Getting into San Francisco by train?

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abcnews

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I have always flown into SF International, so this is my first time to San Francisco on the train. Next month we are taking the Capital Limited from DC to Chicago, then the Southwest Chief to LA. Then (hopefully) we will connect to the Coast Starlight in LA and take that north to either San Jose or Oakland.

I made the reservations on the Coast Starlight to be LA to Oakland (Roomette) - simply so we have a choice of getting off the train in San Jose or staying on another hour, and arriving in downtown Oakland - which is much closer to the city and across the Bay from San Francisco.

I think we will fly out the next morning around 11 AM. So we may want to be staying out by the airport. So should we get off in San Jose and take BART to the airport area - check in, then head into the city? Or just stay on the train all the way up to Oakland?

It also seems strange that it takes the Coast Starlight over an hour to go from San Jose to Oakland? With an 8:15 or so arrival in San Jose verses 9:30 or so in Oakland, we prefer the idea of getting off sooner to head into town for our last night (5 day trip from DC to SF).

We also looked at flying out of Oakland and maybe San Jose Airport - but the flights were generally a little bit more restrictive, and we did like the idea of getting into scenic SF and maybe visiting Fisherman's Wharf, etc... for a partial evening - verses staying out in San Jose or Oakland.
 
You might want to check the schedules for CalTrain. - http://www.caltrain....ytimetable.html

Get off the Coast Starlight at San Jose and take CalTrain to the San Bruno station which is, I think, the nearest CalTrain Station to the airport. There are several hotels in that area (one that I know of is a Comfort Inn) that offer shuttle service to the airport.

Getting into the city at all (or making a connection to CalTrain) is contingent on #14 being reasonably close to on-time though.
 
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abcnews said:
It also seems strange that it takes the Coast Starlight over an hour to go from San Jose to Oakland? With an 8:15 or so arrival in San Jose verses 9:30 or so in Oakland, we prefer the idea of getting off sooner to head into town for our last night (5 day trip from DC to SF).
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There is quite a bit of padding in the schedule between San Jose and Oakland, so that if train 14 is late getting into San Jose, it may make up some or all of the deficit before arriving in Oakland. I haven't looked at the connecting train schedules from SJC, but it's likely that you would not be able to get into the city until pretty late, even if 14 is on time.
 
Thanks for the help - looks like a 90 minute ride on CalTrain from San Jose to the airport. So maybe we consider staying on the Coast Starlight until Oakland - and get a cab from the Jack London Square area into SF? I wonder how much a cab would be from OKJ to SF (over the Bay Bridge)?

I guess there is a good chance that 14 will be late - especially if the SW Chief is a bit late and they hold 14 for the transferring passengers. I think there is about 2 hours of time in LA between the two trains.
 
I would book the Starlight to Oakland with the bus to San Francisco. That would keep both options open.

Have the Caltrain schedule handy as you are arriving SJC. If a connection to Caltrain looks good, you can hop off the Starlight at SJC and take Caltrain up the peninsula. To get to SFO Airport hotels, exit Caltrain at Millbrae. Some hotel vans may pick you up at Millbrae upon request. If not, take BART from there to SFO Airport. At SFO you can get courtesy vans to any of the area hotels. If you are staying in downtown San Francisco, either stay on Caltrain or, if more convenient to your hotel, transfer to BART at Millbrae and take that downtown.

If your arrival at SJC is not convenient for a Caltrain connection, stay on the Starlight to OKJ and take the bus into San Francisco. If you are staying in the SFO Airport area, take the Amtrak bus to the Hyatt stop (SFF). The BART Embarcadero station is right there. Take BART to the airport and a courtesy van to your hotel. If you are staying downtown, take the bus to the most convenient stop. If you stay in the Fisherman's Wharf area, the Amtrak bus is much more convenient than BART, so taking the Starlight to Oakland would work better than Caltrain regardless of timing at SJC.
 
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Are you planning to reach SF by 14 in the night and take a flight out of SFO next day morning at 11? That would require you reaching the airport at least by 10am, so leaving hotel by 9am or so, and the most optimistic guess for you to reach your hotel, assuming 14 is on time (which most of the times, it is not) is also around 10pm. Between checking into the hotel at 10pm and checking out next morning around 9am, how much of the SF city are you going to get to see? Almost none! At best you might get to visit bars or clubs open late night if that is your thing, or an early morning walk along the Embarcedaro.

