The Peninsula region lies immediately south of San Francisco reaching from its famous neighbor to the north to the high-tech region of Silicon Valley. While many of the Peninsula's residents work and play to the north or south, the peninsula has its attractions, including some beautiful wilderness areas.
The '''Peninsula''' has two coasts -- one on the San Francisco Bay, the other on the Pacific Ocean -- but few major cities or ports. The Santa Cruz mountains divide the region in half north-south, with a large wilderness area that's great for hiking and mountain biking.
Cities
Traveling from San Francisco to the South Bay, the main cities of the peninsula include:
Belmont
Burlingame
East Palo Alto
Foster City
Half Moon Bay
Menlo Park
Millbrae
Pacifica
Palo Alto
Redwood City
San Bruno
San Carlos
San Mateo
South San Francisco
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By air
The Bay Area has three major commercial airports:
The '''San Francisco International Airport''' (ICAO: [http://www.flysfo.com/ SFO]) is on the Peninsula near Millbrae and San Bruno.
The '''Oakland International Airport''' (ICAO: OAK) is across the bay near Alameda and southern Oakland.
The '''San Jose International Airport''' (ICAO: SJC) is at the bay's southern end between Santa Clara and northern San Jose.
All three airports are served by public transportation. The regional metro-rail service BART runs directly to SFO and connects to the commuter rail line Caltrain, as does the San Mateo County bus service SamTrans. The East Bay bus service AC Transit and a connecting bus to BART, AirBART, run to OAK. Santa Clara County's Valley Transportation Authority runs a bus (Line 10) connecting SJC with Caltrain and that county's light rail and bus system.
Motorists can reach the Peninsula from OAK by crossing the bay on the '''Bay Bridge''' (Interstate 80, to the north), the '''San Mateo-Hayward Bridge''' (Highway 92, to the south), or the '''Dumbarton Bridge''' (Highway 84, farther to the south). From SJC, drivers can take Highway 87 to US-101 northward, although avoiding 101's rush-hour traffic is often recommended. (For longer trips northward, try the scenic, parallel Interstate 280.)
Get around
By train
'''Caltrain''' runs up and down the peninsula, stopping at most major towns and serving the San Francisco and San Jose International Airports as well (via short transit connections at the Millbrae and Santa Clara stations, respectively). '''BART''' goes down the peninsula as far as the airport, terminating just past the airport at Millbrae, where it converges with '''Caltrain'''.
By Car
The two main highways running down the peninsula are 101 and 280. If you are driving from San Francisco to Palo Alto or San Jose, take I-280. It is a beautiful drive, free of advertising, well above the wilderness area. If you must drive on 101, try to avoid rush hour. The drive along the coast on State Route 1 (the Cabrillo Highway) is a beautiful, yet slow drive.
See
Do
'''San Mateo County Parks''', [http://www.eparks.net].
'''Big Basin Redwoods State Park'''
Stay safe
Be careful to check for ticks [http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/ld_prevent.htm] after hiking in fields in the bay area. There is a high rate of lyme disease transmission in the Bay Area. If a bulls' eye rash develops at the tick bite site, immediately seek medical help and treatment with antibiotics.
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