California

Main Airports

Los Angeles International (LAX) (website: www.lawa.org/lax) is located on Santa Monica Bay, 24km (15 miles) from the city centre. To/from the airport: A free 24-hour shuttle service is available to the LAX Transit Center, where there are local buses to the city centre (journey time - 30 to 45 minutes). Coaches provide reasonably priced services to all major locations in the city centre, as well as many surrounding areas such as Hollywood. Various door-to-door shuttle services are also available.

San Francisco International (SFO) (website: www.sfoairport.com) is 25km (15 miles) southeast of the city. To/from the airport:SamTrans buses and the SFO Airporter bus go to the city (journey time - 30 minutes to 1 hour). Limousine, taxi and various shuttle services are also available.

Oakland International (OAK) (website: www.flyoakland.com) is located across the Bay, 32km (20 miles) from central San Francisco. To/from the airport:Airporter buses link the airport with central Oakland and San Francisco International Airport. AirBART buses connect with the BART rapid transit (underground) system at Coliseum/Oakland International Airport station, giving access to central San Francisco.

Domestic airports:

Bob Hope Airport , Burbank ( BUR) (website: www.burbankairport.com) is about 20km (13 miles) from central Los Angeles, and receives USA domestic services only. Burbank is the nearest airport for access to Hollywood.

San Diego International (SAN) (website: www.san.org) is 5km (3 miles) west of San Diego city centre, and is primarily a gateway to southern California for domestic traffic.

Getting There by Water

A ferry service links San Franciscowith the Bay communities of Sausalito, Larkspur (in Marin County), Tiburon, Vallejo, Oakland and Alameda. San Francisco departure is from Pier 1, adjoining the Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street, or from Fisherman’s Wharf.

In the Los Angelesarea, there is a daily, low-fare cruise service from Long Beachto Catalina Island.

Getting There by Rail

The Amtrak (tel: 1 800 872 7245, in the USA only; website: www.amtrak.com) terminal in Los Angelesis Union Station, at 800 North Alameda Street, on the edge of the business district. It is at the western end of several major routes across the southern Rockies, is the southern terminus of the West Coast line to Seattle (although there are frequent shuttle services heading further south to San Diego), and at the western end of east-west routes from Chicago, St Louis and New Orleans.

In San Francisco, the Embarcadero BART station and the Transbay Terminal, at 425 Mission Street, are used only for limited suburban services. The Amtrak Terminal at Oakland, across the Bay, is the central node on the West Coast line and also the western terminus of a line running across the high Rockies to Salt Lake City and beyond. Amtrak provides free shuttles between their Oakland station and the Transbay Terminal.

San Diegois served by Amtrak trains from Los Angeles, with a station located downtown, on 4005 Taylor Street.

Approximate rail journey times:

From Los Angeles to Phoenix is 8 hours, to Dallas is 39 hours, and to Chicago is 61 hours.

From Oakland to Reno is 6 hours, to Salt Lake City is 16 hours, and to Denver is 31 hours.

Getting There by Road

Greyhound (tel: 1 800 231 2222, in the USA only; website: www.greyhound.com) runs a reliable and frequent service to and from every major city in the USA, as well as locations in Canada and Mexico. There are six Greyhoundbus stations in Los Angeles. In San Francisco, Greyhound buses use the Transbay Terminal, while San Diego has a downtown terminal.

Approximate driving times:

From Los Angeles to Las Vegas is six hours, to Dallas is 29 hours, and to Miami is 58 hours.

From San Francisco to Reno is four hours, to Seattle is 16 hours, and to New York is 61 hours. All times are based on non-stop driving at or below the applicable speed limits.

Approximate bus journey times:

From Los Angeles to San Diego is 2 hours 30 minutes, to Las Vegas is 5 hours 30 minutes, to San Francisco is 7 hours 30 minutes, to Phoenix is 8 hours 30 minutes, to Yosemite is 10 hours 15 minutes, to Sacramento is 12 hours 30 minutes, to Albuquerque is 17 hours 30 minutes and to Portland (Oregon) is 22 hours.

From San Francisco to Sacramento is 2 hours, to Lake Tahoe is 5 hours, to Reno is 5 hours 30 minutes, to Los Angeles is 7 hours 30 minutes, to Yosemite is 7 hours 30 minutes and to Portland (Oregon) is 16 hours.

Getting Around Towns and Cities

Los Angeles : The distances between the city’s various attractions can be intimidating at first but it is a relatively easy city to get around quickly, provided you have a car. 

LA County Metropolitan Transit Authority (Metro) (tel: 1 800 266 6883, in the USA only; website: www.mta.net)buses run on major routes, with a reduced service at night. Express buses are also available.

