Expert: Ernest Tufft - 7/22/2008

Question
Hello Ernest
My boyrfiend and I are planning to come over in September and want to see San Francisco, Yosemite and Carmel in the two weeks we have. With time being a premium I thought taking the train would be practical and also we'd see some of the scenery
I can find a train connection from San Francisco to Yosemite but not from Yosemite to Carmel? would we have to get a bus from there?
Another question and it may sound silly but when we get to Yosemite is there transport to/from the hotels in Yosemite to the station.
If there's any websites you can direct me to for maps that woudl be great
Many thanks for your help
Laurey


Answer
Thanks for the interesting question Laurey,

At one time, California had trains going everywhere, and everybody rode them.  It was once easy to catch a train in San Francisco and take it to Monterey, for example, and while there was no train to Yosemite that I know of, there certainly was to Merced, the gateway city to Yosemite.  Unfortunately, the passenger train service doesn't exist anymore except for a few Amtrak lines, and the high speed metro service known as BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit.

Given your limited time, I recommend renting a car for the trips to Yosemite and Monterey/Carmel.  I don't recommend using the rental car within the city of San Francisco though, so do a little research on rental car companies and find one close the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station, which is the last station and on the way to Yosemite.

Alternatively, there are special excursion buses that go from San Francisco to Monterey and Yosemite (each being a separate excursion day, of course).  Use Google to find these companies as I'm afraid I don't have this information for you.

Hope this helps...