Which airport SFO or Oak for a weekend in Sonoma
 

Have a wedding to attend in early April in Sonoma county. We will be flying up from San Diego. It's been about 15 years since I last made this trip and that time we flew into Oakland and it was very easy. The bride's mother has been telling me that SFO is better to fly into but I'm having a hard time deciding if that is true. Any advice would be great.

The drive from SFO to Sonoma is more scenic.

Stu Dudley

Either will have consideration for rush hour traffic...I persoanlly fly up from San Diego & into OAkland. Far less of a zoo for rental cars (both are off airport now), getting into/out of airport....

With Oakland you will have a traffic jam no matter what time of day as you go by the freeway exit into San Francisco, but after that as long as you avoid major commute times, it will be easy.

I have a recent trip report posted under my name 1JAR

thanks for the replies, i was thinking of landing at noon on friday. would this beat the rush hour?

Probably - as long as you leave the airport complex by 2:30 to beat the "getaway day" commute.

Stu Dudley

We recently went to Napa and looked at flying into SFO, Oakland or Sacramento. The driving times from the various airports to our Yountville lodge were within 10 minutes of each other on Mapquest. Price for the flight was similar at each airport but the rental cars were much cheaper at Sacramento, so that's what we chose.

I realize Sonoma would be a bit further from Sacramento though, but it's worth comparing rental car prices to see if the extra time is worth it.

Oakland.

We just rented a car from SFO to visit Sonoma County and it was a royal pain in the ***, especially returning the car. Plus, they have a ridiculous fee/tax of 20.00 that pays for their air train just to reach the car rental center. The taxes were more than the car rate. HA! High taxes and inconvenience = No thanks!

We left SFO, stopping in Oakland and that detour felt MUCH shorter than the drive from Healdsburg straight to SFO.

Actually -- the best airport is probably Sacramento. An easier drive and a much easier airport to navigate.

I have rented cars at SFO, Sacramento airport and downtown Sacramento. It is probably too much of a hassle to ride the YOLO bus from the SMF airport in to Sacramento to save the airport fee. In fact I have ridden the bus out to SMF to rent a car when the downtown locations were not open. I usually arrive in Sacramento on Amtrak.
The advantage I see with the Sacramento airport is that it is right along I-5 and you don't have to go into downtown to get onto I-80 west. The 1 car I rented at SFO had terrible wipers which I didn't realize until I was in the city in the dark.
If you know where you are going, don't pay extra for a GPS.

>>We left SFO, stopping in Oakland and that detour felt MUCH shorter <<

And how was the scenery along the way???

Stu Dudley

Well first I need to make a correction- it was a stop in Berkeley not Oakland. :)

YES Stu- the drive was very scenic and VERY GREEN. On the other hand, with only 3 nights- time is scarce, so the quicker I get to my 'destination' the better off. We enjoyed the scenery when the driver took us to wineries a lot more. :)

I will say and I know you will find much DELIGHT in it- we've had a lot of rain in SoCal this year but things sure looked brown when we were driving home from the airport after being up there. LOL

the wedding is Saturday afternoon, do you think there is too much risk in flying up saturday morning? seems like there would be a lot less traffic early saturday morning than a friday afternoon.

If you're going to do that, fly into Oakland - there are far fewer flight delays than at SFO.

Thanks everyone, Oakland it is

>>YES Stu- the drive was very scenic and VERY GREEN<<

On 880/80 from the Oakland airport through Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, & Vallejo?? I drove the Bay Bridge to Oakland airport section everyday to work for quite a few years - and never thought it was very scenic or green.

According to Mapquest, it take 8 mins longer to get to the town of Sonoma from SFO, than from OAK.

Stu Dudley

***On 880/80 from the Oakland airport through Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, & Vallejo?? I drove the Bay Bridge to Oakland airport section everyday to work for quite a few years - and never thought it was very scenic or green.***

No- I was referring and agreeing to YOUR first comment- straight to Healdsburg up 101 is more scenic.

***According to Mapquest, it take 8 mins longer to get to the town of Sonoma from SFO, than from OAK.***

Oh and there was bumper to bumper traffic getting out of San Francisco on a Saturday! I can sit in traffic at home.

And I forgot to mention we had to sit on the tarmac for quite some time before we could depart SFO.

But take the strongly opinionated Stu's advice. :)

Oakland, by all means. And easier to get in and our of two.