I'll be in San Francisco with my husband for a conference in Feb '09 and want to take a few extra days in the Napa/Sonoma area. What's the easiest way to get there without a car? Friends of ours can pick us up at a bus or train station in that area once we arrive.

There is a ferry that can take you from SF to Vallejo, which is then about 20 - 30 min. drive into Napa Valley.

http://evanstransportation.com runs buses from both airports, SFO and OAK, to Napa and Vallejo.
It may sound counterintuitive to go down to SFO airport (take BART) to pick up that bus, but if you don't have a car it might still work well for you.
Oakland airport is not on the BART, it involves a bus from BART to the airport, seems silly to take that route to climb on a Napa/Vallejo bus, but you may want to look into that since it will be a lot closer to where you're going than the SFO airport.

Then again, you can take the BART to either Walnut Creek or Pleasant Hill and take the Vallejo Transit bus from there to the ferry terminal - see www.vallejotransit.com/news.html

Evans is good from SFO or OAK to Napa, Santa Rosa Airport Express http://www.airportexpressinc.com/
is good from SFO or OAK to all Sonoma County destinations along Hwy 101.
Sonoma Airporter is the ride between SFO and the town of Sonoma
TOWN of Sonoma
www.sonomaairporter.com
These all require you to hop BART out to SFO or OAK to catch these buses/shuttles.

Our preferred way to get from Sonoma County to The City is the ferry, as elnap suggests. If your friend lives in Sonoma County, you might ask if it's easier for them to pick you up at Larkspur Landing in Marin. This is the terminal we always use.The Vallejo ferry would be easier for Napa County. Let's see
if we can summon up LoveItaly as she uses the Vallejo Ferry to The
City...

R5

Hello Trigold, well Razzle alerted me to your question but quite frankly I really don't have anything to add as all our Fodorite's have given you a wealth of information.

Will you be going to the Sonoma Area or the Napa Area? When you decide if you need websites for the public transportation please post back and they will be supplied.

BTW, there is no train service but from the Vallejo Ferry there is bus service to the Napa area.

Luxury real estate and homes for sale in the Mill Valley, Sausalito, Belvedere, Marin, Tiburon, Sonoma, Napa and San Francisco Bay area.
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Brian
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I'm not quite sure why you wouldn't consider renting a car for the day. It would be more convenient and faster than any public transportation, and probably cheaper since there are two of you. You could see more and really enjoy the area. The other option is to hire a car and driver, but that's pricey.

Thanks, everyone, for your help. We ended up being able to use my Dad's car, which worked out really well. Had a great three-day visit and look forward to getting back there in the future.