Will be traveling from San Francisco to Yosemite late August. I understand it is about a 4-5 hour drive. We are giving strong consideration to flying in after work since the time difference is to our advantage and grabbing an inexpensive ($60-80 price range)for our first night that way we can get up early our first day and drive to Yosemite and hit the trails and not waste the day flying, picking up a car etc... Are we better off staying somewhere around the San Francisco airport or is there a good stopping place along the route? Any suggestions would be helpful.

traffic in sf can be bad. if it's rush hour, very very bad. so, I would encourage you to consider either--driving a few hours the night you arrive to get out of the high traffic area, or get up very early to miss the rush hour sf traffic. this assumes you are arriving when the next day is a work day.

I would highly recommend driving an hour or two that evening. You might run into traffic but it would be better than the next morning.

You might consider Dublin - Pleasanton (35 miles) or Livermore (45 miles) as an overnight stay. Both have many nice lodgings right off Interstate 580.

If you feel like driving more you could make it to Tracy (60 miles) or Manteca (75 miles) but I wouldn't go any farther than that. I don't know what Tracy and Manteca have in the way of lodgings.

Beware, if you fly in on Friday night...the traffic in the bay area is BAD during rush hours!!!!

Utahtea

Thank you for the replies. If we decide to do this we would be coming in Friday night (either 5:30 or 6:30 p.m.) Not having been through the SFO airport I don't know how quickly we can get out. Do you think by the time we pick up baggage & get a car, if we arrive at 5:30 p.m. would we still be the the throws of rush hour? It would be our preference to drive for a couple hours and stop off for the night.

The traffic in the entire Bay area on Friday evenings is REALLY bad. You'd be better off just chilling at/near the airport for a couple of hours before heading east. Or stay at an airport hotel and leave really early Saturday morning.

Friday night is the worst time. I would think if you could kill some time getting your luggage, rental car and maybe grabbing something to eat, you would still hit traffic but I think it would be worth it to get out of the area. IMHO.

Utahtea

Arriving at 5:30, once you get your luggage and your car, I'm thinking it will be closer to 6:30. By then you will probably be pretty hungry, esspecially if you are coming from the east, so I'd spend another hour having dinner. This will put you leaving SF about 7:30. There will still be traffic, but you will be past the crunch time.

Or you could fly into Oakland or Sacramento - depending on where you are starting from; either airport will place you closer to Yosemite.

If you can, fly into Oakland or *gasp* San Jose, it will save you some time, about 90 minutes I think.

Another time saving bit is to go the 205/120 route instead of going down to highway 140. I often get to Yosemite in about 3.5 - 4 hours taking this route.

If you didn't feel like driving all the way to Yosemite the first night, a really cute place to stay is the old mining town of Groveland. It's quite close to Yosemite about 45 minutes away, and up in the pines so it's cooler than it will be in the central valley. it certainly sets the tone for the area.

Alternatively, you COULD go down to 140 and stay the night at Mariposa, which is a larger, but still cute gold rush town. Then you get the much beloved Tunnel View on the way in. Since it's August, sunset will be quite late, around 7:30 or 8:00 and it will be HOT in the central valley. For that reason, I recommend these hill towns over Dublin/Pleasanton and Tracy/Manteca.

Plus you get an earlier start on everyone else who is going to do what you are, but are starting from the bay area.

Either San Jose or Oakland would be a better alternative to flying into San Francisco. If you fly into Oakland you can take 580/205/5/120. If you fly into San Jose you also have the option of taking 101/152/140. This route is quite scenic as you exit the tunnel and have a sweeping view of the Yosemite Valley.

I agree with Franklinn (surprise, Franklinn! Do you think someone will post saying I'm another screen name of yours?) that San Francisco is well down the list of airports that are most desirable for going to Yosemite, and that Oakland or even San Jose would be more desirable. In addition, because so many people going to the Bay Area don't think of using these two airports, it is usually easier to get bargain fares to them. I have found I could save about $100 round trip using Oakland rather than SFO on each of my last few trips to San Francisco. And if you go by the most direct route to Yosemite from SFO (it is correctly described above) you will virtually drive by Oakland airport.

Perhaps you have plans for after Yosemite which involve coming back to S.F., and that is why you have chosen SFO, but I would still consider Oakland, or San Jose if your other destination is the Monterey Peninsula or some other location closer to San Jose. You may find one of these airports about as convenient to your second destination, as well as more convenient to Yosemite, and offering a lower air fare.

I'm not familiar with whether or not you are likely to be able to get good fares to Sacramento or Fresno airports, but you could get to Yosemite much quicker from either of those than from any of the three Bay Area airports. Fresno is by far the closest airport to Yosemite which is served by major airlines.

Utahtea above has correctly identified the best places to look for a place to stay if you are driving to Yosemite and want to leave most of your drive for the next morning.

If you want to divide the drive about in half, take the route which poster BayArea above describes as "going down" (on Route 99) to Route 140, and look for a place to stay in the large town of Merced, where 140 exits toward Yosemite.

I agree with BayArea that Groveland on the more northern, highway 120 route is a great place to stop within easy striking distance of Yosemite, and the Groveland Hotel is a particularly charming place to stay and to dine.

But you should know that Groveland will probably take you at least four hours from SFO (I don't know where BayArea starts from), and just before it lies the infamous Old Priest Grade, a very arduous bit of driving with immumerable hairpin curves, not for the easily carsick. I have driven Old Priest after dark, and it's certainly safe if you drive at a reasonable speed and with care, but it wasn't one of my favorite things to do.