Considering how tight you are for time, if I were you, I would give up on the desire to "see" San Francisco and rather settle for a flight out of SJC and stay overnight in Silicon Valley or if flying out of SFO just check in to a hotel near the airport and sleep it out.

If staying in SJC/Silicon Valley, you will find plenty of hotels in that area and there is decently good public transport- there is Caltrain, there is VTA Light Rail and there are VTA buses- between them three they should be able to take you to your hotel.

If opting to stay at airport hotel, remember Caltrains from San Jose depart at 8.30pm, 9.30pm, 10.30pm on weekdays and 8.00pm, 9.00pm, 10.00pm on weekends. Get off at Millbrae and airport hotels are pretty close from there. Also remember Caltrain is a proof of payment system so you will need to get off Starlight at SJC, go to the station building, purchase tickets and then board Caltrain. Consider time taken by this process when determining if you will be able to make it to Caltrain or not.
 
abcnews said:
It also seems strange that it takes the Coast Starlight over an hour to go from San Jose to Oakland? With an 8:15 or so arrival in San Jose verses 9:30 or so in Oakland, we prefer the idea of getting off sooner to head into town for our last night (5 day trip from DC to SF).
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Capitol Corridor also takes a little over an hour San Jose to Oakland-Jack London. Driving takes about 47 minutes in good traffic, but wouldn't rely on that being the case.

I guess the one advantage of Caltrain is that you can pretty much eat and drink anything once you get on board. I mean - I've seen entire groups sharing a 12-pack of beer on board. I've gone on Caltrain with a 24 oz can of beer and drank it as my kid took a nap all the way to SF. I've even heard of groups of people slamming down shots on the train. A conductor on Caltrain was telling me about how useful the stainless steel is when it comes to cleaning up what some overindulgers leave for them in the vestibules.
 
From personal experience... when making your plans expect train 14 to be about an hour late (average) when arriving into San Jose or Oakland. By the time you arrive to San Francisco it will be after 11pm. Best way to get to SF would be the bus connection from the train at OKJ to SF itself. In theory, you would be able to make the last Caltrain from SJC as well if you prefer that option. If you get off Caltrain at Millbrae you can connect to BART to SFO or Downtown SF. BART does not yet go to San Jose (give it a few more years).

The train is allowed 53 minutes from SJC to OKJ and will often use at least 50 of them if not more.

Honestly, by the time you get into San Francisco there will not be much to see. If you'd like to see the city I'd suggest booking a later flight and seeing it in the morning. If you would like to get more sleep I'd suggest booking a hotel near SFO. If you'd like to say you have been to San Francisco you can book at hotel near the airport or in Oakland and then BART to the city in the morning for a bit before your trek to the airport.
 
PRR 60 said:
I would book the Starlight to Oakland with the bus to San Francisco. That would keep both options open.

Have the Caltrain schedule handy as you are arriving SJC. If a connection to Caltrain looks good, you can hop off the Starlight at SJC and take Caltrain up the peninsula. To get to SFO Airport hotels, exit Caltrain at Millbrae. Some hotel vans may pick you up at Millbrae upon request. If not, take BART from there to SFO Airport. At SFO you can get courtesy vans to any of the area hotels. If you are staying in downtown San Francisco, either stay on Caltrain or, if more convenient to your hotel, transfer to BART at Millbrae and take that downtown.

If your arrival at SJC is not convenient for a Caltrain connection, stay on the Starlight to OKJ and take the bus into San Francisco. If you are staying in the SFO Airport area, take the Amtrak bus to the Hyatt stop (SFF). The BART Embarcadero station is right there. Take BART to the airport and a courtesy van to your hotel. If you are staying downtown, take the bus to the most convenient stop. If you stay in the Fisherman's Wharf area, the Amtrak bus is much more convenient than BART, so taking the Starlight to Oakland would work better than Caltrain regardless of timing at SJC.
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Wow - thanks for taking the time to read our post and help us with this... Your info is really helpful - and I will be saving this info fr future trips.

