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San Joaquin Maps and Links

The San Joaquin trains run from Oakland to Bakersfield through California's central San Joaquin Valley. These trains are sponsored by the State of California and run by Amtrak.  Connecting service from the trains is provided to

• The Redwood Empire
• Gold Rush Country
• Yosemite, Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Parks
• Los Angeles

These pages will focus on the destinations both along the route as well as those which can be easily reached by Amtrak's connecting services to supplement the

• Official pages from Amtrack or Caltrans
• Amtrak California - by Caltrans (good maps for many stations are available at the website)
• Amtrak - National site with especially useful information for schedules and reservations

• San Joaquin Travelogues (including Wizzle photographs)
• Stop by Stop Information
Short Overview (if Wizzle has been there)
Local Transportation - City or County
Places to Stay in and around the Station
City or County Guides
Wizzle Recommendations
Maps for stops not covered by Caltrans or to destinations

Stop by Stop Information (North to south along the route - stations served by trains in bold with connection destinations in plain text)
 
 

Oakland	Jack London Square	Where the trains come right up the street!
	Other Attractions	Commercial site
Emeryville	Emeryville Online	Emeryville is the station Amtrak uses to connect passengers with San Francisco via the Amtrak buses.
	Emeryville Shuttle	Free and it goes near both the Amtrak and BART stations. The website has an excellent routemap and schedules
	Emeryville Net	Additional information and pictures of Emeryville - well organized and complete website
Berkeley	Bay Area Transportation	Terrific Website for transportation information about the WHOLE BAY AREA!!!! Applicable to Oakland, Emeryville, Berkley, Richmond and San Francisco.  Also has information for transportation in Wine Country (Sonoma, Napa, etc.). If you want public transportation in the Bay Area, look here first.
	Visitor's Bureau	Berkeley is home to a beautiful UC campus and has fabulous views of San Francisco from up in the hills.
Richmond	City Website	Not muc information available
	Chamber of Commerce
Martinez	Contra Costa Net	Commercial website - about the best I could do for Martinez proper whose main function is to serve as an Amtrak hub in Northern California. Only our brethern to the north could figure out such a drecky place to use for a hub, but I guess it will have to do until Sacramento gets hooked to the San Joaquins. By careful planning you can avoid this place.  Note that the Amtrak reservation system will often route you through Martinez rather than through a more interesting (and possibly cheaper) destination in which to wait for a connection. Ask your travel agent or study the schedules and maybe you can wait in Sacramento, Berkely or Oakland instead. Martinez provides connecting bus service to the Redwood Empire daily. Martinez is a stop for the Coast Starlight, the California Zephyr, and the Capitols.
Sacramento	Tour Vision	At this time Sacrmento is served on this route only by Amtrak buses (blech). But there are discussions underway between Amtrak and UP to allow Amtrak to use UP's tracks and complete this section by train. Sacramento is capitol of California and  the place where the 1848 gold rush started. It  has one of the great rail museums in the country and a charming Old Town district.  Sacramento is a stop for the Coast Starlight, Capitols and the California Zephyr so it is possible to get here by train from the San Joaquins, but it takes longer than the buses at this time. (Blech again). Write to UP!!!!  Sacramento has extensive connecting Amtrak bus service to Gold Rush Country and the Sierras (including fabulous Lake Tahoe).
	Placer County	Right in the heart of the gold rush area
	Nevada County	More great destinations in the gold rush area. Keep in mind that Gold Rush country is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The scenery is spectacular and there are many places to camp and hike between visits to the Gold Rush towns. The fall colors in the Sierras are awesome.A reminder.......while days in spring and fall may be warm, night temperature in the mountains is likely to get cool quickly.  Bring appropriate clothing.
	Old Sacramento	Detailed information about the Old Town area
Antioch-Pittsburg	TBD	No general travel links
Stockton	Stockton Net	Stockton is an inland port and probably the capital of agribusiness in California.  At present, there is a bus connection from Stockton to Sacramento which is the most direct route. Hopefully Amtrak will have access to UP's tracks in the near future.
	San Joaquin County	Area information
Riverbank-Modesto	City of Modesto	City website - includes local transportaion information.  The Amtrak station is in Riverbank.
	Visitor's Bureau	Has some nice photos
	Regional Transportation	Bus service between Riverbank and Modesto
Denair- Turlock	Turlock	How does one get to Turlock from Denair?
Merced	Visitor's Bureau	Amtrak provides connecting buses from Merced to Yosemite daily
	Yosemite National Park	Not the NPS site....but has lots of good info.....if you ever only visit ONE national park in your life it ought to be Yosemite.  It honestly looks like a Kodak picture spot.  Avoid the summer tourist season, if at all possible when the Valley is overcrowded. The Amtrak bus goes into the heart of the Valley to Yosemite Lodge which is practically next door to the Ahwhanee Lodge.  If you can afford to stay at the Awhanee, by all means do so.  If not, try to get there for Sunday brunch, which is great. The Ahwahnee is one of those fabulous lodges built during the depression.  The Ahwahnee and Timberline in Oregon are my two favorites.
	NPS Yosemite Page	The NPS has outstanding information on Yosemite and all their properties.  The NPS is the best way to spend my tax dollar that I know of! (your tax dollar too).
Madera	City of Madera	Commercial website
Fresno	Fresno On-Line	Gateway to Sequoia National Forest which has the largest tree in the world. Also the place to get off for rafting along the Kern and San Joaquin Rivers.
	FresNet Homepage	More visitor information with maps of the area, including the Amtrak station which is right in downtown.  My impression of Fresno (from a car on highway 99) has been that it is a giant strip mall.....but there are lots of interesting things in downtown! So much for "seeing the country by car." (Humpf) From the map it looks like there is a variety of lodging only two blocks from the station.
Hanford	Chamber of Commerce	Has a famous Chinese/French restaurant. I've been wanting to go here for years (last time I tried I got stuck in Visalia instead). Amtrak has connecting buses from Hanford to San Luis Obispo on the coast.
Corcoran
Wasco
Bakersfield	Visitor's Bureau	Great place for Basque food and picking your own fruit.  Amtrak provides bus connections from Bakersfield to practically everywhere in Southern California and to Las Vegas, NV as well.
Los Angeles Union Station	Wizzlog	Currently the trip from Bakersfield to LA is via one of the many Amtrak buses which meet the San Joaquin trains.  Since connecting this section by train will require a major investment to get through the Tehachapi Mountains, we will have to wait for high speed rail. Check the link for photos and detailed station information plus maps of the area and local transportation information

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