Have to be at SFO at around 5:00 for international flight.
Consider 80 to SF than 101 or perhaps 5 south to 205 to 580
to 880 than 92. As an alternate perhaps 80 to 680 to 580 to 880 and 92? I am no longer sure where the worst rush hour traffic is in the bay area.

There is no good route. And whichever one IS best, could be a disaster on the day due to wrecks, construction, whatever.

Your best bet is to drive down to SF earlier in the day - take your time and have lunch in the Berkeley Marina or in SF and then head to SFO from there.

Hi mjs, you will be driving apparently. Will you be parking your own vehicle at SFO or turning in a rental car? What day of the week?

In either case you will need to be at SFO way before 5:00pm if you need to check in by 5:00pm.

Sooo, you should allow IMO and experience two hours to get from Sacramento to SFO. No it doesn't always take that but if there is traffic congestion due to an accident (not uncommon) you don't want to be worrying about missing your flight.

We take I-80 and then I-101 south. To me that seems the easiest, guess because that is what we have always done. BTW, I agree with janisj, unless there is some reason you cannot I too would leave earlier as she suggests. I would say that you won't be driving during the commute hour (say you leave Sacramento at 2:30pm to allow 2 hours to get to SFO and 30 minutes to park or return your car). Personally I wouldn't leave any later than 2:30pm. Safe travels.

We rent a car and drop it off at SFO as parking at SFO is expensive for more than a week or so. Have done the hotel bit overnight for free parking in the past for short trips to Hawaii etc when we left SFO early in the morning but have just come to the airport the day of departure for our flights to Asia and Europe.
Flight to LR actually leaves at 1935 but I would like to get to the airport about 2 1/2 hours pre flight to give myself some reserve time for dropping the car off etc.
Flying out tomorrow and still adding finishing touches to our trip like theatre reservations and meal reservations in London as well as transfer confirmation details in Eastern Europe. Also have to finish packing tonight. I usually drive into SF via 80 and listen to the radio and if the Bay Bridge sounds bad detour via 37 to the Golden Gate.
I was just wondering if avoiding 101 south of the city might not be a bad idea by using 92. Planned on leaving at 2pm. Thanks for your thoughts.

You'd be glad that you allowed for at least 3 hour driving time. 2 hours is not enough. First of all, even on weekends, that stretch of 80 along the Vacaville/Fairfield/Suisun City area is bumper-to-bumper. Needless to say, the Richmond/Berkeley/Emeryville stretch will always be congested.

More possible congestion, you ask? The toll booths at the Bay Bridge to 280/101 for another additional 20 minutes , at least.

I should make that flying to LHR, or London. Seems that my usual I80 route will be the best choice unless someone thinks the Golden Gate and 280 is a viable choice with the Bay Bridge backups becoming more and more common.

In terms of travel distance, the 37 to 101 to 280 to SFO is longer than the Est Bay to Bay Bridge to SFO route. Normally, and coming from our house in Marin, we'd take the GG Bridge to 19th Street/Rt 1 over the Van Ness/101.

There is may be a slight backup approaching the GG Bridge from Sausalito - anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes during rush hour. Mos likely, at the low end during mid-afternoon.

The 19th Street/Rt 1 to get to 280 is usually stop and go due to traffic lights. This is normal , but it still flows.

It's a good alternative but will not be any faster than the East Bay route, imho.

It might be a few miles longer, but I'd take 5S/205W/580W/238N/880S/92W (San Mateo Bridge)/101N (man, that's a lot of freeways!) to SFO. You will, generally, be going against the commute traffic and nowdays the San Mateo Bridge is an easier crossing than the Bay Bridge because of all the retrofit stuff going on in SF. Almost weekly now they re-align the skyway and change on/off ramps which confuses/slows traffic. I get confused and I drive it all the time. This can slow traffic clear across the bridge to a crawl even without an accident. Since they doubled the capacity of the San Mateo Br a few years ago it isn't nearly the headache it once was. Traffic may bog down a bit on 238 and 880 but should sail along once on 92W. It could also be slow in 101N when you transition from 92 but you won't have far to go after that until you're at the airport. To return the car take the San Bruno Av exit, go east (right), right again at the light (McDonnell Rd) and the rental car center is on the left at the first light. Have a fun trip.

Thank you all for your kind advice. I think I might try the southern route with I5 due to my Bay Bridge concerns although I always go I80.