Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco

Amtrak — Sacramento to San Francisco — who knew? Certainly not me. At least not until recently. I’ve lived here for more than three years and didn’t know you could take Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco.

conductor in door of train with text overlay: Amtrak -- Sacramento to San Francisco --

San Francisco is about a three hour drive and 130 miles from where I live in Amador County. Then there’s the traffic and the parking. When I learned from a client that you could take the train, I was quite eager to try it out because I LOVE riding the train, which you can read about here and here.

It was on my mind for a few months but I just didn’t have a specific reason to go. When I received an invitation to ZinEX (hold that thought for another post), which was held in San Francisco on January 20th, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to see just how riding the train would work out.

The Sacramento Amtrak Station

My friend, Denise, and I left just after 6 am to catch the 8:10 train. There was no traffic and parking, right in front of the station for $10 per day, was a breeze, so we arrived about 40 minutes early.

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - SAC Amtrak station exterior

 

I had purchased our tickets online so we just had to wait for our departure time. There is a Starbucks just a couple of doors down and there are vending machines at the station if you need a beverage or a snack while you wait. The station is very clean including the restrooms. 

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - SAC Amtrak station interior

 

The boarding platform is about a 10 minute walk from the station but they have carts if you need assistance. It was a cold morning and we knew we’d be doing lots of walking once we were in the city so we decided to take the cart.

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - cart to platform

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - cart to platform

 

When we arrived at the platform, the train was there ready for us to board. The carts don’t take you down until almost time to board so you aren’t waiting out in the elements, which we appreciated with the temperature at 35 degrees.

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco

 

Riding Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco

I wasn’t quite like a kid getting on a ride at Disneyland, but I was pretty excited when we boarded. We had the car almost entirely to ourselves. We picked facing seats with a table and got comfortable for the hour and a half ride to the BART station in Richmond.

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco

 

While Denise took a nap, I entertained myself reading emails, following up on social media, checking out the scenery and experimenting with snapping a few selfies.

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - selfie
Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - selfie

 

You can take the train to a couple of other stations, depending on your final destination, and transfer to a bus for one inclusive fare but I wanted to ride BART. BART was an additional $10.60 round trip from Richmond to the Embarcadero station.

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - Richmond station

 

Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco - Richmond station

 

Transferring to BART

At the Richmond station, BART is literally a few steps away and down a staircase. We got in what we hoped was the right line to buy our BART tickets. The tickets are all automated and we had no idea what we were doing. However, with a little help from the people behind us in line, like most things, it was easy once you knew how to do it.

We just missed what we thought was our correct train. While we were discussing what to do, another passenger told us about transferring trains and by the time we were on our way home that evening, we didn’t care that we got on the totally wrong line. We felt like pros at transferring and getting where we needed to go.

 

A Walk with a View

From the Embarcadero station, we walked the short distance to the Ferry Building and did a quick walk through. It was getting close to the start of our event so we needed to head out on our mile walk to the Pier 27 Event Center. The walk was along the Embarcadero with great views of the harbor. I guess I was enjoying the views so much I forgot to take photos!

We had planned to spend some time at the Ferry Building on the way home but it was so crowded then that you couldn’t even get close to the shops. I don’t do well in crowds!

 

Ferry Building crowd

 

The return home in the evening went as smoothly as our morning trip, except for ending up in the middle of the women’s march (speaking of crowds!) by the entrance to the Embarcadero BART station. Even that didn’t disrupt our trip. It was interesting to watch for a while then we headed on down to board our BART train.

 

Women's March San Francisco

 

Women's March San Francisco

 

Find some awesome things to do while you are in San Francisco

 

The Trip Home on Amtrak from San Francisco to Sacramento

Since we didn’t spend any time at the Ferry Building as planned, we got back to the Richmond station way before our scheduled return train at 6:30. We had about a half hour wait for the 5:30 train. We weren’t sure if we could just take the earlier train but there is no ticket office at the Richmond station so there was no one to ask. Turns out that since the Capitol Corridor train is a commuter train, there was no issue taking a different one.

Denise and I both marveled at how everything came off without a hitch. Taking Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco is fun and easy. I can’t wait for a reason to do it again!

 

three photos: exterior of train with conductor, bay and a bridge, interior of train with text overlay: Amtrak -- Sacramento to San Francisco
Conductor in doorway of train with text overlay: Relax on Amtrak Sacramento to San Francisco

 

Do you enjoy taking the train? Have you taken Amtrak from Sacramento to San Francisco? I’d love to hear about your favorite train trip in the comments.

Until next time…


 

(Visited 3,836 times, 1 visits today)
Thank you for sharing!

5 Comments

  1. Pingback: ZinEX Zinfandel Experience -- Zin Lover's Paradise | Gold Country Cowgirl

  2. Pingback: The Incomparable Grand Canyon via the Grand Canyon Railway | Gold Country Cowgirl

  3. I’d love to take the Amtrak! For some reason, certainly here in the UK, Amtrak trains are always perceived as unreliable. I’m guessing that is not the case. (Also, note the British trains aren’t much better!)

  4. I live in Davis and always enjoy taking Amtrak to San Francisco with my exchange students.
    2 weeks ago, (8/10 train 723) I went to SF with 37 college students from Japan and China. Conductor Michelle space a chart for ourself with fancy men and women restroom downstairs. Everything went well until I found I left my smart phone at home!!! I borrow a phone from the college student and access my email. Unfortunately I can’t pull up all the eticket mail, conductor Michelle was very kind and patient, she sat down and help me to retrieve my tickets, she print a ‘long ribbon’ of receipt and circle all reservation number, it really help me to provide information for the rest of bus and train connection trips.
    I deeply appreciate Michelle ‘saves’ my life and make me enjoy the rest of the trip with no panic.
    Highly recommend taking Amtrak to the Bay Area no matter to work in the week or for leisure in the weekend!

    • How awesome that Michelle was so helpful and saved your day. I bet it is a lot of fun and really interesting working with all those exchange students. I love taking the train anywhere and was so delighted when I learned about this trip.

Comments are closed