Directions to the Ginzton Lab from SFO

(Courtesy of professor Anthony E. Siegman)

By Taxi or Airport Limo

There are airport van shuttle services from San Francisco or San Jose airports which will take you door-to-door to Bay Area and Stanford addresses, notably the SuperShuttle service with blue vans available at several locations in the center island on the upstairs roadway at San Francisco airport (not on luggage claim level downstairs). Allow an hour or somewhat more, including waiting time for an available van; fare is around $20.

Inquire at the airport concerning taxi fares; probably $40 or up from SFO airport to Stanford, and similarly from San Jose airport.

By Train from San Francisco

There is train service roughly every hour from San Francisco to Palo Alto (though the San Francisco train terminal is in an inconvenient location some distance south of Market Street). Travel time is roughly an hour. From the Palo Alto station to the Ginzton Lab can be a pleasant 15 minute walk or a short taxi ride, or telephone the person you're visiting for pickup.

Inquire at the airport concerning taxi fares; probably $40+ from SFO airport to Stanford.

By Automobile

  1. Via the Bayshore Freeway (Highway 101; slightly faster):
    Take Bayshore Freeway (Hywy 101) south from San Francisco or the San Francisco airport, or north from San Jose, to the University Avenue exit and exit west toward the foothills. (There may be a slightly confusing area just after you exit the freeway):

    • Follow University Avenue through downtown Palo Alto (multiple traffic lights), under an overpass, over an underpass, and onto the campus, where University Avenue becomes Palm Drive. Stay in the center lane once on campus.

    • After passing through a traffic light at Palm Drive and Arboretum Road on campus, move into the right lane and turn right onto Campus Drive at the next stop sign intersection.

    • Follow Campus Drive to the right through several stop signs to Via Ortega (this will be the first stop sign just after Campus Drive curves to the right). Turn left on Via Ortega and follow further directions below.

  2. Via the Junipero Serra Freeway (Highway 280; much more scenic):
    This route is recommended only from San Francisco or the SFO airport, not San Jose, as from San Jose it's substantially longer than Highway 101. Also note that from the SFO airport the signs to Highway 280 actually lead you north (to the right) a short distance before crossing over Highway 101 to Highway 280.

    • Take Freeway 280 south from San Francisco, or north from San Jose, to the Alpine Road exit. (Note that in coming from San Francisco, you'll pass over the SLAC Stanford Linear Accelerator structure just before coming to this exit.)

    • Exit on Alpine Road. Turn left if you're coming from San Francisco, or right if coming from San Jose, and follow the winding road a mile or so to the first traffic light.

    • Turn right at this first traffic light onto Junipero Serra Boulevard.

    • After following Junipero Serra for about a mile, with the Stanford Golf Course visible on your left, turn left at the first traffic light onto Campus Drive West.

    • Follow Campus Drive through three or four stop signs to its intersection with Via Ortega and turn right onto Via Ortega.

  3. From Via Ortega: Finding the Ginzton Lab (the hardest part):

    • A short distance after you turn from Campus Drive onto Via Ortega you'll come to a stop sign at Via Pueblo. Proceed through that stop sign and pass behind the Ginzton Lab on the left. Aften passing behind the Ginzton Lab there are two options:

      1. f there seem to be available spaces, turn left into the second or third entrance to the large parking area on the left and park in any aisle that's marked as a "C" (not "A") parking area. Then come inside and we'll give you a parking sticker.

      2. Alternatively, proceed to the large multi-story parking structure you'll see ahead on the right. Inside this structure either park in one of the metered spaces on the main level (bring quarters!) or drive up to the second or higher levels and park in any of the "C" spaces.

    • From the parking lot you can reach a rear entrance to the Ginzton Lab in the near left corner near Via Ortega. From the parking structure, you should walk back out on the Via Ortega side and look diagonally 45 degrees left across the parking lot for a low structure with a lot of ventilating ducts on the roof. That's the Ginzton Lab. Cross the street and reach the same rear entrance.