Reno Travel Forum

My wife and I from Australia will visit San Francisco in March 2007 and would like to meet friends from Lake Tahoe in Reno. Could you please advise the most economical means of travelling from San Francisco to Reno/Lake Tahoe and return, e.g. a bus service (is there a timetable I can access on the i/net?)
Are there charges for 1 way rental cars?
Are there cheap 'specials' for air travel?

Regards
Ron Champness
Adelaide
South Australia

For long distance public transit, try Grayhound Bus or amtrak railway.
(www.amtrak.com)

Usually there is some 1-way rental charges. The amount varies depending on the rental company and the distance between cities. You can usually get the quote from the rental web-sites. (Alamo, Budget, Dollar, Hertz, Avis etc.) Usually Alamo and Budget car rental are cheaper, but again it depends on your rental situation as well.

If you choose to fly, you can go to www.cheaptickets.com to search for the flight from SFO to Reno. Or travelocity.com, orbitz.com, expedia.com ...
Usually cheaptickets.com is good enough for low-fare tickets.
If you actually stay closer to San Jose, or Oakland, than to San Francisco, (all within 1 hour drive), then you can try southwest.com, a discount airline that serves San Jose and Oakland to Reno.

Finally, early/mid March is usually still cold in Lake Tahoe/Reno, occasionally it may even have spring snow storm. So check the weather if you drive. Unless it is right in the middle of snow storm, you can drive with or without a snow-chain.

Greyhound is a good option if you don't want to drive.

There are about 6 daily departures from San Francisco to Reno. It will take you between 5 and half and 6 hrs. The cost is $32 per person one way if you purchase your tickets 7 days ahead of time.
Check out the greyhound website www.greyhound.com

You may want to rent a car instead because you can stop and visit Lake Tahoe instead of going directly to Reno. It's a pretty area and actually more interesting than Reno. It's really nice to have your own transportation in California because it seems that nothing is within "walking distance" :-).
Car rentals for one week are pretty inexpensive if you rent a compact car. some rental companies do not charge for one way rentals.
Good luck!

I assume you will be staying in Reno too long for a return car rental. However, if you are staying for just a couple nights, then rent a car. You can fly non-stop with Southwest (southwest.com)from Oakland to Reno for $69 o.w.+ taxes/fees. United may have similar fares from SFO

The best way would be to take the Amtrak train "California Zephyr". Only issue would be it leaves from Emeryville, which is on the other side of the bay from San Francisco. I think you might be able to take the BART subway from SF to Emeryville or there is a bus.

In March the train route would be awsome. The train station in Reno is directly downtown and within easy walking distance of all the big hotels like El Dorado, Circus-Circus, and Silver Legacy. The view along the route will be much much better than the bus or driving.

You can take Bay Area Rapid Transit (subway) from San Francisco to Richmond station. Walk across track to Amtrak connection, take Amtrak via the Capital Connection to Sacramento, transfer to Amtrak's bus. It's well connected and easy. However, best way to see the area is to drive. Stop along the way in Auburn or Colfax, drive around Lake Tahoe, etc. Tahoe's lots prettier and more fun than Reno. If you want to gamble, go to South Lake Tahoe. Casinos and shows. Northshore is much prettier, you can snowshoe, cross country ski or fabulous downhill skiing.

Greyhound is the most economical way to get to Reno. There is the regular bus that goes to Reno which stops in about 8 or 9 different spots on the way and takes about 6 hours to get there. However if you take one of the casino tour buses it's less expensive and only takes about 4 hours because there are only two stops on the way. One in Oakland and one in Sacramento. So make sure you ask for a casino bus tour. What it will do is take you two one of the major casinos and from there you just go on your own. You just have to make sure that you are at that casino for the return trip home.