Planes, Trains, and Automobiles...need help with transportation for multiple stops in CA

[Little E]

I really need some transportation advice, wise Dis friends! We are from the midwest, and we are planning a trip to California for July of 2018. I have never been and it has been a really long time since DH has been to CA, so we're not sure how to navigate transportation for our various places along our trip route.

So, here's the plan...

1. We fly into the San Francisco Int'l airport and stay one night in San Fran. We have a hotel booked in the Fisherman's Wharf area, as we plan to do the Alcatraz tour. What's the best way to get from the SF airport to our hotel? Uber? Lyft? Another form of transportation I hadn't thought about?

2. We will be picking up an RV somewhere in San Fran...I'm not sure where yet as I haven't gotten the RV itinerary from the company that is coordinating our RV/national parks part of our trip. Again, what form of transportation from our hotel to wherever the San Fran RV pickup place is would be best?

3. Once we get our RV, I think we'll be set for transportation. We plan to stay a few days in both Yosemite and Sequoia National parks.

4. We will be staying at an RV park outside of Los Angeles at the end of the national parks part of our trip. As I haven't gotten our itinerary yet, I'm not sure where it is. Once we turn in our RV in the Agoura Hills area, we'll need transportation to Disneyland. So, once again, what's the best way to get from this area to DL? Uber? Lyft? Some other form of transportation?

5. We are staying just three nights and doing 2 days in the parks, and then we fly out of the SNA airport in Orange County. I know DL doesn't have the magical express like in WDW, so what sort of transportation should we use from DL to the airport?

I'm really excited about our CA trip this summer, but this is all new to me. We have several different stops in CA, and I want to make the transportation part of the trip as seamless as possible. Any advice anyone has about transportation for:

1. San Francisco Int'l airport to Fisherman's Wharf hotel
2. Fisherman's Wharf hotel to RV pickup spot
3. Agoura Hills area to DL
4. DL to SNA Orange County airport

would be amazing! Thank you so much!!

 

[wanderlust7]

There's a BART station in SFO. Fisherman's Square isn't all that close to a BART station though (closest would be either Powell or Embarcadero), so with luggage you'd probably still need Uber/Lyft to get to your hotel. BART to/from the airport is especially expensive ($9.65/person), so I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle with 2 people (definitely not with more). Depends if there's Uber/Lyft surge pricing, also if you arrive during rush hour - BART would be quicker.

Picking up the RV in San Francisco, that's going to depend on where. There's a large RV rental place we pass all the time in Newark (south of SF and across the bay). Hopefully they don't send you that far, but the closest BART station for that would be Fremont.

 

[abayaflowers]

There's a BART station in SFO. Fisherman's Square isn't all that close to a BART station though (closest would be either Powell or Embarcadero), so with luggage you'd probably still need Uber/Lyft to get to your hotel. BART to/from the airport is especially expensive ($9.65/person), so I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle with 2 people (definitely not with more). Depends if there's Uber/Lyft surge pricing, also if you arrive during rush hour - BART would be quicker.

Picking up the RV in San Francisco, that's going to depend on where. There's a large RV rental place we pass all the time in Newark (south of SF and across the bay). Hopefully they don't send you that far, but the closest BART station for that would be Fremont.

Agreed. It will depend on commute hours and what day you will arrive, e.g., during the work week. Those times are really busy. However, it's at a standstill sometimes and your family can take pics.

July is a very busy time. You can also try taking the Bart over to Millbrae station and switch over to Caltrain. Then end of the track is AT&T park, you can catch a Lyft or Uber over to Fisherman's wharf. If you are traveling with alot of luggage, the elevators are normally reserved for "Physically challenged" customers. Also, please be aware of pick-pocketers at the Wharf. They are known to target tourists.

As for the RV, try Cruise America. You will need to reserve spots at campgrounds. They are filled very quickly sometimes, 1 year in advance depending where you are trying to visit.

As for transportation from Agoura Hills, I highly recommend renting a car either from Hertz or a highly rated car rental place (refer to Yelp or Google Reviews), remember traffic is "very challenging" in LA. Literally, it's a parking lot between commute hours, e.g., 5:30 a.m. to 9/10 a.m. (However, I defer that to current LA residents in that area). Then, it starts to lighten up between lunch hours. Then, becomes a parking lot again between 1:30 to 7 p.m. (Again, defer to LA residents). However, everytime I drive down to Orange County, it's always heavy traffic no matter what time.

We have never used the Disney transportation, because it's expensive. So, we rent a car.

Hope this helps.

 

[bcla]

There's a BART station in SFO. Fisherman's Square isn't all that close to a BART station though (closest would be either Powell or Embarcadero), so with luggage you'd probably still need Uber/Lyft to get to your hotel. BART to/from the airport is especially expensive ($9.65/person), so I'm not sure it would be worth the hassle with 2 people (definitely not with more). Depends if there's Uber/Lyft surge pricing, also if you arrive during rush hour - BART would be quicker.

You can save the 50 cents (for the BART "paper ticket" surcharge) by getting a Clipper Card, although that will then cost you $3, where you could reuse the card indefinitely. However, I'd really recommend it because it can speed up the use of public transportation around San Francisco - especially not having to wait for lines on Golden Gate Ferry along with deep discounts on certain carriers. I remember seeing a long line at the ticket vending machines for Golden Gate Ferry, and I just bypassed them and "tagged" my Clipper Card. It's also a much better way to ride Caltrain. They sell Clipper Cards at SFO at their information booths all over the airport.

For the OP, there might be shuttles that can take you from SFO to Fisherman's Wharf. Probably not cheaper than BART and MUNI, but easier if you've got a lot of baggage. The MUNI F-line streetcars that go to Fisherman's Wharf can be pretty packed, and some of the different streetcar designs (especially the Peter Witt models from Milan) may be awkward because of narrow aisles. You could also take a taxi/Uber/Lyft from a BART station to your hotel.

A taxi from the airport might be around $50 (without tip) but may vary depending on how traffic adds to wait time. I don't think a lot of the hotels have their own airport shuttles, but the ones I saw recommended Super Shuttle, which charges $17 for a shared van ride to Fisherman's Wharf. There might also be a AAA discount, but I didn't enter my number. They typically require reservations, but I'd be surprised if they weren't flexible in case of flight delays.

https://www.supershuttle.com/locations/sanfranciscosfo/

I entered two passengers and got $32. Actually $16 for one passenger so it doesn't look like there's a multi-passenger discount.

 

[bcla]

Mistake post.

 

[oakleycat]

For the LA part, I agree on renting a car. That's not a common route so there's not really any easy public transportation, but there are rental car places around everywhere and you could probably even find one to pick you up at the RV place. Alternative would be Uber but I'm guessing with people and/or luggage you'd need an XL and that would probably run close to $200+ for that distance. Like abayaflowers said, if you're traveling on a weekday there will be traffic for most of your drive if you're traveling between 5:30-9 am or 3-8 pm and that really ups the Uber rate.