A correction is needed to BayArea's and Franklinn's posts in that the route 140 route to Yosemite, east from Merced through Mariposa, does not give you the famous Tunnel View on the way in. You only get that without taking a detour when you're coming from the south, from Fresno. I'm sure of this because I took 140 into the park last summer with a Yosemite virgin who I wanted to surprise with the Tunnel View.

But if you come in on 120 or 140, all you need to do, once you're inside the park, is follow the signs towards Fresno instead of into Yosemite Valley, and in just a few minutes you'll come upon the tunnel. For maximum effect, DON'T LOOK BACK when you see the tunnel, just proceed through it, turn around as soon as you can when you come out the other end, and drive back through again. Don't forget to turn your headlights off (if you can) as you emerge from the tunnel--remembering to do so will be competing with one of the world's most awesome and famous views.

A few comments on JohnCharles post. I haven't flown that much but when we have...the best rates for us were out of SF and not Oakland.

You don't have to drive Old Priest Grade if you don't want to...In fact if you want to drive Old Priest Grade you have to turn off Hwy 120. (The road is about 10 miles after Chinese Camp. There's a fish hatchery just before the turn for Old Priest Grade. If you stay on Hwy 120 it is only about 3 miles more and it takes just a little longer but it doesn't have the grade or the hairpin curves that Old Priest Grade has. We've done both routes many times.

I've never stayed in Groveland but it would be a long drive if you fly into SF.

Utahtea

You noticed that I recommended Oakland or Sacramento. Forgot about Fresno, which would be fine too.

Just don't fly into San Jose, at least for the next several months. It is a nightmare. Those of us who live in Silicon Valley wonder when the construction will EVER be finished. If you are trying to save time, flying into San Jose will not do it for you. Maybe in a few months' time

I don't live in the Bay Area but visit often. I usually switch back and forth between SFO and OAK because of the fares offered into each airport. Despite what many people would think, Southwest is NEVER the cheapest. I can almost always find lower fares on United, AmWest or Continental.

As for the San Jose airport construction, don't count on it ending soon because airports have a way of dragging out construction projects LONG after any other entity could have finished them!

Another SJ resident who can't wait for the airport construction to finish. I've seen the plans and it looks like it will be nice when it's done, but for now it's a mess.

Thank you to everyone. As always you all can be counted on for good input. It is not essential we fly into SF. We only picked this as most of the Yosemite literature talks about flying into SF or Fresno. Cannot get direct flight to Fresno so we have ruled that out. We are going to spend several days in SF but on the end of our trip. Due to the posts I have checked flying into Oakland, San Jose and Sacramento and out of SF and the fare and flight choices are pretty much the same. Based on the posts it seems due to construction that we should rule San Jose out. It seems that Sacramento may be a better choice than Oakland and definately SF. We would still be arriving around 5:30 p.m. Any other thoughts/comments?

Thank you for the correction on the Tunnel View. I only use the 580/205/120 route because I come from Oaklandish. However... Did you know there is a good tunnel view coming in from 120? It opens up onto the fist possible view of Bridalveil Falls, Wonderful!

Chitowngirl, since you are going to be in SF at the end of your trip, I can't recommend that you use Sacramento's airport. It's too far out of your way, and effectively nullifies any time savings you might have enjoyed on your way in.

Also, you don't have to take Old Priest Grade on highway 120 unless you want to. I intentionally take it, because I am an experienced mountain driver, and I have little to no patience for being stuck behind campers, boats and other slow moving vehicles, none of which have any business on this extremely tricky piece of road. But, as Utahtea says, the regular route "new priest grade" if you will is much easier and less stressful if you're not used to mountain driving.

There is an In n Out Burger in Tracy. Many people who eschew fast food will eat at this California chain because of the high quality. There is one right on the highway at the Central Tracy exit.

BayArea, We are just looking to change the airport we come into, we would still fly back home from SF. That being the case do you still recommend we eliminate Sacramento?

That's a tough question that I don't have an answer for.

Certainly Friday afternoon traffic out of the greater bay area sucks. it really does not thin out until you get to Tracy.

That said, I can't tell you what traffic out of Sacramento is like. I know that along I-80 it's equally horrific, due to smaller highway capacity (2-3 lanes per direction as oppsed to 4-5). Unfortunately, I can't tell you what it will be like getting across Sacramento (airport is on the very N. End of town).

Maybe some nice person from Sacramento can advise.

Sacramento and Oakland are roughly equidistant to Manteca, which is where highway 120 begins. I'd weigh your arrival times, air fares, and car rental fees, making sure that the agency knows you mean to pick up at one location and drop off at another. Sometimes there are additional charges for that.

Sorry I can't be of any greater help.

Landing at 5:30 at SMF will be fine. The rush hour is bad here in Sacramento, but not nearly as bad as the Bay area. And the rush hour traffic is of a much shorter duration - as long as you are not going east/west on I-80 from SF to Tahoe on a friday p.m. (BTW - 80 is not 2 lanes anywhere except for some stretches in the high Sierra).

But you would not be on I-80 going from SMF to Yosemite. By the time you get your luggage and take the rental shuttle/pick up the car it will be probably about 6:30 and the worst of the traffic will be well cleared.

You should take I-5 south from SMF and either switch over to hwy 99 at Stockton and south to Manteca, or stay on I-5 to the Manteca cutoff. From Manteca, hwy 120 to Yosemite.