I’m trying to get myself to Union Square. I see some flights to SFO, but more are coming up to Oakland and San Jose. Are those in reasonable cab/public transportation distance?
The CalTrain takes you from SJC to SF.
Yeah? It looks like about 25 miles. How long does it take?
I haven’t done it in years (I don’t even live in CA anymore), but if I recall correctly, first you have to take a free shuttle from the airport to the train station, which takes maybe 10 minutes. Once you’re on the train, the ride is maybe 40 minutes? Not super fast, but super easy, and should only cost you about $5.
No, don’t go into SJC if you’re going to Union Square. It’s an hour on the train just to get to the City, not counting scheduling waits and transfers.
If you’re taking BART/MUNI, either SFO or Oakland is a better choice. They both have BART access (Oakland via a shuttle bus) and the BART stop is at Market & Powell (3 blocks from Union Square). As long as you are travelling light, either is a good option. The cost is reasonable too, under $10. Cabs are much more expensive. I haven’t priced the shuttles.
I’ve taken BART to both airports. I slightly prefer SFO but am happy to go to Oakland.
Here is BART’s link or go to google maps, get directions, put in your “to” and “from” and choose “by public transit” to get prices and schedules.
I was able to book a flight right to SFO. Thanks for the suggestions.
Now I just have to figure out how to get from there to Union Square.
BART.
As mentioned above, BART will take you to Powell & Market. Fare is $8.10. A cab would be likely to take just as long, and cost three times as much. Those blue airport shuttle vans are also expensive and can be pretty hairy-scary. Plus, you often get an unexpected tour of the city as other people get dropped off before you.
From BART’s website: This station is located in the International Terminal at SFO. It’s a short walk to United Airlines in Terminal 3, but all domestic terminals (1, 2 & 3) are one to three minutes away on AirTrain. (the intra-terminal shuttle)
One note on taking CalTrain from SJC to downtown. At the Millbrae station, you’d look out and think “Argh. There’s SFO. I could have been here already!”
No, SJC is right in the middle of “the City”. It *is * a hour to get to the quite a bit smaller burg of San Francisco from SJC.
BART. It’s quite easy.
Definitely recommend BART also. I’ve never taken the shuttle from OAK to BART, since I live fairly close to OAK, but we took BART from SFO to Fremont when we came back from Europe with excessive bags and jet lag, and it was simple. When we go to SF around Union Square we always take BART.
I try to avoid flying out of SJC whenever possible. OAK is best because you have a much better chance of leaving on time, but SFO is most convenient to public transportation.
SJC is not in the middle of San Francisco. Neither is SFO for that matter.
OAK is only slightly less convenient. There’s a $3 shuttle bus that runs every 10, 15 minutes between the terminals and the Coliseum BART station. Very easy to deal with, even when you’re as tired and cranky as I was last time I flew in.
I will note that OAK is way cheaper to travel from. BART has special fees when you cross transbay, but even that is way cheaper from SFO to the City proper. It is $8.10 from SFO to Powell, and $3.80 from Coliseum to Powell, even when you factor in a shuttle it’s still cheaper. It’s more of a choice between which airport has a cheaper flight.
Right, SJC is in the middle of San Jose, which is “The City”- at least compared to the much smaller burg to the north.
If anyone from outside Northern CA is wondering what we’re babbling about, dudes from San Francisco have an annoying habit of referring to their city as “The City” as if it’s the only one. :rolleyes:Not only isn’t it singular, it has considerable less population than San Jose, and it’s only the 4th largest city in the State. 
Not only is it annoying to anyone from outside there, it’s not very helpful to outsiders who have no idea what they mean- they have to both know that San Francisco is “The City” to a number of it’s occupants, AND also that the poster is from San Francisco. It’s kind of like me referring to San Jose only as “The Capital of Silicon Valley” (SJ’s fairly useless nickname), but even worse as you can at least Google that.
Didn’t we have this argument recently in GQ? Does ANYONE in San Jose ever call SJ “the city”? I strongly suspect that even in San Jose, when someone says “I’m going to the city”, they mean “I’m going to San Francisco”. The nickname is old and predates San Jose’s growth spurt into the most boring big city in America.
FWIW, I went to college in Santa Cruz, which is much nearer San Jose than San Francisco and I never heard anyone refer to San Jose as “the city”. In the 22 years I spent living in the Bay Area, I never heard, even once, anyone call this nomenclature annoying or confusing.
Generally, around here, if you know the person is from SF (or from someplace like South SF) and they say “the City”, then you you know what they are talking about.
People around here in rural areas do refer to whatever urban city is closest as “the city”. I have heard dudes in the Santa Cruz Mtns refer to San Jose as “the City”, and same with from South County. Usually, if you are standing in the middle of a city, no one sez “I am going to the City” to refer to that burg. Even SFers don’t do that. So no, people* in* San Jose rarely refer to San Jose as “the city”.
It’s annoying to anyone here in SJ, and even some of the east Bay cities. We just roll our eyes.:rolleyes:
It’s confusing to dudes from outside the area who have no idea what “city” you’re talking about.