Kathy_Mike

I hope someone can help. I want to visit California without renting a car. The cities I want to visit are Fort Bragg which is on the coast north of San Francisco, San Francisco, Hemet, and San Diego. Is it possible to fly into San Francisco and get a train or bus to Fort Bragg. Also do trains go to or anywhere close to Hemet? My plan is to fly into San Francisco and spend a few days there, the to to Fort Bragg to see relatives, then to Hemet to see more relatives, then off to San Diego for a few days. If anyone can help with answering my transportation quesstions it would be greatly appreciated.

120aks

You can most likely take a bus from San Francisco to Ft. Bragg and then back to Oakland to catch Amtrak south to San Diego and then take a bus to Hemet and back. However, this process would be very time consuming , inconvenient and most likely more expensive than renting a car. Also, if you did rent a car you could incorporate the amazing highway 1 drive down the coast from San Francisco to L.A. I suggest you rent a car.

Placename

Why don't you ask your relatives to find transportation for you.

Fort Bragg and Hemet are not easy places to get to by public transportation.

Dayenu

Amtrak goes to Willits - don't know if there are local buses to Ft Bragg. Same with Greyhound bus. Maybe your relatives can pick you up in Willits?

As for Hemet... I had to look it up, never heard of it! Maybe you can fly from SF to a nearby airport where your relatives can pick you up, like Palm Springs or Riverside? Or search Amtrak website, if you take the train from San Francisco to Bakersfield, there is a connecting bus to Palm Springs with stops on the way, maybe this will be more convenient for your relatives to pick you up?

From SF to San Diego it's doable, but I would look into a flight, check Southwest. How to get from Hemet to San Diego, I have no idea!

Dayenu

HA! I found a connection between Willits and Fort Bragg - SKUNK TRAIN

Seriously, look here, it goes through redwoods:

http://www.skunktrain.com/

Barbara

IS there a reason why you can't rent a car, (eg, can't drive or something), or is it that you prefer not to drive? Because without a car, it's going to take a very long time to get to all these places, especially Hemet. I know a few people who live in Hemet and work in San Diego, but they all drive.

paula1470

My friend is a principal in Hemet and she drives everyday from Fallbrook which is about a 45 minute drive. Fallbrook to San Diego is about another 50 minutes. So you're talking about an hour and half drive. Even if there was a bus that went to Hemet from San Diego, I would imagine it would take hours.

Also wondering why you can't rent a car? It would definitely be the most convenient way to get all the places you mentioned.

Kathy_Mike

Hi Everybody,
Thanks for all your suggestions. It's not that I can't rent a car, but I prefer not to. We live in a small city in the midwest, and don't like driving here. So I cannot imagine how much we will hate driving in CA. When we go on vacation we always go to big cities that have subways, great bus systems, or taxi cabs for shorter distances and that always worked out for us, but it doesn't sound like that will be the case in CA. Thanks Dayenu for the information about Skunk Train. Maybe we will just have to rent a car to get to Hemet and we could use amtrak and Skunk Train for Northern CA. If anyone has any other ideas please let me know.

sf7307

>>

Well, Ft. Bragg and Hemet certainly aren't that Hemet is fairly large town that's a suburb of nowhere (about 40 miles from Riverside and from Palm Springs), and Ft. Bragg isn't even a suburb, it's just a small town (population 7,000) in the middle of nowhere.

janisj

Using the Skunk train for transport is really not practical -- it is an excursion train (not totally sure if they'd allow luggage). Plus - when is the trip? The Skunk doesn't serve Willits year round and when it does, not every day of the week and only leaves Willits once a day early in the AM.

"I prefer not to. We live in a small city in the midwest, and don't like driving here. So I cannot imagine how much we will hate driving in CA. When we go on vacation we always go to big cities that have subways, great bus systems, or taxi cabs for shorter distances and that always worked out for us,"

All well and good -- when I go to London or NYC or Seattle or Paris I don't drive either. BUT when you choose to take a trip to places that don't have public transport -- then you either need to rent a car -- or change your plans. Ft Bragg is a small town on the fairly remote N Coast - not a big city w/ subways.

