ruo55

I WILL BE ATTENDING WEDDING IN SAN MATEO AT THE END OF OCTOBER ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON.I AM FLYING IN TO OAKLAND ON A THURSDAY EARLY AFERNOON AND OUT ON MONDAY AM FROM SAN JOSE..i WOULD APPRECIATE INPUT ON HOW TO DIVIDE MY TIMEUP TO INCLUDE SIGHTS,SHOPPING AND FOOD IN CARMEL ,SAN MATEO,SAN FRANSISCO,OAKLAND AND SAN JOSE:
1-;WHAT WILL TRAFFIC BE LIKE FROM AND TO AIRPORTS
2. WHERE TO GO AND WHAT TO DO
3..WHERE TO MAKE HOME BASE
4 .WHETHER TO RENT CAR FOR ENTIRE TIME

THANK YOU FOR ANY INPUT.

clarkgriswold

traffic depends on the exact hour(s), Monday morning from San Mateo to San Jose can be nightmarish, what time? What day(s) are you planning to go to Carmel, and your post is not clear regarding where in the bay area you will actually be STAYING and commuting from.

MonicaRichards

Traffic all around the Bay Area has gotten really bad lately, so add in extra time from what people experienced last year or earlier.

Please no caps. It hurts my eyes and makes your post hard to read.

J62

You will need a car everywhere but in SF. You don't have a lot of time, so you'll need to decide if you want to keep one home base or move around. If you have a rental car the whole time then you won't need to worry about what you do with luggage.

Here's a possible itinerary.
Thu arrive early afternoon Oakland. Rent a car & drive to Monterey/Carmel area. Stay there Thu night.

Fri, make your way north, check in to hotel somewhere like Millbrae, close to the BART station, eg, the Fairfield Inn. OR, get a hotel in SF for a few nights.

Fri eve, take BART into SF, then back to your hotel at night.
Sat, visit SF, again by BART.
Sun - Wedding
Monday, drive to San Jose. The traffic to San Jose will be bad from about 6am to 9am rush hour, so if your flight is around that time plan for it to take 2-3minutes per mile.

An alternative would be to get a hotel IN SF for a few nights, checkout on Sunday, move south to the peninsula/San Mateo area so it's closer to the wedding and SJC on Monday.

ruo55

Thank you all for input.MonicaRichards,my apology for capitals.J62,thanks for the helpful detailed suggestions.
Clarkgriswold, I will be arriving in Oakland at 1:30 pm on Thursday and leaving form San Jose at 6:30 am on Monday. Does it make sense to immediatly head for Carmel? I'll have rental car. Which route is most scenic and how long of a drive. What are the must sees in that area? Any suggestion on a 4 star place to stay?
J62 what are pros and cons of staying in Millbrae and taking BART into SF vs staying in SF? If I chose to stay in SF what area is most codusive to my visit there?
Thanks in advance for any input.
Thanks in advance for all of your help.

DebitNM

As of right now, BART is on strike and traffic is a nightmare. Hopefully, it will be settled before you get to SF. IF not, plan accordingly.

november_moon

Thursday through Monday is a pretty short trip, so I would not try to visit SF and the Carmel area in addition to attending the wedding. I would choose one or the other.

If you choose Carmel, then I would head down there as soon as you land - traffic will be a non-issue at that time. Then spend Fri and Sat in the Carmel area. Drive up to San Mateo Sunday morning, attend the wedding, stay nearby, and fly home Monday morning. With a 6:30 am flight Monday morning, traffic won't be an issue getting to the airport.

If you choose SF instead, I would go to SF immediately upon landing in OAK, use BART to get to SF and then public transport around SF Fri and Sat. Rent a car on Sunday morning, drive down to San Mateo for the wedding, stay nearby and then drive to SJC for your morning flight.

Calcruzer777

Well, the Milbrae suggestion is a "beer-budget" recommendation for what sounds like a "champagne budget" person (based on you asking about a 4-star place in Carmel).

The top places in the Carmel area to stay are: Pebble Beach Lodge, Hyatt Carmel Highlands, Carmel Valley Ranch, and Bernardus Lodge. These last two are inland, though, and quite a ways from the water. Good if it is raining--otherwise, not so much.

You need to be aware that it is a 2 hour drive each way to/from Carmel from the SF airport--even more (like 3 hours plus) during rush hour periods--and it sounds like you are arriving at rush hour.

The things to see in Monterey/Carmel are: Pebble Beach golf courses, 17-mile drive (the absolutely do not miss thing), the Monterey Aquarium (which is in the Cannery Row section of Monterey), and the Old Monterey Pier (don't get the new and old ones mixed up). If you have the time, taking the drive from Cannery Row, past Lighthouse Point, and then down to where the 17 mile drive starts (west end) is the way to go. Also, people like to take a day to go see Big Sur--but you really don't have a ton of time. If you did, I'd tell you to drive the route from Carmel down to Morro Bay--which most people agree is one of the most dramatic drives around. Personally, I think 17 mile drive is the best of the best.

In the Bay area, there are also lots of things to see (redwoods and the redwood state parks--such as Big Basin)--which are everywhere near Santa Cruz/Scotts Valley, the Winchester Mystery House (across from San Jose's largest shopping mall), and, of course, all the sights of San Francisco (Fisherman's Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, The Golden Gate Bridge, the cable cars, Little Italy, Chinatown, and the Palace of Fine Arts.