California tourist questions
 

1. Is there easy public transportation from Oakland International Airport to S.F.?

2. Is parking a problem in S.F. on Sundays?

3. Does it make sense to stay in wine country the night before a Tuesday 12 noon flight from Oakland International Airport?

4. When driving the Big Sur coast from Monterey , is it to far to try to make it all the way to L.A. in one day? What about if I leave Monterey at 1 p.m.? What about Santa Barbara? I will be stopping to view the scenery but won't stop for Hearst Castle?

5. When looking for a hotel in L.A. , using Priceline, what areas should I avoid?

Hi, to answer a couple of your questionns.

1. Yes, from Oakland Airport take the BART Shuttle to BART. Take BART into SF.
2. Yes probably. Parking is always a problem in SF. But have no idea where you are going etc. I have always paid the high fee to park in a garage vs driving around forever as I never have had any luck with street parking.
3. Yes, if you have a rental car and get up real early and get going. And depending what time you have to be at the airport. Traffic is bad in the Bay Area so don't wait to leave until the last moment. Allow yourself plenty of times (accidents that can cause delays etc.)

Your last two questions I will leave for others as I refuse to drive to LA and I never stay in LA.

Welcome to California and do have a fun trip.

I agree with LoveItaly and would emphasize that your drive from Napa (presumably) to the Oakland Airport takes you straight through the approach to the Bay Bridge into SF, and probably during rush hour. Leave yourself some extra time, unless you enjoy the thrill of worrying about missing your plane.

4. You can do the drive easily, but it really depends on how much time you want to spend in Santa Barbara and to some degree on what time you hit LA. Depending on where you are staying in LA, you might want to make a point of avoiding rush hour.

Somebody else will have to pick up on #5. Have a good trip!

Los Angeles is huge. You need to have a definate idea of where you want to be sleeping. For instance... if you are flying out of LAX at 6:00 AM, you would want to do your sightseeing and probably stay near the airport.... not an hour away. If you are visiting Disneyland, then you want to be in Anaheim and if you are doing Citywalk you want to be in Pasadena. WIll you have a rental car? Please give more information and people who are very knowlegeable will help you.

I concur that LA is huge and you have to choose your area carefully, especially if you only have a short time. I personally would never stay in Anaheim unless my ONLY item to do in southern California was to visit the Disney parks. The LAX area is pretty unpleasant for long-term stays simply because there's nothing to do in the immediate area.

If you want to be more or less central to the touristy things, your best places to stay are Beverly Hills/West Hollywood and Santa Monica (and possibly Marina del Rey), since there are nice things in those areas. Venice Beach itself is dodgy in areas, and not well-served by hotels, so I wouldn't try for places there. If you want to stay in Orange County, look for coastal places like Huntington Beach, Newport Beach and Laguna Beach. Costa Mesa is well inland and served by all the mid- to high-end chains.

For #4 - It's about 2 1/2 hours from Monterey to San Luis Obispo and then probably another 3 1/2 hours to LA - depending on where in LA you are headed. Santa Barbara is only a couple hours from San Lius Obispo. These times don't include stops.

We drive into SF on almost every Sunday - and we have been doing so for many many years. I've never had to park in a parking garage - always on the street (except in the Union Square area). I sometimes have to walk several blocks to get to the center of Union Street (for example), but that's part of the fun for me & my wife. The two hr "sticker" parking is not in effect on Sundays, and you can also park in the yellow "truck only" parking (except at the Wharf, I think). Parking is easier west of Van Ness than east of it.

Stu Dudley

Stroll the quaint village of Cambria, even if you don't go to Hearst Castle. It's a delightful little place. Have tea at the Tea Cozy, buy some ollalieberry goodies at Linn's Fruit Bin, wine taste at Fermentation, browse through Seekers (the glass shop) and have dinner at the Sow's Ear Cafe. :)

And yes to Santa Barbara, it's a beautiful place! ***kim*** ((#))

loveitlay, do you mind telling us why you REFUSE to stay in LA!

In LA I would stay in a central location like Beverley Hills. But Santa Monica is also very nice, and it's not that far either, 15/20 mins away from Beveley Hills or Hollywood.
Pasadena is a nice area to visit but it located at the far north east end of the city! you would need 45 mins to get to Santa Monica from there!
avoid neighborhoods in southeast LA, and downtown. and if your Asian(you're probably not), as a visitor avoid staying in Japan/China town, they are so dangerous at night.