com/guide_nonflash/gettingaround/airtrain).
SamTrans (www.samtrans.com) provides a 24-hour bus service connecting the airport with San Mateo County and parts of San Francisco and Palo Alto. Pre-arranged vans shuttle between the airport and passenger-specified locations in shared ride vehicles. Depending on the number of passengers, these may make multiple stops. Vans pick up in Courtyards 1 and 4 of the Domestic Terminals and Courtyards A and G of the International Terminal. Reservations must be made in advance. Taxis depart from the designated taxi zones located at the roadway Center Islands, on the Arrivals/Baggage Claim Level of all terminals. Downtown costs about $37, Fisherman’s Wharf about $44.
Train
Amtrak rail services (www.amtrak.com) connect San Francisco with Los Angeles, Seattle and Chicago. A bus service from the Transbay Terminal connects at Oakland with the main coastline. There’s a ticket office at the Transbay Terminal, 425 Mission Street. The city’s railway station is at Fourth and Townsend streets and is the terminus for services operated by CalTrain to San Jose.
Road
The famous Greyhound Bus (www.greyhound.com) runs services between San Francisco and numerous destinations. If you’re travelling by car from the south, Highway 1 is the most scenic route from Los Angeles, with the parallel US 101 a faster inland alternative. From the north, US 101 runs south from the Canadian border to cross the Golden Gate Bridge, and Interstate 80 runs south-west from Sacramento over the Bay Bridge.