That is about it. Ft Bragg to SF to San Diego is more than 700 miles -- without the Hemet detour.

If you want to drive only a little, you could fly into SF and drive up to Ft Bragg and back, then fly to San Diego, drive to Hemet and fly home from Ontario.

Just because you really want to do something a certain way doesn't make it doable/practical/possible.

If you want a big cities w/ public transport stick to SF and SD and fly between the two. When you add Ft Bragg and Hemet -- ya gotta get a car.

LSky

Well this is a tough question. Google is your friend on the San Francisco to Fort Bragg route. I found an unusual website that may help you. websitehttp://www.rawfoodchef.com/aboutUs/transportation.html

For san diego to hemet it looks like you can take a greyhound bus to Temecula or Banning. From there I'd google the city bus websites for both cities. Banning is a little north of Temecula (about 15-20 miles) Temecula is a south. But Banning has more older people who might need a bus so find out about the city buses from those cities.

Good luck. Public transpo in CA needs improvement.
Let us know how it turns out.

onemoneygirl

I dont think you will find anyone who lives in California who will endorse you plan of public transportation for these locations and for the distances you are contemplating. The only city you've mentioned where you could be carless easily would be San Francisco. San Diego has a nice freeway system and the other towns are fairly small, you should be fine. Perhaps fly from SF to SD if you do not wish to drive through? God luck!

janisj

"stick to SF and SD and fly between the two."

When I posted that -- I meant to add: But flying that leg means missing all the amazing scenery in between. Like Carmel, Big Sur, San Simeon, Santa Barbara - you name it.

Another option - drive SF > Ft Bragg >SF, fly from SFO (or Oakland) to Ontario, drive to Hemet and then on to San Diego. Fly home from there

easytraveler

When people think about big states, they think Alaska or Texas. California is a big state too.

Just for comparison: California's coastline is 840 miles long, Texas's coastline is 380 miles long.

You're planning on visiting California along almost its entire coastline - without a car. It's simply not practical. Please take the excellent suggestions and rent a car - for at least part of your trip.

onemoneygirl

janisj, kathymike never said anything about wanting to SEE the coast of Ca! lol

easytraveler, hello! Hope you are having a wonderful summer and coming to taste wines here this fall...

Barbara

I think janis's suggestion of drive SF-Ft Bragg-SF, fly to Ontario, drive to Hemet then on to San Diego, fly home from SD, is the best so far.

janisj

"kathymike never said anything about wanting to SEE the coast of Ca!"

I do realize that. I was just suggesting that IF they rented a car they could consider seeing a bit of the coast. One who thinks it is possible to take public transport from Ft Bragg to Hemet and points in between likely doesn't know too much about California and how big it is, and might not know what else is in the area. Just giving them more info, that's all.

Gus_and_Riley

I live in Fort Bragg and it is possible to get here without a car. We have a regional bus system called Mendocino Transit Authority (MTA)and their web site does a good job of explaining connections to other public transportation options. http://www.4mta.org/connecting_services.php

LSky

If someone doesn't want to drive, then I'm all for it.
There are already too many people on the freeways, many of whom do not want to drive, and are too scared of our freeways to be good drivers.

I'm sure anyone wanting to take public transportation understands that it will take a while longer. There are obviously ways to do this.
What's frustrating about this plan, is there is not a cohesive way to use the major public transportation websites to map it out.

Kathy_Mike, the best way I found to help you was to find the largest (little city) next to where you want to go. What you need to figure out the Hemet puzzle is the http://www.riversidetransit.com/bus_info/schedules.htm

easytraveler

The other factor is time. Public transportation takes a whole lot more time and until California develops the kind of bounty of public transportation that Europe has, it's really a waste of time.

I'm all for saving the environment and belong to several green groups, but some things just aren't practical in today's world.

But every one has to find his/her comfort zone and if the OP wants to spend half/most of the vacation time on public transportation instead of enjoying the local sights, so be it.

Hi, onemoneygirl: good to see you here! Every year I plan on taking you up on your wonderful invitation and every year something else interferes - maybe this is the year! Let's keep our fingers crossed! Hope things are going smoothly for you too!