San Luis Obispo Travel Forum

Hi all,

I have seen on the Viamichelin map finder that there's a train station in SLO, and tracking the rail line, I've seen it goes up north to somewhere around San Francisco. Does anyone know whether I can go by train from SLO to SFO? I thought the only public transportation was Greyhound buses.

Any clue or website about it? the amtrak webside did not show this itinerary.

Thanks!

Yes, you can take the train. Go to www.amtrak.com and look at the Coast Starlight, that is the train you would take. You would take the train to Oakland Calif. and then transfer to an Amtrak Thruway Bus which would transport you to San Francisco. The bus makes numerous drop offs around the city, so you can choose the best suited for you. The bus ride takes about 30 minutes.

great! I really prefer train rather before bus.

And if you really want to avoid the bus altogether, you can take the Amtrak to the San Jose station, transfer to the Caltrain going to San Francisco and then do one of two things.

Take Caltrain up to the end of the line in San Francisco. You'll get off right by AT&T park and Union Square area (where there are a lot of hotels) is about a 6-8 block walk.

Or you can take Caltrain to Millbrae and transfer to Bart going to San Francisco. Bart will take you has stations right in the downtown area and also gets you to more places all over the Bay.

The connections really aren't challenging at all. Caltrain has many trains on the weekdays, and even on the weekends, the trains run hourly. Bart runs all the time.

San Francisco has improved and expanded its train systems in the last decade so it has become a lot easier to do SF by rail now.

Caltrain will stop at most communities along the way from San Jose to San Francisco, it is a waste of your time. Taking the train to Milbrae and then BART to SF will increase the cost of your journey. The best is to Oakland and the bus to SF.

It takes 8 hours to get to sf on the train from SLO, with most of it sitting in stations along the way
rgds John

Not sure where Voisj got the times and that you would be sitting in stations for most of the trip from SLO to SFO. Actually the trip takes 6 hours and 22 minutes, departing SLO at 343pm a quick stop in Paso Robles, Salinas, 12 minutes in San Jose and then Jack London Sq (Oakland) where you change to the Amtrak Thru Way Bus which will have you in SF in the Financial District (Hyatt Regency Hotel) at 10:05pm, a nice way to travel..by train.