San Francisco to Monterey Bay Time?
 

How long is the drive from San Francisco (we are staying at hotel by the airport) to Monterey Bay? Map quest is telling me 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours. It will be a Monday when we are making the drive. We are booking a whale watching tour and I'm trying to decide what time, but I need to know how long it will take us to get there. Thanks!

I should also add that we will be leaving early in the morning, but we are trying to decide what time to leave.

In non commute, non weekend traffic, I can make it from SFO to Carmel, which is a little south of Monterey, in less than 1 hour and 45 mins. (Best time yet has been 90 mins.) However, I know the route, I am not looking at the scenery, I am not looking at signs for my destination and I have a lead foot! For someone who is driving down for the first time and will need to find parking when you get there, allow at least 2 hours in non commute traffic.

BTW to me the fastest route would be 101 S to 85 (which will bypass downtown San Jose traffic) and reconnecting with 101, then 156 to 1.

Is the main commute traffic going to be in san francisco and san jose? If so what time do we need to leave the hotel to miss the commute traffic? Thanks!

2 hours sounds about right. But if time isn't an issue going over to Half Moon Bay then down to Santa Cruz is another option. Adds maybe 30-45 minutes to the Monterey drive. Santa Cruz is a nice stop and you get a bit of coastline along the way. Not as spectacular as the drive through Big Sur but nicer than 101 IMO.

I concur with SAB, when I lived in Monterey I could do that drive in 90 minutes, no traffic and left lane all the way :-) If you leave your hotel at 9, you should be able to make it in 1 hour 45 minutes pretty easily.

We are looking at booking a whale tour that we need to be there by 8:30am. If we left the hotel at 6am, would that give us enough time?

Oof, no, I don't think so, you'll hit every bit of rush hour traffic there is at that hour, including the mother of them all around San Jose.

What time would you recommend leaving then?

There is a 7:30 am whale tour, too. So if we left our hotel by 5:00am (to avoid traffic) should we plan on the 7:30 tour or the 8:30 tour?

Do an afternoon tour.

The afternoon tours are only 3 hours. The morning ones are 4 hours.

Depending on what time of year you are doing this, you will want to do an afternoon tour even if it is one hour shorter. Why? Because in late May, June, July and August we have this lovely thing in Northern California called the marine layer which typically causes fog in the mornings , especially over the water. Not every morning of course, but enough that it can ruin any plans for a morning tour. Nothing like getting up early, driving like a bat out of you know where for an early morning tour and not being able to see a thing!! Of course you could get lucky and there is no fog, one can never tell.

Well I completely missed the whale watching part of the post. Driving up Highway 1 on your return could also be a possibility if you still decide on the morning tour.

You do <B>NOT</B> want to pre-book a morning whale watching cruise -- trust us. You will very likely see next to nothing.

Take the afternoon trip . . . even at 60 minutes shorter, you will see more.

That solves your traffic/drive time problems. Leave mid morning, have lunch on the bay and then take the boat.

You can very quickly get an idea if it's going to be foggy.

It's called the next day's weather forecast.

>>It's called the next day's weather forecast.<<

That will likely be too late to book a boat trip, no matter what the weather forecast says.

That's great information. I wouldn't have thought about fog. We definitely want to book it in advance. Two of the time spots are already filled out. Thanks everyone!

I live next to SFO, and 101 south can be very "stop & go" until around 10:30. Sometimes it's bad - and sometimes it is not. My dentist is in San Carlos, and I always make an appt for after 10:30 to avoid the traffic.

Actually, I would take a different and much more scenic route that usually has less traffic than the ugly 101. Depart the airport heading north towards San Francisco on 101, and shortly take 380 west (the only direction it goes), and then shortly take 280 south which eventually meets 85 and then 101. Only 10 mins or so longer than 101 - if that much.

Stu Dudley

Stu--280 to 85 to 101 is my preferred route also. However I find that for visitors it's much easier just to direct them down 101 from SFO to 85 rather than backtracking to 380 and then 280. I have had a couple of lost visitors doing that!!