Driving into SF from Silicon Valley and other San Francisco, CA Transportation Tips

'Mode': TO
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: If you are in a business trip to one of the many companies in the Silicon Valley of Santa Clara, San Jose, Milpitas, etc, you would probably drive into San Francisco during the weekends or at nights during the weekdays.

There are several routes.
1) Highway 101 is the fastest, goes along the west side of the San Francisco Bay and will pass by the SFO Airport.

2) More hinterland Freeway 208, between the bay and Pacific Ocean, rolling hills and vistas along the way.

3) Scenic, winding and longer Highway 1 along the Pacific Ocean.

4) Freeway 880 along the east side of the bay and crossing Bay Bridge into San Francisco. Can stopover at Treasurer island for a panoramic view of San Francisco.

If you are travelling for some time here, suggest trying all above routes to see more of the Bay Area.

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'Mode': TO
Category: Airplane
Getting TO/AROUND: If you are flying into San Francisco, you have a choice of three airports. I have landed in all three airports. SFO is the main hub for international flights.

If you are transfering flight connection between these airports, factor ample time as there is traffic jam during rush hours between airports. I almost missed my flight back to Asia when I changed my flight from Maine to San Jose instead and then drove to SFO airport.

1) San Francisco International Airport (code: SFO)
http://www.flysfo.com/web/page/index.jsp

2) Oakland International Airport (code: OAK)
http://www.oaklandairport.com/index2.cfm

3) San Jose International Airport (code: SJC)
http://www.sjc.org/

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'Mode': AROUND
Category: Car/Motor Home
Getting TO/AROUND: It is easier to drive in downtown San Francisco because of the grid lines. But most of the streets are one-way and the many street uses names and not sequential numbers. So you need a street map to navigate.

It can be scary if you are not use to manual stick or know how which auto mode as the road goes up and down like roller coaster and you have to stop at a steep angle at a traffic light or feel the road is going down a valley.

But do not miss Lombard Street, "the crooked road" at Russian Hill. We all took turns going down this short crooked stretch. There are houses with garages and many tourists, so be careful.

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