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Distance between San Jose and San Francisco

Driving non-stop from San Jose to San Francisco

How far is San Francisco from San Jose? Here's the quick answer if you make this quick drive without any stops. Of course, traffic is going to make a big difference so make sure you check that before leaving.

Nonstop drive: 48 miles or 77 km

Driving time: 50 minutes

Even on a short drive, it might be more interesting to stop along the way and explore the local area. You can scroll down to see the calculation if you drive with stops.


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Flying non-stop from San Jose to San Francisco

Now let's assume you have a private jet and you can fly in the fastest possible straight line between San Jose, California and San Francisco, California. Because of the curvature of the Earth, the shortest distance is actually the "great circle" distance, or "as the crow flies" which is calculated using an iterative Vincenty formula.

Flight distance: 42 miles or 68 km

Flight time: 35 minutes

The straight line flight distance is 6 miles less than driving on roads, which means the driving distance is roughly 1.1x of the flight distance.

Your plane flies much faster than a car, so the flight time is about 1/1th of the time it would take to drive.

This is a relatively short flight in a private plane, but you might be planning to book a commercial flight. In that case, your travel time would really need to include how many minutes to get to your local airport, wait for security, board and taxi on the runway, land at the other airport, and get to your destination.





San Jose to San Francisco road trip

Let's say you're actually planning a road trip to San Francisco, and you want to stop on the way to explore. If it's a real road trip, you might want to check out interesting places along the way, or maybe eat at a great restaurant. That's what Trippy is perfect for, helping you figure out travel plans in detail.

Road trip: 1 day of driving

With the full itinerary planned out, we can estimate your total travel time for this trip.

Travel time: 2 hours on the road


Itinerary

Start in San Jose.

Drive for about 22 minutes, then stop at Fu Lam Mum and stay for about 1 hour. Next, drive for another 11 minutes then stop in Palo Alto and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 16 minutes then stop in Redwood City and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 15 minutes then stop in San Mateo and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 14 minutes then stop in Millbrae and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 11 minutes then stop in South San Francisco and stay for 1 hour. Drive for 17 minutes then stop at Mission District and stay for 1 hour.

Finally, drive for about 5 minutes and arrive in San Francisco.


To see all the details on this itinerary, including recommended restaurants, hotels, and things to do along the way, check out the full road trip planner:





Plan a trip to San Francisco

Trippy has a ton of information that can help you plan your trip to San Francisco, California. Start by reading the Trippy page on where to stay in San Francisco, or find out how many days in San Francisco to visit. Trippy has an entire Q&A community where you can post questions and get answers from expert travelers or locals who know the area. For instance, you might be interested in the answers to this question: Top things to see in San Francisco & San Jose?. If you're looking for a place to stay, you might want to check out Top of the Mark. A great place to eat might be Ike's Place. Trippy members can suggest things to do in San Francisco like Golden Gate Bridge. Check out some of the questions people have asked about San Francisco like Best seafood restaurant in S.F.?. Click the button below to explore San Francisco in detail.





How far is it the other way?

The distance is the same either way if you're flying a straight line (or driving the same roads back and forth). But for a real trip, there can be plenty of differences so go ahead and check the reverse directions to get the distance from San Francisco to San Jose, or go to the main page to calculate the distance between cities.

If you happen to know San Jose, don't forget to help other travelers and answer some questions about San Jose!





At a Glance
without making any stops
total driving distance is 48 miles
driving time of 50 minutes
flight distance is 42 miles
flight time of 35 minutes
44 San Jose travel answers
655 San Francisco travel answers








   
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