Driving from San Fran to Seattle
 

Hi, I have been reading all the post about one way drop off fees with the car hire we are flying into San Francisco early next year & wanting to drive the coast/Columbia river north to Seattle.
Is there any other way to achieve this we have 8 days + 2 in Seattle once there but are governed by our arrival in San Fran, if we have to pay the one way fee so be it, however open to any other suggestions that are out there. I have been watching Gardyloo's post (thank you) very helpful as we are travelling from Australia & do not know this area at all, we have had a few days in San Francisco in the past so no need to spend time here. It is just my husband & I travelling & we are in our early 60's.
Very interested in going via Bandon, Troutdale via the Columbia George as mentioned in an older post.
We have plenty of time up our sleeves to get this right.
Thank you

>>flying into San Francisco early next year<<

Do you mean Jan/Feb time frame??? If so, your summer is our winter and is the very wettest/stormiest time along the coast. Not a great time to plan a road trip in advance. One might luck out and have fine weather -- but winter storms are VERY possible/more likely.

I live in northern California and sometimes go to the coast in the winter -- but I can make last minute plans/changes or cancel the trip and go another time. You won't have that option. So I'd rethink what you want out of this trip . . .

The flight from Australia to SFO is far from the only flight across the Pacific. Consider flying to Hawaii and then to PDX or SEA.

Thank you janisj & tomfuller, we are flying out on April 29 th.
Flights are already booked & we are travelling via Hong Kong with Qantas, so this holiday we will be away for all of May, as we travel to Victoria & Vancouver after Seattle.
Appreciate your comments, hoping this will change things for your advise

Oh -- heck, May is not 'early' in the year :) it is nearly summer

Late Spring is wonderful along the coast

Meant to add -- just dashing out for dinner but will post more later . . .

Been all up and down the Oregon coast a ton of times. Let me know if you are wanting ideas of places to go? Or are you just wanting to know if you can make it in eight days ( yes, shouldn't be a problem).

I might re word my question regarding our trip early next May from San Francisco to Seattle, would it be a better option to fly from SF to Seattle, hire a car travel down to Portland turn in land along the Columbus river & return to Seattle that way to avoid the one way car hire fee or would we miss too much by cutting out the drive from San Fran
Thanks Lee

I think it would be huge mistake to miss the Oregon coast! It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!

Especially the southern Oregon coast!!

I think you are making a lot of assumptions and planning your trip around a car rental fee issue that may not exist. So first, you should check the various car rental options to see if this is true or not and what the price difference is (SFO RT vs. SEA RT vs. SFO-SEA). Not to mention, renting at SEA may cost a whole lot more than from SFO to begin with. Now I suppose you can't check this far in advance, but you can check some dates.

I just checked and didn't find that to be true for the week of 8/14 , for example. IN fact, RT SEA rental was more expensive than RT SFO and more expensive than renting at SFO and returning at SEA.

8/14-8/21 cheapest car
Hertz $958 SFO-SEA, $527 SFO RT, $1062 SEA RT
Avis $716 SFO-SEA, $546 SFO RT, $770 SEA RT
Enterprise $951 SFO-SEA, $451 SFO RT, $715 SEA RT

So this example shows that you should do what you want to do, not plan your entire trip around this car rental fee issue which is obviously not true for all companies. Maybe it is true at some companies and/or at some time, but it clearly is not a general fact that is always true. OUt of 4 companies above, the most expensive rental was what you are thinking of changing your trip to, start and return to SEA, except for Enterprise, but for them, it was still a lot more expensive than SFO and wouldn't be the best choice anyway, another company would.

Why does anyone book a flight 9+ months in advance (non refundable)?
If you must fly to SFO, consider taking the train to Eugene or Portland and rent a car in Oregon.
The Amtrak Coast Starlight leaves Emerville CA after 10PM every night.

Just have to reply to tomfuller, we book because we use our frequent flyer & are flying Business class, please do not be so judgmental!!

Christina, thank you for your input however I think you are checking from the Statessites, back here in Australia it will always direct you to the Auz sites, I have checked many companies with various dates & there is a $330.00 + taxes (Aust) one way drop off fee coming out of the States.
Never mind, I am doing this so far in advance so I can get this trip done correctly.
Long way for us to go & not have the trip we are hoping for.
Palmtree2384, we are definitely going to do the Oregon coast,
I think we know what we will do now, thank you for the useful information from most of you

Car and hotel prices in Seattle start ramping up after May 15, which is when the Alaska cruise season starts, more or less. Prior to that prices are far more reasonable.

Flights from SFO to either Seattle or Portland are around $100 per person, or if you're traveling on points, you might still be able to book your flights as return/round trips rather than as an open-jaw, possibly without a change fee - worth checking.

With 8 road days it's certainly possible to do a driving loop round trip from Seattle or Portland, one that includes the redwoods and the Oregon coast, like this: https://goo.gl/maps/odTjF4PLr752

1 Seattle - Astoria
2 Astoria - Bandon
3 Bandon - Eureka
4 Day in redwoods
5 Eureka - Grants Pass
6 Grants Pass - Portland
7 Portland - Hood River
8 Hood River - Seattle

If you ended up staying with the one-way car hire, then a similar schedule is possible -

1 San Francisco - Eureka
2 Day in redwoods
4 Eureka - Bandon
5 Bandon - Astoria
6 Astoria - Hood River via Portland
7 Day in Hood River area
8 Hood River - Seattle

You could also do either the loop out of Portland or terminate the road trip in Portland and take the train to Seattle - inexpensive and several per day.

Thank you Gardyloo, you have been very helpful, we can purchase a flight no problems, we just use the points for the long haul. If we do fly up then we can stretch the 8 days out to a bit more.
We will be well out of Seattle by the 15th May, thank you so much

Hi Leebri, have you looked at driveaway.com.au?
I am sussing out a similar route to you and they quote prices including one way fee (if applicable) from various suppliers. It doesn't appear to be $330?
Not sure if this will help. ��