<p>Title pretty much says it all. How easy is it to get to SF from UC Davis? To anyone currently attending UC Davis that’s reading this: how often do you visit SF? </p>
<p>Traffic makes the drive variable. Under ideal conditions, a little over an hour by car. There’s a train that rolls right through town and will take you to BART. The school also runs a periodic shuttle to UCB which is also a BART ride from SF. </p>
<p>In case anyone’s wondering, the reason I’m asking is because I’ve been accepted to UC Davis and am thinking of attending, but the fact that it’s in a small town is a bit of a turn-off. Not a huge turn-off if San Francisco’s easy enough to get to though. </p>
<p>I don’t know what your major is, but in my opinion size of the college town should be lower on your priority list. You’re in CA so there is always a city that is pretty close. </p>
<p>If you are looking for bigger city activities like concerts, pro-sports, ethnic food and the like - Sacramento will provide much of that. The airport also connects just about anywhere. There are nearly 2M people in the Sac metro area now so there’s plenty to do. </p>
<p>If you want to spend lots of time in SF specifically - Davis isn’t the place for you.</p>
<p>Visit the campus - you’ll see what I mean.</p>
<p>When we toured there the guide said there is a bus every weekend running to Berkeley and back, and there is BART near Berkeley into the City.</p>
<p>Amtrak too?</p>
<p>@NCalRent what do you mean? Visiting the campus isn’t really an option for me. </p>
<p>IMHO - If you are a city person - It would be a mistake to attend the school without visiting first. While there’s plenty to do on and around campus, it is rural.</p>
<p>What makes you think you’d need to visit SF frequently?</p>
<p>NCalRent, if OP doesn’t live nearby, s/he may not have $1,000 to spend on a round trip to visit Davis. </p>
<p>Honestly, darthvader, there’s enough in Sacramento (20mn away?) for city life and internships, Davis is a nice college town for daily life, and if you really, really crave a big city you can go to SF from time to time - but HS seniors vastly overestimate the time they’ll have to go to cities (even if they live in one). Their time is primarily spent on campus, where they’ll be super busy from 9am till 2am every day of the week, with weekends often spent in other pursuits which may or may not include going to the city.</p>
<p>I like Davis a lot. But I also like living in suburbs, or even more rural OUTSIDE a large city and having the city as a resource but not tripping over parking restrictions every day. For someone who actually likes being IN the city, Davis might feel isolated. It is a wonderful college town in my opinion, but the definition of a college town is one predominated by students and geared towards them, and it requires the town be small enough for the university population to take it over. UCI, for example, is not in a college town, and that is one reason I like it less. But if you don’t have a car (and I am not even sure freshemen are allowed to have a car) it is going to be a bit of a project to get to another location. A bus will take you into Sacramento, but you have to figure out how to get to where you are going in Sacramento once you get there, and Californian public transit isn’t that great. So I see @NCalRent’s point here. While I really like Davis a lot, and at least one of my sons will likely end up there, it may not be for a real Manhattan type city person. </p>
<p>I worked with a guy who wished he lived in NY City, which I could not understand. I asked where his kids would play if he didn’t have a back yard, and he said ‘There’s Central Park!’ It was a completely different mind set from mine, but I understand the mind set does exist, where the city compactness is a real draw. If you are that kind of person, you should take that into consideration. However, it matters more if you are deciding between Davis and NYU than if you are deciding between Davis and UIUC, for example. </p>
<p>@ collegevetting: freshmen aren’t allowed to have cars, but freshmen living in Cuarto can get away with having cars because they can park along Russell or on Wake Forest Drive (which don’t require permits). They just have to remember to move their cars on street cleaning days (I think that’s either Tuesday or Thursday).</p>
<p>Basically what everyone else said. And no, you will not be visiting SF that much if you live in Davis. It’s a 1 hour commute at best, and unless you have money to spend on public transportation or gas and a car, you won’t be going there. Do you currently live in a big city? Or are you just attracted to the idea of living in one? Because if you already live in one and can’t imagine liking a small town vibe, I’d avoid Davis. But if you are just in love with the IDEA of a big city life, give Davis a chance. </p>
