SanLuisObispo.com: Travel planning

Getting here by plane or train

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:50 PDT

San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport

www.sloairport.com

805-781-5205

Getting here by car or bus

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:23 PDT

San Luis Obispo County is in the heart of California’s Central Coast, about halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Highway 101 links the county with Northern and Southern California. The Central Valley can be reached from Highway 46 East in Paso Robles or Highway 166 at the southern county line.

Distances to city of San Luis Obispo

Parking your car

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:27 PDT

Parking in SLO County is not particularly difficult, though certain areas do get crowded with visitors and during events.

Free on-street and lot parking is available in most areas except downtown San Luis Obispo, which has meters and pay garages.

Most areas have time restrictions, so read the signs, and most prohibit overnight camping or parking for longer than 72 hours.

Getting around by trolleys and buses

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:26 PDT

Trolleys

SLO Downtown Trolley

The Downtown Trolley is a fun – and at 25 cents, cheap – way to get around downtown San Luis Obispo.

Getting around by taxis, limos, and rental cars

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 16:27 PDT

Taxis

New York City this isn’t, so you’re best advised to call ahead if you’re going to need a taxi.

Beach Cities Cab: 805-543-1234 – Available 24 hours a day A-1 Crown Taxi:805-739-5454 Grover Beach Taxi: 805-489-9985

Construction projects to improve county roads and highways

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 13:01 PDT

Highway 46 East:

Work to expand the dangerous, two-lane road known as Blood Alley started in 2007. Widening to four lanes from Airport Road past Union Road could be done by spring 2009 and past Whitley Gardens by 2011, though it could be a decade before it’s expanded all the way to the eastern county line.

Fatal wrecks -- including a particularly bloody year in 1995, when 14 people died -- prompted efforts to add lanes and a median divider to the road.

Amtrak on track for another line?

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:48 PDT

Local governments are being asked to express their support for a new Amtrak train service called the Coast Daylight, connecting the downtowns of Los Angeles and San Francisco by way of San Luis Obispo. The push for a new train service is under way even as the proposed train's nocturnal cousin, the Coast Starlight, has a slacker's reputation for tardiness.

The Starlight is so notorious -- Amtrak's own Web site suggests riders expect delays of six to 10 hours -- that some rail enthusiasts and riders have nicknamed it the "Coast Starlate."

The Starlight connects San Luis Obispo to the Bay Area and Southern California, as it runs between Los Angeles and Seattle. Its Bay Area stop is Jack London Square in Oakland. Riders must take an Amtrak bus or use public transit or other transportation to go to San Francisco.

Surfliner route is nation's second-busiest

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:41 PDT

Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner route between San Luis Obispo and San Diego has become the nation’s second-busiest route, behind only the heavily commuted Boston to Washington, D.C., corridor.

The route’s popularity apparently is based on several factors:

* Spectacular scenery: Much of the line parallels the Pacific coastline with views unavailable to highway travelers, such as the launch towers at Vandenberg Air Force Base and miles of beach north of Santa Barbara.

SLO wineries and a Southern California couple offer a new wine-tasting experience for L.A. tourists

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:18 PDT

San Luis Obispo wineries have teamed up with a Southern California couple to offer a new wine-tasting experience for Los Angeles tourists.

L.A.-area residents can board the San Luis Obispo Daylight Wine Lover’s Train -- a private vintage railcar called the Overland Trail -- destined for San Luis Obispo’s Amtrak station.

The railcar, owned by Bill and Debbie Hatrick, is attached to regularly scheduled southbound and northbound Amtrak trains and departs monthly from Los Angeles. During the journey, guests will eat hors d’oeuvres and sip wines from a local winery.