best airport for sonoma valley
 

I'm flying from chicago. Which airport would be closest and/or easiest to get to sonoma? thanks for your help

Recently used SFO to get to Sonoma. The airport is a pain in the a$$ with a slow train to the rental cars and a ridiculously confusing maze of tunnels though parking garages to get to/from trains. Lots of logjams at elevators (we carried our luggage up/down stairs to avoid). Driving through the city was also one long logjam. Driving over the Golden Gate was pretty neat though and once across, traffic was no issue (Sat afternoon).

If I had to do it over again, I'd probably try Sacramento, but I have no experience with that airport.

Sacramento is very easy.

Or OAkland. Travel time is about teh same by car from Sacramento and OAkland...

Alaska Airlines now flies into Santa Rosa from LA and Seattle.

Oakland may be doable, but I am not sure it is easiest to get to Sonoma.

Sacramento is furthest away.

Santa Rosa and Sacramento, I think, would be more expensive.

I don't understand Brian's problem. We fly all the time out of SFO. Perhaps he is used to smaller airports. We often rent a car from our home (70 miles form SFO) and drop it off rather than pay parking fees, and then pick up a car to come home. Cheaper in the long run.

We have not run into a "slow" train to rental cars....well....it takes awhile because it is a large airport, after all, but not more than half an hour.

"Confusing maze of tunnels through parking garages to get to/from trains". He just didn't have the right directions.

If he had a logjam driving through the city then he did not take the right route. To get to Sonoma, go north on 101 a short way to 380, then take 280 north to go to the Golden Gate Bridge that way. You do drive through city streets (19th Avenue and Park Presidio), but they are four lanes with timed stop lights.

I am assuming that he took Hwy 101 through city streets.

I would make my choise betwee SFO and Oakland, depending upon the fare.

Good luck.

I left Sac airport at 10:30 and was in Sonoma one hour later. I was amazed at how fast I arrived. I was expecting it to take longer.

I agree, SMF is a small airport, easy to get a rental & on the road. Allow about an hour to Sonoma square.

SFO just doesn't seem to be well laid out. Perhaps it is the result of expanding on top of itself as it is has limited space. I probably wasn't fair about the train - at other large airports you usually have to take a shuttle to the rental cars and at SFO the train takes you to the rental car complex, so it's probably no longer time-wise.

However, I stand my my statements about having to transverse complicated and poorly signed paths through parking decks to get to/from the train. Lots of people were milling around trying to figure out where to go. Hint: following the markings on the ground. Clearly, for someone familiar with the airport, this is not an issue, but for a first timer, it is confusing. And the bottlenecks at the elevators cannot be avoided with out carrying luggage up/down stairs.

I did take the correct route through the city (19th St), and the lights are timed, but the volume of traffic still backed us up quite a while. I'd hate to see it during a weekday rush hour.

Just seems that SMF, while further, would be quicker and less stressful interstate driving. But I certainly wouldn't choose it if it cost significantly more.

we ended up flying into san francisco and enjoyed seeing the bridge but would probably fly into sacramento next time...you do lose time with the train, car rental and getting out of the airport...and going through the city...but it wasn't bad at all. we're used to ohare so san fran seemed less congested to us. thank you all for your help.

OMG, I hate the SF airport. The trek to the train to get to the rental car center is endless (and the bridge across is uphill!!! Ridiculous!!!). And then you have to drag your suitcase across that giant garage to find your car. My arm was dead by the time I got to my car.

yesterday drove Sacto to Napa --mid-day--one hour, Sonoma would have been another 20-30 min. One bad thing about highway 80 to Sacto-- weekdays 7 AM to 9AM going south and the reverse 4PM to 6PM can be one big traffic jam around Fairfield some times up to Davis. If you can avoid those times you will find it is easy in and easy out, I have not found fares much different than OAK.
Flights in & out of Santa Rosa sound great but think
times are limited & the extra cost sounds like it might be worth it to avoid hassels..
Good luck

Oakland & Sac-town are both closer to Napa. I'd still do SFO even though getting out of the terminal is a pain, it is fairly easy.

Bottom line is that it's a toss up. Probably best to find the best flight, including time and price - and solve your problem that way. SFO is a bit of a pain, but I do think you can prepare yourself ahead of time. Traffic is an issue in each case....much of the time.