<p>Via car, good traffic, about 1 hour. That would apply on the weekends especially if no special events (always have to check SF for festivals and parades or sporting events and time yourself around those). $6 toll for Bay Bridge and I think $4 for one other bridge. Parking expensive, but if you’re clever, you can get it for $10-$15 on the weekends or evenings. However, same freeway 80West from Davis over the Bay Bridge right into the City. Yes, you could do train to BART (likely the BART station in Berkeley and then a quick BART of 10 minutes into the City). Certainly this is not too much different than if you went to a college an hour outside of Los Angeles or West L.A. (Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, the beaches). Certainly Davis/SF way better than being in the middle of Ohio or Kansas or something if you’re looking for big city access.</p>
<p>If you live in CA - Davis is a close to the middle of the state as you’ll find. It’s a pretty reasonable drive for a motivated potential attendee. If you live in the US, but out of state, you can get to the Sac or Oakland airports on Jet Blue or Southwest for a pretty reasonable fare. Rent a car and drive - a Davis hotel on a weeknight won’t set you back too much. I think $1k would be a LOT for such a visit unless you had to travel internationally. A pittance compared with out of state tuition + room and board. It is a small price to pay relative to making the wrong choice. </p>
<p>I think Davis is a great town - I live less than an hour away. Who doesn’t love the Mondavi Center, Picnic Day, Sudwerk and Marrone Biosystems? The school is great - though large for my taste. My brother went there many moons ago and my older son considered it (though didn’t qualify). I know lots of people with advanced degrees from there (MBA, JD, MD to name a few). It is the only UC with it’s own airport! What’s not to love? I have no axe to grind with the place. I am merely suggesting to the OP - it isn’t metropolitan. In my book, that’s a good thing. If you want to spend lots of time in an urban environment, Davis may not be the right choice. You’d be well served coming and seeing for yourself. </p>
<p>I would say basically the same thing to someone who asked about how to get to Tahoe (same distance, other direction). You can get there once in a while but, if you want to spend lots of time in that environment, attend a school surrounded by it. </p>
<p>I am also curious about this question, but for different reasons. My sister goes to Stanford and she has a car, since Davis is closer to Palo Alto, my parents are hoping that I’d chose Davis over UCSD, that way we can meet up maybe once every two weeks in SF(is that even possible?).
So how does one get to SF without a car, exactly? </p>
<p>One idea would be Amtrak train out of Davis into Oakland (Jack London Square, so a nice area of Oakland) and then the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) (Lake Merritt station 1/2 mile from Jack London Square) into the City. BART takes about 10 minutes from Oakland depending where you’re going. I don’t know that I would choose Davis over UCSD for that reason, unless Davis focuses on something you’re really interested in. It might be just as fast for your sister to drive to Davis from Palo Alto…about 2 hour drive. Her drive from Stanford to SF would be about 45 minutes. </p>
<p>@joann0510 Stanford to SF is easy except in rush hour when nothing into the city is easy. (Bridges.) It would be easier for someone at Davis to get to Berkeley since there is that weekly bus from Davis to Berkeley. Then your sister could pick you up- but it is a trek. I don’t see it happening every other week. Maybe once a semester, max. It might be easier for her to get to Davis than to get to the city at times, given relative traffic. It is kind of a triangle, Davis, Palo Alto, SF. SF and Palo Alto are considerably closer together, of course. </p>
<p>@lynjobes @collegevetting Thank you both so much! Yes the distance between my sister and I is definitely not a huge factor in determining which school I go to 
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<p>You can drive there and the time will vary. On average you can expect a hour and 20 minute drive. If you drive a little bit faster you can make it in less time. I’ve made it to SF in a little under an hour on a Friday night before.</p>
<p>Without a car, you can take the AMTRAK to Richmond and then take BART to SF. If you’re going to SFO then you’d switch BART lines at MacArthur.</p>