Before you book a car at SFO
A cab from SFO to the pier, metered on SFMTA’s rates, should cost about $50 to $65 by our arithmetic. Renting for a day to cover those 16 miles is about $88 at our assumptions. Even for four, one cab is about $50 to $65 and a bigger car about $99, before you’ve returned it. A car kept for the week is worse — about $668 for two at our assumptions, and by the Port’s account the terminals have no temporary or overnight parking.
A car is worth pricing if
- Muir Woods, Napa or the coast is the day before or after
- The trip carries on by road once the ship is done
- You’re arriving from Sacramento or Reno by road
Skip it if
- You land and head straight for the ship
- It would sit in a lot, or in hotel valet at $55 to $107 a night
- You’d be returning it on a weekend afternoon, after Enterprise and Sixt at the Wharf have closed
Start with the car you’d rent after the ship
| Plan | Two of you | Four of you | What it costs you |
|---|---|---|---|
| A car for after the cruise only | Price a downtown desk | Price a downtown desk | No airport charges, and the rental days start when you need them |
| Taxi or BART both ways | $100 to $130 by taxi | $100 to $130 by taxi, one cab | No car to return |
| A one-day car, SFO to the pier | $88 | $99 | You pay for a car and barely drive it |
| The car kept for 7 nights | $668 | $760 | Eight days of rental plus seven in a lot, and the Port offers no parking of its own |
Two of you are priced at $50 a day and four at $60 for a bigger car, with a placeholder airport charge, the 3.5% California assessment and fuel. Off-site parking for the kept car is an assumed $25 a day — one third-party site lists lots by the pier from $20, and the Port publishes no rate. Illustrative
The car is for the days after the ship, not the ride to it.
So price a downtown pick-up for the morning you disembark, with SFO as the return. That skips the airport charges — and the meter starts only when you need the car. The after-cruise page has the desks and the drives.
The costliest plan is the one where the car sits. The Port has no temporary or overnight parking to offer and no luggage storage; its one pointer is to two lots run by Metropolis, at 55 and 80 Francisco Street, which need a reservation and come with no published rate.
How you actually reach Pier 27
| Option | Cost | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| BART from SFO | We couldn’t read the fare | Boards on Level 3 of the International Terminal, about 30 minutes to downtown; the first trains leave at 4:58 AM (weekdays), 5:47 (Saturday) and 8:08 (Sunday) |
| A metered taxi | About $50 to $65 before tip | The meter opens at $4.15 and adds 65 cents a fifth of a mile, SFO pick-ups carry a $6 surcharge, and there’s no flat fare. Our arithmetic on 15.6 miles, with traffic extra, gives the range |
| Uber or Lyft | No fare to the pier is published | Open the app and read the quote. In an SFMTA pilot, an Uber request can also be matched with a taxi |
| A rental car for the ride | $88 for a one-day car | Priced at $50 a day (our assumption), plus a placeholder airport charge, tax and fuel |
| A cruise-line transfer | None found | No cruise line’s SFO transfer price turned up where we looked |
Drawn from SFMTA, BART, SFO and the Port on Sept 28, 2026; the taxi range is our own sum on SFMTA’s metered rates, not a quote. Mixed; see notes
Nothing here comes from SFO’s own ground-transport pages, which our tools couldn’t open. As a result we can’t tell you the rideshare level, the shuttle status or the AirTrain hours.
Taxis and vehicles may drop passengers at the terminal hall entrance.
The Port puts the walk from the Embarcadero BART and Muni station at about 20 minutes.
So the transit trip is BART to Embarcadero, then a short ride or a long walk — Pier 27 sits well north of the station.
If the night before is in a hotel by the water, that page has the rates.