The Metrorailtrain system covers three routes: downtown to Long Beach (blue); between Union Station to North Hollywood (red); and Hawthorne to Norwalk (green).

Travel beyond Los Angeles: Within Los Angeles County, Metroprovides a good bus service. For trips beyond Los Angeles, the Orange County Transportation Authority (tel: (714) 560 6282; website: www.octa.net) accepts transfers from the Metrofor services throughout suburban Orange County. Buses are reasonably priced but travellers may have to wait some time to catch one. Though taxis are readily available, the large size of Los Angeles makes them expensive and impractical.

San Diego : The Metropolitan Transit System is operated by San Diego Transit Corporation (website: www.sdcommute.com), a consortium of companies providing a good and extensive bus service at moderate prices. The San Diego Trolley runs a 26km (16-mile) route from the Santa Fe Depot to San Ysidro, on the Mexican border (journey time - 45 minutes). Taxis are expensive. Car hire is readily available.

San Francisco : Public transport, operated by MUNI, is excellent. The network of buses (including night buses), streetcars and cable cars is the most economical way to get to destinations beyond walking distance. Passengers must have exact change when they board as drivers carry no change; the MUNI Passport travel passes (one-, three- or seven-day) are available and allow for travel on all MUNI and BART systems within the city.

Taxis are readily available in most of the central area and other major streets. Because San Francisco occupies a comparatively small area, taxi fares tend to be lower than in most other major cities.

All major national car hire agencies are represented in San Francisco; camper vans may also be hired. For information on local companies, look in the San Francisco Classified Telephone Directory.

Buses and streetcars also provide services from the centre to more distant points in the city, including Golden Gate Park, Twin Peaks, Seal Rocks, Mission Dolores, the Presidio and Golden Gate Bridge. The clean and efficient Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) subway and surface-rail system links San Francisco with communities on the east side of sprawling San Francisco Bay, including Oakland, Alameda, Fremont, Richmond and Berkeley, site of the prestigious University of California campus.

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Summers are very warm, with cool evenings, while the spring and autumn months are mild, with cool evenings. The winter ‘rainy season’ is gentle and occurs between January and March. Much of the state has a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. San Francisco is known for its characteristic fog in spring and early summer. Northern California and the high mountains have snow in winter, while the deserts experience very hot summers and mild winters.

Required Clothing

Lightweight during the summer with warmer wear for the cooler winter period.

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Food and Drink

California has always been a social melting pot, and this is reflected in its modern, cosmopolitan cuisine with an endless variety of ethnic influences.

Regional specialities:

• Steak.

• Seafood. 

• Clam chowder and sourdough bread.

• California wines.

• Godiva chocolate.

Nightlife

There are few places in the world that can rival California’s nightlife. Los Angeles is home to an array of illustrious clubs with rich and famous patrons. San Francisco, with its young, lively population, is known around the world as a great party town.

Shopping

Some visitors come to California just for the shopping. Whether they are after the latest fashions or quaint handicrafts, the state’s vast range of shops and malls will satisfy any consumer. The boutiques and department stores of Los Angeles are famous worldwide. The city of Ontario, east of Los Angeles, is home to California’s largest entertainment and outlet mall. Orange County and Santa Barbara are also known for the quality and variety of their shopping.

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• Capture an insider’s view of the industry on a studio tour (website: www.seeing-stars.com/studiotours), offered by big names including Warner Bros, Paramount or Universal Studios Hollywood.

• Explore West Hollywood where more post-Oscar parties are hosted than in any other city. Over 70% of all filming in West Hollywood is on Sunset Strip. West Hollywood is best known for its sophisticated shopping and exciting and varied nightlife.

• Shop in Beverly Hills (website: www.beverlyhills.org), the world’s most famous shopping district, and look out for Hollywood celebrities.

• Walk the Santa Monica Pier (website: www.santamonicapier.org), the West Coast’s oldest pleasure pier, built in 1908, and now an entertainment park with roller coasters and giant Ferris wheel (website: www.pacpark.com).

• Experience the magic of Disneyland(website: www.disney.go.com) and become a kid againin an enchanted kingdom of fantasy and imagination.

• Visit Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese business district in the USA. The area features an Asian Garden and a wide variety of French, Vietnamese and Asian shops and restaurants.

• Tee off on one of the greens at Pebble Beach (website: www.pebblebeach.com), home of the AT&T National Pro-Am Golf Tournament and a world-class resort with four golf courses.

• Explore the world-famous San Diego Zoo (website: www.sandiegozoo.org), which houses 800 different species. The entire zoo is designed as a 40-hectare (100-acre) tropical garden, and offers many educational programs including nighttime sleepovers and wild animal camps.

