Travel Info for Out of Towners
AIRPORTS:
Fly into Oakland (OAK, closer to Berkeley) or San Francisco SFO. Both airports are very accessible by public transportation.
The UC Campus is about 15 minutes walk (slight uphill) from Downtown Berkeley BART station.
San Jose airport (SJC) is VERY far away (1+ hr) by car and long ride (2+ hrs) on public transportation.
SFO:
Arrivals at SFO:
Earliest possible-- 5:30am during the week, 7:07am on Sat, 9:15am on Sun
Latest possible-- 1:30am every day
Getting to/from Berkeley:
BART (subway type train) about 65-75 mins ride to Downtown Berkeley BART station from or to SFO one way (Costs $8.80 one way)
For getting to/coming back from SFO, check potential flight times with BART operation. BART is NOT 24 hour operation and has different schedule times on weekends and weekdays. Check their schedule on their website: http://www.bart.gov/
Be wary of transfers on BART, pay attention to operator's announcements on trains.
Departures from SFO:
Earliest possible-- 4am during the week, 6am on Sat, 8am on Sun
Latest possible-- 11:53pm every day
Oakland [OAK]
Oakland airport is also accessible by public transportation via a BART ride (30 mins from Downtown Berkely) to Oakland Coliseum and 12 mins shuttle ride on AirBART (bring exact cash of $3 one-way for the shuttle).
In the event that somehow all other late-night options for getting back from the airport fail, AC Transit bus service using the 805 and 800 will get you back to the Berkeley BART station in an hour and twenty minutes.
Getting Around Once You're Here:
Parking can be difficult in Berkeley. But if you're coming by car Click here for info on parking
We recommend traveling on public transportation: BART, SF Muni (San Francisco bus system), AC transit (East Bay bus).
Some useful websites:
http://visitors.berkeley.edu/gethere/public_transit.shtml
http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/gsac/campus_city/public_trans.html
Hotels
Hotels nearby UC Berkeley campus via Yelp search:
http://tinyurl.com/9p43bb6
http://gif.berkeley.edu/documents/Berkeley_Hotel_Guide.pdf
I know that Hotel Shattuck is a VERY nice but expensive hotel.
Avoid Nash Hotel (University Avenue).