International Travel:Departure TaxNone.
Main AirportsLos Angeles International (LAX) (website:
www.lawa.org/lax) is located on Santa Monica Bay, 24km (15 miles) from the city center.
To/from the airport: A free 24-hour shuttle service is available to the
LAX Transit Center, where there are local buses to the city center (journey time - 30 to 45 minutes). Coaches provide reasonably priced services to all major locations in the city center, as well as many surrounding
areas such as Hollywood. Various door-to-door shuttle services are also available.
San Francisco International (SFO) (website:
www.sfoairport.com) is 25km (15 miles) southeast of the city.
To/from the airport: SamTrans buses and the
SFO Airporter bus go to the city (journey time - 30 minutes to 1 hour). Limousine, taxi and various shuttle services are also available.
Oakland International (OAK) (website:
www.flyoakland.com) is located across the Bay, 32km (20 miles) from central San Francisco.
To/from the airport: Airporter buses link the airport with central Oakland and San Francisco International Airport.
AirBART buses connect with the
BART rapid transit (underground) system at Coliseum/Oakland International Airport station, giving access to central San Francisco.
Domestic airports:Bob Hope Airport, Burbank (BUR) (website:
www.burbankairport.com) is about 20km (13 miles) from central Los Angeles, and receives USA domestic services only. Burbank is the nearest airport for access to Hollywood.
San Diego International (SAN) (website:
www.san.org) is 5km (3 miles) west of San Diego city center, and is primarily a gateway to southern California for domestic traffic.
Getting There by WaterA
ferry service links
San Francisco with the
Bay communities of Sausalito, Larkspur (in Marin County), Tiburon, Vallejo, Oakland and Alameda. San Francisco departure is from Pier 1, adjoining the Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street, or from Fisherman’s Wharf.
In the
Los Angeles area, there is a daily, low-fare
cruise service from
Long Beach to
Catalina Island.
Getting There by RailThe
Amtrak (tel: 1 800 872 7245, in the USA only; website:
www.amtrak.com) terminal in
Los Angeles is Union Station, at 800 North Alameda Street, on the edge of the business district. It is at the western end of several major routes across the southern Rockies, is the southern terminus of the West Coast line to Seattle (although there are frequent shuttle services heading further south to San Diego), and at the western end of east-west routes from Chicago, St Louis and New Orleans.
In
San Francisco, the
Embarcadero BART station and the
Transbay Terminal, at 425 Mission Street, are used only for limited suburban services. The
Amtrak Terminal at Oakland, across the Bay, is the central node on the West Coast line and also the western terminus of a line running across the high Rockies to Salt Lake City and beyond.
Amtrak provides free shuttles between their Oakland station and the Transbay Terminal.
San Diego is served by
Amtrak trains from Los Angeles, with a station located downtown, on 4005 Taylor Street.
Approximate rail journey times:
From Los Angeles to Phoenix is 8 hours, to Dallas is 39 hours, and to Chicago is 61 hours.
From Oakland to Reno is 6 hours, to Salt Lake City is 16 hours, and to Denver is 31 hours.
Getting There by RoadGreyhound (tel: 1 800 231 2222, in the USA only; website:
www.greyhound.com) runs a reliable and frequent service to and from every major city in the USA, as well as locations in Canada and Mexico. There are six Greyhound
bus stations in Los Angeles. In San Francisco, Greyhound buses use the Transbay Terminal, while San Diego has a downtown terminal.
Approximate driving times:
From Los Angeles to Las Vegas is six hours, to Dallas is 29 hours, and to Miami is 58 hours.
From San Francisco to Reno is four hours, to Seattle is 16 hours, and to New York is 61 hours. All times are based on non-stop driving at or below the applicable speed limits.
Approximate bus journey times:From Los Angeles to San Diego is 2 hours 30 minutes, to Las Vegas is 5 hours 30 minutes, to San Francisco is 7 hours 30 minutes, to Phoenix is 8 hours 30 minutes, to Yosemite is 10 hours 15 minutes, to Sacramento is 12 hours 30 minutes, to Albuquerque is 17 hours 30 minutes and to Portland (Oregon) is 22 hours.
From San Francisco to Sacramento is 2 hours, to Lake Tahoe is 5 hours, to Reno is 5 hours 30 minutes, to Los Angeles is 7 hours 30 minutes, to Yosemite is 7 hours 30 minutes and to Portland (Oregon) is 16 hours.
Getting Around Towns and CitiesLos Angeles: The distances between the city’s various attractions can be intimidating at first but it is a relatively easy city to get around quickly, provided you have a
car.
LA County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) (tel: 1 800 266 6883, in the USA only; website:
www.mta.net)
buses run on major routes, with a reduced service at night. Express buses are also available.
The
Metrorail train system covers three routes: downtown to Long Beach (blue); between Union Station to North Hollywood (red); and Hawthorne to Norwalk (green).
Travel beyond Los Angeles: Within Los Angeles County,
Metro provides a good
bus service. For trips beyond Los Angeles, the
Orange County Transportation Authority (tel: (714) 560 6282; website:
www.octa.net) accepts transfers from the
Metro for services throughout suburban Orange County. Buses are reasonably priced but travelers may have to wait some time to catch one. Though
taxis are readily available, the large size of Los Angeles makes them expensive and impractical.
San Diego: The
Metropolitan Transit System is operated by
San Diego Transit Corporation (website:
www.sdcommute.com), a consortium of companies providing a good and extensive
bus service at moderate prices. The
San Diego Trolley runs a 26km (16-mile) route from the Santa Fe Depot to San Ysidro, on the Mexican border (journey time - 45 minutes).
Taxis are expensive.
Car hire is readily available.
San Francisco: Public transport, operated by
MUNI, is excellent. The network of
buses (including night buses),
streetcars and
cable cars is the most economical way to get to destinations beyond walking distance. Passengers must have exact change when they board as drivers carry no change; the MUNI Passport travel passes (one-, three- or seven-day) are available and allow for travel on all
MUNI and
BART systems within the city.
Taxis are readily available in most of the central area and other major streets. Because San Francisco occupies a comparatively small area, taxi fares tend to be lower than in most other major cities.
All major national
car hire agencies are represented in San Francisco; camper vans may also be hired. For information on local companies, look in the San Francisco
Classified Telephone Directory.
Buses and streetcars also provide services from the center to more distant points in the city, including Golden Gate Park, Twin Peaks, Seal Rocks, Mission Dolores, the Presidio and Golden Gate Bridge. The clean and efficient
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) subway and surface-rail system links San Francisco with communities on the east side of sprawling San Francisco Bay, including Oakland, Alameda, Fremont, Richmond and Berkeley, site of the prestigious University of California campus.
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