Two major airports serve the Bay Area: San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport. Most travellers fly into San Francisco Airport, which services nearly 50 domestic and international airlines from destinations all around the US and the world.

As the airport located just 14 miles from downtown, there are several ways to get into the city. The most direct way is to hire a taxi. A slightly cheaper, and almost as convenient option, is to take one of the private shuttle van services which operate out of the airport, such as SuperShuttle. You will share a van with several other passengers and will eventually be dropped off at your destination. The SFO Airporter bus has a similar service, except that it runs along a designated route which stops at several major downtown hotels.

The cheapest option is to take the public transport network called BART. This rapid transit train runs right from the airport into the downtown area and if you don’t have a lot of baggage, it’s a great way to go. An airport hotline (tel: +1 415 817 1717) can give you all the information on ground travel options.

Parking at the airport is efficiently serviced in its various car parks, which are designed to handle the massive amount of vehicle traffic which flows through the terminals. Short-term parking is conveniently located next to the terminal buildings, while economy long-term parking is connected to the terminals by courtesy shuttles.

San Francisco has an excellent public transportation network called BART. Its buses, subways and light-rail trains connect the downtown areas of the city with neighbouring towns across the bay such as Oakland and Berkeley, but the trains don’t service each individual district. San Francisco is a rather compact city, where one neighbourhood blends into the next, so travelling by foot is easy and offers a great way to see more of the city. The iconic cable cars are another fun way to get around the downtown, but they only service a small area. The bus offers the best way to travel between distant neighbourhoods and the trains can take you outside the city.

Taxis are notoriously unreliable in San Francisco. Hailing a cab can prove to be a difficult and frustrating mission, even if you’re in a populated area. Taxi stands can be found at most major hotels and you can also call for a pickup.

To get to San Francisco by train, Amtrak (tel: +1 800 USA RAIL) has rail service from several Californian cities and a few other American destinations. The Coast Starlight travels from Los Angeles to Seattle, stopping in San Francisco along the way, offering the perfect means to see the Pacific coastline. There’s also the California Zephyr, which runs between Chicago and the Bay Area. Trains stop in Emeryville, just across the bay, so you’ll need to take a bus to get into the city itself. Greyhound buses (tel: +1 800 231 2222) are another cheap and easy way to get to San Francisco from virtually any town in America. They are slow and not particularly luxurious, but they are reliable and get the job done. There is a long distance bus terminal in the ferry building downtown.