Oakland to Napa Valley by way of train? (Fairfield, Martinez: rental, hotel)

[Amazonchix]

We'll be flying into the Oakland airport in late August but our intended destination is Napa Valley. My father mentioned something about being able to take a train from Oakland to Napa Valley. Is this possible? Is there a link for this?

All I have seen are train trips that are days in duration. We were looking for a cute way to get to Napa Valley for our conference.

THANKS!

[sonarrat]

You'd take the Amtrak Capitol Corridor to Martinez and transfer to a motor coach service to Napa. If you load the PDF schedule and scroll down to page 6 you'll see the timing for the connections.

::: The Capitol Corridor: home :::

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Amazonchix

We'll be flying into the Oakland airport in late August but our intended destination is Napa Valley. My father mentioned something about being able to take a train from Oakland to Napa Valley. Is this possible? Is there a link for this?

All I have seen are train trips that are days in duration. We were looking for a cute way to get to Napa Valley for our conference.

THANKS!

No -- there is a Napa Valley train, but it's a dining experience, not a mode of transportation. If you don't want to drive, your best bet is then as Sonnarat suggested.

[Amazonchix]

Okay...maybe this is where my father is confusing us. He made it sound as if he thought we could grab the train from Oakland's airport and get off in Napa Valley.

We thought if the train was on the way why not...but it sounds like we would be better off renting a car or taking the hotel shuttle.

[sonarrat]

Nope, there's no rail service to Napa that I'm aware of. It's all still Amtrak, but the bus ride will be longer than the train ride.

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by Amazonchix

Okay...maybe this is where my father is confusing us. He made it sound as if he thought we could grab the train from Oakland's airport and get off in Napa Valley.

We thought if the train was on the way why not...but it sounds like we would be better off renting a car or taking the hotel shuttle.

Yeah, I'd recommend driving or taking the shuttle, since it's going to take forever on a train/bus... whereas driving is an easy 35-45 minutes without traffic (I used to commute there from SF in 55 minutes). The scenery doesn't get really pretty until you're in Napa anyway, so it's not like you will miss anything spectacular. Have fun!

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

Yeah, I'd recommend driving or taking the shuttle, since it's going to take forever on a train/bus... whereas driving is an easy 35-45 minutes without traffic (I used to commute there from SF in 55 minutes). The scenery doesn't get really pretty until you're in Napa anyway, so it's not like you will miss anything spectacular. Have fun!

55 minutes! Wow -- I MUST go into sightsee-er mode when I drive up there... it takes us twice that!

This is my formal apology to all the residents of Napa that I must have really annoyed by my slow driving.

I'm very very sorry.

Is the big red chicken place with the antique shops still there?

[Amazonchix]

I agree...it will be a rental or a shuttle ride for us. The hotel told us it was an hour drive to the hotel from Oakland's aiport. We fly in on a Tuesday late afternoon. Probably will be close to an hour drive as told to us. Thanks for the help everyone!

[gizmo980]

Originally Posted by Tallysmom

55 minutes! Wow -- I MUST go into sightsee-er mode when I drive up there... it takes us twice that!

This is my formal apology to all the residents of Napa that I must have really annoyed by my slow driving.

I'm very very sorry.

LOL. I'd drive at least 75-80mph the whole way, which I was able to do because of my weird work hours (12-9pm). Made it back in 45 minutes flat one night - you don't want to know how fast I was going. Even at the speed limit you can do it in an hour (without traffic), since it's only 50 miles from SF to Napa. But don't worry, the Napans themselves are reaaaalllly slow & spacey drivers... and yeah, the sightseeing tourists annoyed me too.

Is the big red chicken place with the antique shops still there?

Pretty sure I saw that recently, so I'd say yes... where is it again?

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

LOL. I'd drive at least 75-80mph the whole way, which I was able to do because of my weird work hours (12-9pm). Made it back in 45 minutes flat one night - you don't want to know how fast I was going. Even at the speed limit you can do it in an hour (without traffic), since it's only 50 miles from SF to Napa. But don't worry, the Napans themselves are reaaaalllly slow & spacey drivers... and yeah, the sightseeing tourists annoyed me too.



Pretty sure I saw that recently, so I'd say yes... where is it again?

I am one of those people that can't tell you where things are, but I can get there. Pretty sure it's off a main Napa road that has a frontage road and it's over the rail road tracks.

My sense of direction is amazing -- my mom has to be oriented to a map at all times... but I just drive and get where I'm going.

A while ago we were visiting friends in Fairfield, and we got caught up in the bottleneck at Suisun -- the merge from 680 to 80 --- and I got off the highway and we back roaded it. We found 12 and somehow ended up in downtown Fairfield. It was cool.

That's the bad part of the high gas prices. I love to get into the car and drive.