California Travel Guide

International Travel

Getting There By Air

Departure Tax

None.

Main Airports

Los Angeles International (LAX) (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) (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) (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) (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) (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 Water

A 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 Rail

The Amtrak (tel: 1 800 872 7245, in the USA only; 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 Road

Greyhound (tel: 1 800 231 2222, in the USA only; 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.

Internal Travel

Getting Around By Air

California is the third largest state in USA and has more than 15 international and commuters airports, with many scheduled and low cost carriers linking cities across the state.

Getting Around By Rail

Amtrak (tel: 1 800 872 7245 in the USA and Canada only; www.amtrak.com) offers three key scenic rail routes through California. They include: the Pacific Surfliner route connecting San Diego, Los Angeles, Oxnard, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo; the Capitol Corridor linking the Sierra foothills, Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley and San Joaquin which slices its way from Bakersfield through Fresno to the Bay Area. Amtrak also offers four routes that travel out of state.

Getting Around By Road

Driving around California is simple , thanks to its network of interstates and highways.
Coach: Greyhound (tel: (214) 849 8100 or 1 800 231 2222 in the USA and Canada only; www.greyhound.com) covers the state comprehensively, while public buses also serve California’s national parks such as Yosemite and Big Sur. Intercity bus travel is also provided by Amtrak.

Bicycle hire: Most of the major cities have numerous bike rental facilities, with Los Angeles and San Francisco in particular both offering dedicated cycling paths.

Car hire: Minimum age for hirers is 25. You need a valid driver’s license, a passport (for non-US citizens) and a credit card for a security deposit. Alamo, Budget, Thrifty and Dollar are among the wealth of car hire companies in California. The hire of self-drive campers or motorhomes is also recommended.

Getting Around Towns and Cities

Los Angeles and San Francisco both have subway and light rail networks. Metrolink commuter rail covers large swathes of Southern California, while BART and Caltrain commuter rail link the Bay Area suburbs to San Francisco. San Jose and Sacramento have light rail, and San Diego has a Trolley light rail system. The majority of counties and cities operate their own bus lines.