• Head to Laguna Beach (website: www.lagunabeachinfo.org), the ‘Riviera of the West Coast’ and jewel of Southern Californian beach cities. This charming seaside village is filled with bistros, shops and art galleries, including the famous Laguna Art Museum (website: www.lagunaartmuseum.org).

• Explore Lake Tahoe (website: www.sierratahoe.com), set 1,800m (6,000ft) above sea level. Enjoy clear blue skies, snow-capped mountains, and rich culture and history. Ski Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows (website: www.skialpine.com) or take a paddle-wheeler cruise across the lake.

• Hang out at one of Los Angeles’ famous beaches. Enjoy the picturesque coves of Malibu, or admire the flocks of sailboats at Marina del Rey (website: www.visitthemarina.com). Venice Beach (website: www.venicebeach.com) is an eclectic mix of skaters, street performers and buzzing crowds.

• Fish for bass at Clear Lake, the largest natural freshwater lake in California, known as the ‘bass capital of the world.’ Attend a local festival, or go waterskiing, fishing, swimming, boating, cycling, birdwatching or rock collecting (website: www.lakecounty.com).

• Drive the ruggedly beautiful Big Sur coastal highway (website: www.bigsurcalifornia.org) south of San Francisco. Visit the quaint historic coastal towns of Carmel and Monterey, and eat fresh seafood in waterfront restaurants.

• Taste premium California wines (website: www.winecountrygetaways.com) in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, north of San Francisco.

• See the breathtaking natural wonders of the beautiful Shasta Lake (website: www.shastalake.com), and the dramatic, snow-capped Mount Shasta(website: www.mtshastachamber.com), one of the nation’s tallest mountains at 4,248m (14,162ft).

• Playgolfinthe desert resort of Palm Springs (website: www.palm-springs.org),float across the valley in a hot air balloon, take an aerial tramride from sealevel to the top of 3,300m (10,800ft) Mt San Jacinto, or explore Indian country.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.

•• View the famous Hollywoodsign in the hills above the city. Film crews can be found on location all over the region, though most of the filming happens behind the well-guarded gates of the various studios scattered across the city.

• Follow the ‘walk of fame’ etched in the pavement along Hollywood Boulevard; hear a concert at the world-famous Hollywood Bowl (website: www.hollywoodbowl.com); or see how dreams are made at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum (website: www.hollywoodmuseum.com).

• Ride a cable car up and down the steep hills of San Francisco, overlooking the city’s glistening bay and Golden Gate Bridge. View the actual cable-winding machinery at the San Francisco Cable Car Museum (website: www.cablecarmuseum.org).

• Visit the Roy Rogers-Dale Evans Museum, a frontier fortress full of mementoes from the Western stars’ films and television shows. The Route 66 Museum (website: www.califrt66museum.org) displays a collection of artifacts and photographs related to the famous highway.

• Enjoy the San Diego Maritime Museum (website: www.sdmaritime.com) anchored along Harbour Drive, or take an excursion into Mission Bay on a yacht or excursion boat.

• View the famous 1920s sardine factory, Cannery Row (website: www.canneryrow.com) and Old Fisherman’s Wharf (website: www.montereywharf.com) in historic Monterey. Sample the traditional clam chowder and sourdough bread.

• In Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (website: www.nps.gov/seki), famed for their forests of giant sequoia trees, see the 2,500-year-old General Sherman Tree Giant Forest, the largest tree in the world (by volume) with a circumference of 31m (103ft). Kings Canyon is the deepest canyon in the USA.

• Hike or camp in Yosemite National Park (website: www.yosemitepark.com), which contains the world’s best-known glacier-carved valley, spectacular waterfalls, granite monoliths and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias (website: www.redwoodsinyosemite.com).

• Pan for gold at the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park (website: www.coloma.com) where California’s 1848 gold rush began. Visit the museum and original and restored buildings at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma.

• Try to escape from Alcatraz (website: www.alcatraz.us), once the site of the USA’s toughest maximum security prison and now a national park.

• Follow the California Mission Trail from San Diego to San Francisco. Look for the famous migrating swallows of San Juan Capistrano (website: www.missionsjc.com) and enjoy the spectacular gardens of Santa Barbara.

• Hike or rock climb the eerily remote Joshua Tree National Park (website: www.joshua.tree.national-park.com). Cross the Mojave Desert to Death Valley (website: www.nps.gov/deva), the hottest and lowest place in the continental United States at 86m (282 ft) below sea level.

• Visit Hearst Castle (website: www.hearstcastle.org), built by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst on an enchanted hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.

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