Getting there & away
The quickest and most convenient connection between San Jose and San Francisco is with CalTrain, a commuter rail service that operates daily up and down the Peninsula.
Land
Bus & bart
Greyhound buses to San Francisco ($6, 90 minutes) and to Los Angeles ($39 to $58, seven to nine hours) leave from the Greyhound station (408-295-4151; 70 Almaden Ave).
To access the BART system in the East Bay, bus 180, operated by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Agency (VTA; 408-321-2300, 800-894-9908), runs daily between the Fremont BART station and downtown ($3.50).
Car & motorcycle
San Jose is right at the bottom end of the San Francisco Bay, about 40 miles from Oakland (via I-880) or San Francisco (via Hwy 101 or I-280). Expect lots of traffic at all times of day on Hwy 101. Although I-280 is slightly longer, it’s much prettier and usually less congested. On the East Bay side, I-880 - another ugly, hugely congested highway - runs between Oakland and San Jose. Hwy 17 leads over the hill to Santa Cruz.
Train
Between San Jose and San Francisco, CalTrain (800-660-4287) makes over three dozen trips daily (fewer on weekends); the 90-minute journey costs $6.50 each way. San Jose’s main CalTrain station (65 Cahill St) is just south of the Alameda.
The Cahill St CalTrain station doubles as the Amtrak (800-872-7245) station, serving Seattle, Los Angeles and Sacramento.
VTA runs a weekday shuttle from the station to downtown (known as the Downtown Area Shuttle or DASH; Rte 804).
Air
Two miles north of downtown, between Hwy 101 and I-880, is the San Jose International Airport (408-277-4759). The airport has grown busier as the South Bay gets more crowded, with numerous domestic flights at two terminals and a new Interim International Arrivals Facility. Expansion is in the works.
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