Thanks!

Mike
 
Texan Eagle said:
Are you planning to reach SF by 14 in the night and take a flight out of SFO next day morning at 11? That would require you reaching the airport at least by 10am, so leaving hotel by 9am or so, and the most optimistic guess for you to reach your hotel, assuming 14 is on time (which most of the times, it is not) is also around 10pm. Between checking into the hotel at 10pm and checking out next morning around 9am, how much of the SF city are you going to get to see? Almost none! At best you might get to visit bars or clubs open late night if that is your thing, or an early morning walk along the Embarcedaro.

Considering how tight you are for time, if I were you, I would give up on the desire to "see" San Francisco and rather settle for a flight out of SJC and stay overnight in Silicon Valley or if flying out of SFO just check in to a hotel near the airport and sleep it out.

If staying in SJC/Silicon Valley, you will find plenty of hotels in that area and there is decently good public transport- there is Caltrain, there is VTA Light Rail and there are VTA buses- between them three they should be able to take you to your hotel.

If opting to stay at airport hotel, remember Caltrains from San Jose depart at 8.30pm, 9.30pm, 10.30pm on weekdays and 8.00pm, 9.00pm, 10.00pm on weekends. Get off at Millbrae and airport hotels are pretty close from there. Also remember Caltrain is a proof of payment system so you will need to get off Starlight at SJC, go to the station building, purchase tickets and then board Caltrain. Consider time taken by this process when determining if you will be able to make it to Caltrain or not.
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Great info - and I agree - how much time will we really have? But that is the reason I posted this, to get a better idea of options, and to forecast our available time that evening to see the city at night... My grown son and I are planning this trip, and we are trying to keep it to just 5 days and 4 nights. We are using some Amtrak points (two zone roomette) and cash for the rail tickets and accommodations, and I am cashing in some US Air Dividend Miles for two First Class return tickets from SF.

Thanks for the help!

Mike
 
We are also looking at the option of just taking the CZ from Chicago and the bus to Fisherman's Wharf with a much better 5:20 PM arrival. We could even go running once we check in... Then a late dinner in SF.

One hitch - two years ago we took CZ to Sacramento and then the Coast Starlight up to Portland. So we have already ridden on the CZ in winter, which was certainly wonderful, but I have never been on the SW Chief or the southern portion of the Coast Starlight (LA - Oakland).

However, our family will be doing a round trip to Albuquerque, NM in April. And also, my son did travel from Flagstaff to Glazier National Park this past summer. So for now we were trying to do a quick 4 night "weekend trip to LA or SF. Both options look really good too (either SW Chief & Coast Starlight, or the CZ).
 
Exactly - it really is a toss up. If I knew we were late on the SW Chief and they were to bus us - then the CZ would be my choice. But I would really enjoy taking the Coast Starlight (entire coastal route) north from LA to SF.
 
If we take the Westbound Chief we pass through Arizona in darkness (February), so not really much to see after Albuquerque to LA (8:30 AM arrival), but the coast of Southern California could be really nice....
 
If you were willing to give up seeing the coastal scenery and leave LAX about 4:30AM, take the 5801 bus to Bakersfield and the 701 San Joaquin from Bakersfield to Sacramento. You arrive in Sacramento about 12:30 PM. Eat lunch and then take a Capitol Corridor train to EMY and the bus over to Fisherman's Wharf. You should be able to get into San Francisco at least 5 hours before the CS gets to EMY.
 
Thanks Tom

After discussing all of this, I think we will change to the California Zephyr, and still take the Capital Limited from DC to Chicago, and then the CZ all the way to SF. The 5:20 PM bus arrival at Fisherman's Wharf is so much better than 11 PM or so on the Coast Starlight, and it looks like we will actually have a little time that afternoon and evening in San Francisco.

Plus the Zephyr in the winter is hard to beat - with the snow capped Rockies and Donner Pass. I also like the 2 PM departure from Chicago - the S W Chief is a 3 PM departure. And we hope to cross the Mississippi before dark. It will be getting dark around 5:30 or 5:45. On a short winter trip like this - every hour of daylight on the train is worth so much more to me.
 
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