Originally Posted by
whenismynextvacation
Flying in from New York in November for a split stay between Carmel Valley Ranch (will be staying here first) & Ventana Big Sur (finishing my stay here). Which airport would you recommend flying into/out of? It seems like I have direct flight options into both SFO/SJC, or I can do a layover to fly into MRY (two hour layover). I would also be renting a car for the duration of my stay & most likely picking up / dropping off at the airport (unless people strongly recommend otherwise) if that info influences any decision.
Don't eliminate SFO too quickly. Usually the bad peninsula traffic can be avoided by heading to 280 from the airport and taking it south to either 17 or 101 south of San Jose. It is a bit further to VBS compared to SJC, but the extra time will probably be less than the time you'll spend flying if you have to take a connection to get to SJC. I've also found picking up rental cars at SFO to be relatively painless if you're a member of one of the rental car programs and can skip the lines at the counters.