Davis (California)



Davis is in Yolo County in the Sacramento Valley of California. Davis is best known for the university located there, the University of California Davis.

By car
Davis is on Interstate 80, which runs between the Bay Area and Sacramento and beyond. Headed west from the Bay Area you will want to take Highway 80 heading East to Sacramento. From Sacramento or the Lake Tahoe area take 80 West towards San Francisco. Take the UC Davis Exit to get to campus and the Mondavi Center, or Richards Blvd or Olive Drive to go downtown.

By train

 * Routes stopping in Davis:
 * Coast Starlight operates daily between Seattle and Los Angeles. Stops include Tacoma, Lacey, Centralia, Kelso, Vancouver, WA, Portland, Salem, Albany, Eugene, Klamath Falls, Dunsmuir, Redding, Chico, Sacramento, Davis, Martinez, San Francisco (Emeryville), Oakland, San Jose, Salinas, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Simi Valley, Van Nuys, and Burbank.
 * California Zephyr operates between Chicago and San Francisco Bay area, and the Coast Starlight route between Los Angeles and Seattle.
 * Capitol Corridor trains run several times per day between Sacramento, San Francisco Bay area and San Jose. Tickets from the Bay Area cost approximately $50 round trip.
 * Capitol Corridor trains run several times per day between Sacramento, San Francisco Bay area and San Jose. Tickets from the Bay Area cost approximately $50 round trip.

If you are flying into San Francisco, Amtrak is the best way to get to Davis. From SFO airport, take the BART subway to Richmond. Exit BART and then take the stairs or elevator up to the Amtrak platform. The Richmond station is unstaffed, so Amtrak tickets can be purchased on board the train for no additional fee.

By plane
Although UC Davis has its own (small) airport, it is really only possible to reach Davis by plane through commercial airports. The closest option is Sacramento International Airport, from which one can then take a shuttle or taxi to Davis. A cheaper alternative is to take Yolobus. For $1.50 the #42 bus will take you to downtown Davis. You can then either utilize Unitrans, the local bus service or take a taxi to your destination. The airport is approximately a 30-minute drive from Davis.

The Oakland and San Francisco  airports are also options for people who wish to visit the Bay Area as well as Davis. If your trip itinerary does not include the Bay Area, however, then SMF is the best option for commercial air travel to Davis. Amtrak trains are available from Oakland and San Francisco.

The Davis Airporter is another option for people flying in commercially. While it provides service to your front door and is available at all hours of the day and night, it is considerably more expensive than public transportation.

By bus
Davis is not served by long-distance buses, but nearby Sacramento is a hub for Greyhound. There are daily buses from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Reno and even Vancouver, in Canada. If travelling from nearby cities, Yolobus runs hourly buses from Sacramento and also multiple daily buses from Vacaville and Woodland.

Get around


Davis has the highest per capita number of bikes of any city in the U.S. It's the preferred method of transportation for most students and locals due to the prevalence of bike paths and the relative flatness of the area. Downtown is also very pedestrian friendly. The UC Davis campus and the heart of the downtown area run alongside one another and it's easy to stroll through both in a couple of hours.

Unitrans, the local municipal bus system, also runs quite frequently. For undergraduate students riding is free, for everybody else (including graduate students) a single journey costs $1. Probably the worst way to experience Davis is by car. The huge numbers of bikers and pedestrians make driving slow and tedious at many times throughout the day.

See



 * Davis Wiki: for more information about what to do and see in Davis, including event listings and reviews of local restaurants.













Do

 * Become a student. Davis is ranked as the second most educated city in the United States according to CNN Money Magazine and it shows. The downtown area is very youthful and is peppered with bars, coffee shops, and restaurants that are popular among the college crowd. The city of Davis is very conducive to college and graduate school lifestyles.









Eat
One thing Davis is not short on is restaurants. Whatever your taste, Davis has a means to at least attempt to satisfy your hunger.

Most restaurants are in the downtown area, with the majority being within a few square blocks. Fast food restaurants are clustered near the Mace Blvd and Richard Blvd exits off of the freeway. There are also several restaurants in the shopping centers that ring the town. Other notable restaurants that are not in downtown include Osteria Fasulo, a fancy Italian restaurant located in the Village Homes neighborhood.

Mexican




Farm stands
Davis is right in the middle of farm country and has access, as you might expect, to a variety of farm stands.



Sleep
There are multiple hotel options in Davis. There are several hotels in downtown, a cluster of hotels off the Richards Blvd exit, a cluster of hotels near the Mace Blvd exit (on Chiles road), and one hotel actually on campus (the Hyatt), which is directly across from the Mondavi Center. All of the hotels in downtown are within walking distance of campus.

Downtown Davis








Go next
Davis is nearby to both the San Francisco Bay Area (particularly the East Bay and Berkeley) and Sacramento; the Amtrak line goes to both places. It is also situated roughly in the middle of California when driving north to south on Interstate 5, perhaps from Mount Shasta to Los Angeles. Davis is also only an hour away from Napa Valley, and only a few hours away by car (or by Amtrak) to Yosemite National Park. Davis is about 1.5 hours to Lake Tahoe and two hours from Reno.