Hi,
We are staying at possibly the Donatello Hotel and everyone is advising me to fly to Anaheim instead of driving....
My questions are....
From the hotel how would we get to Oakland airport?
What would be the cost?
Does Southwest leave from SF airport too?
Have been told they are the best choice to fly with because they don't charge the $25 per luggage fee.....
Southwest does fly out of SFO. They are a very popular airline. They allow 2 free checked bags but there is a weight limit on those bags which is probably less than what is allowed on international flights so if that's an issue for you, check the Southwest website for the luggage weight limits and excess weight fees.
From OAK into SF you have the same choices you'd have at SFO:
1) BART (with a shuttle bus from the terminal to the BART station). www.bart.gov for all details but it's around $7-8 per person including the shuttle fare of $3.
2) Taxi -- $70 or so from OAK. $50 from SFO
3) Shared Shuttle
You can check the websites for the airports for details on ground transportation.
Edited: 9:40 pm, January 11, 2013
Flying is the FASTEST way, driving down the California Coast (Highway 1) is the BEST way to go, but to do it well takes a couple of 1 night stops.
Pricing out flights will be a pain because some of the discount airlines only display flights on their website.
So you have to price out flights to:
SFO to SNA (John Wayne Orange County)
SFO to LGB (Long Beach Airport)
SFO to LAX (LA International)
and do the same for OAK.
The cheapest flights are most likely to be on Southwest Airlines of JetBlue,
John Wayne is the closest airport, then Long Beach then LAX.
You would probably want to fly into John Wayne Airport (15 miles from Anaheim) or Long Beach Airport (24 miles from Anaheim.)
Along with Southwest, go to www.kayak.com and check flights from both SFO and Oakland. It's not always cheaper to fly out of Oakland.
*Edit: Aw, scott beat me by 3 minutes.
Edited: 9:52 pm, January 11, 2013kayak is a great way of comparing fares. Click on the search nearby airports link for both SFO and LAX and it will give you the closest airports. Southwest fares do not show up so you have to check their website as mentioned above
Why is everyone advising you to drive. If you have 2 extra days (3 would be better) please drive along the coast. You will love it.
Long Beach Airport is just 14 miles from Disneyland.
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=5785499
No need to take the freeway, all you do is exit straight out the main Airport exit, which becomes Wardlow Road, and then changes names to Ball Road when entering Orange County. Take it straight down until you hit the resort. No need to take the freeway, especially if you hire a cab. (There is a flat rate of $45 from the airport to Disneyland, same basic price as from John Wayne).
So basically the distance from Long Beach and John Wayne Airports is the same.
I'm confused. What difference does it make if you drive from SF to LA or continue on to Anaheim? You're going to need your car down there anyway.
Are you flying round trip from SF to Australia? I'd keep the car the whole way, drive the coast one way, drive the 5 the other.
Anaheim is sort of a "suburb" of LA (maybe a little further than that, about an extra hour), not the other side of the moon.
Why do they say don't drive to Anaheim?
I think the OP is saying that people were advising her to fly to the greater Los Angeles area (including Anaheim) from San Francisco rather than driving.
I'm a little confused about her plans and the logistics, also. I think maybe they have a round trip flight from Australia to Los Angeles and then were thinking of driving up to San Francisco, dropping the car and flying back to Anaheim (getting a car again?), going to Disneyland and then flying home.
Since the itinerary isn't clear maybe the best thing to do is give facts.
There are three main driving routes between San Francisco and the greater Los Angeles area. Highway 5, 101 or the coastal route through Big Sur.
Highway 5 can be done in a day. Google says it's a 6:14 drive, but realistically it's probably 8 hours with stop offs, lunch and possible traffic. Highway 5 is the fastest option and mostly goes through boring dessert scenery.
Highway 280/101 south through San Jose, Salinas, etc will take an hour or so longer than highway 5 but it's prettier.
Going along the coast through the Big Sur area has spectacular views from winding roads along seaside cliffs. If you go through here from northern to southern California it will take much, much longer and you will want to stop a lot for the amazing views. To be safe without too much driving in a day you will need to break the trip into two days. Many people break their trips into three days if they want to see many sights along the way. They may stay in someplace such as Monterey/Carmel or Santa Cruz north of Big Sur and another stop south such as in Cambria, San Luis Obispo or Santa Barbara.
Flights are quick between San Francisco and LA area, about an hour or less of flying time.
You'll need to decide what makes sense for your schedule and what you want to see and do with the time you have.
Edited: 1:30 pm, January 13, 2013Hmmm. OP posted additional information in a subsequent post that needs to be clarified. Depending upon what OP's trip entails, it may make MUCH more sense to keep the car the whole time and drive back down the quick way. We recommend flying if your point is to get from SF to Anaheim quickly and easily, but it sounds like OP is already coming form LA and has a car with them. Very confusing!