Is Oakland worth the detour?
| What we found | |
|---|---|
| The rental center | Free shuttles from Terminals 1 and 2 reach the center at 7600 Earhart Road in under 10 minutes. Nine brands operate there |
| Counter hours | Hertz, Dollar and Thrifty keep 6 AM to 1 AM, Avis and Budget 6 AM to 11 PM, and Enterprise, Alamo and National 7 AM to 10:30 PM |
| By BART | About 9 minutes to the Coliseum station, where you change for San Francisco. The first weekday train is at 4:59 AM, and Sunday service starts at 8 AM |
| By ferry | SF Bay Ferry from Oakland to Downtown San Francisco is $5.10 for a 15 to 25 minute crossing, and Pier 27 is then a long walk with bags |
| By car | 20 miles, about 34 min, our estimate, over the Bay Bridge |
Sources are Oakland International Airport, BART and SF Bay Ferry, Sept 28, 2026; we couldn’t confirm a BART fare, and a 2014 press-release fare is too old to print. Fare unconfirmed
Oakland works, but it’s the longer way in.
The drive crosses the Bay Bridge, which charges $8.50 westbound, into San Francisco.
Per the Golden Gate district, most rental agencies levy a convenience fee for using their tolling programs, so ask what yours adds on a Bay Bridge crossing.
That’s a reason to return the car in Oakland, not to drive it over on sail day.
Two bridges, one direction each
On our route the drive from SFO to Pier 27 crosses no toll bridge. The one from Oakland does — $8.50 in 2026 is the westbound-only toll on the Bay Bridge and the other state bridges we checked.
The Golden Gate is all-electronic and bills southbound traffic only, into San Francisco.
Since July 1, 2026, a 2-axle car has three prices there — $10.25 if you have FasTrak, $10.50 with a license-plate account, and $11.25 if the bridge invoices you.
What each rental company adds on top of a toll is in the bridge tolls table.
Weekend afternoons are the hard part
| Return to | Hours | From the pier |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise and Alamo, 350 Beach St | Weekdays 7:30–5, weekends 7:30–3; after-hours returns listed | About 1 mile to Pier 27 |
| Avis, 500 Beach St | Daily 7–7; Budget in the same building closes earlier | About 1.2 miles |
| Sixt, 1365 Columbus Ave | Daily 8–3; no drop box; $99 to return late to SFO | About 1.3 miles |
| Avis and Budget, 5 Embarcadero Center | Avis 7–7 daily, closing Oct 31; Budget weekdays 8–4:45, weekends 8–11:45 | About 1.3 miles |
| Back at SFO | Avis and Budget list 24 hours; Enterprise lists 6 AM–11:59 PM | BART or a taxi to the pier |
Each company’s location page supplies the hours; the distances are our estimates. Checked Sept 28, 2026
Land on a weekend afternoon and Enterprise and Sixt at the Wharf are closing at 3 — Sixt charges $99 for a late return.
Return it at SFO, or hold it overnight and hand it in before you board.
Only two desks in this table list after-hours returns: Enterprise’s Wharf branch and Budget at Embarcadero Center. Union Square’s Enterprise, Sixt and the Howard Street Avis say they don’t, so treat a drop box as a hope, not a plan.
The full trip, taxi against car
Four of you, a 7-night cruise, SFO both ways — change any figure, and enter the quotes you actually get.
The rental, line by line
The $60 base rate is ours, picked for a group of four that needs a bigger car — use the rate you’re quoted instead, since none of this is a quote. Discover Cars’ Sept 25 to 27, 2026 listings ran from $39 a day at San Francisco Airport and $37 downtown, and its own page describes the prices as approximate. For SFO pick-ups, the $26 contract charge is a placeholder (Budget’s $10 and a third-party guide’s $16) and the 11% concession fee is an assumption; SFO’s site was closed to our tools. The 3.5% California tourism assessment is the whole tax line here. The sources disagree on sales tax — if a line for it appears on your quote, enter the amount in the fee box. Fuel: 30 mpg, with the gallon at AAA’s Sept 28, 2026 San Francisco average of $6.56. For the kept car we count eight days of rental against a 7-night sailing, with seven days of assumed $25 off-site parking, a rate the Port doesn’t publish.
The two input rows are yours to fill.
Type your own Uber and BART numbers, then hold them against the taxi. They’re the only ones we can’t give you.
The search that matters
Run it from the desk you’d actually use — a downtown pick-up for the morning you get off, with SFO as the return.
Then run the same dates from the airport to see what the airport charges add. Set both against the taxi at about $50 to $65 and a BART fare you look up yourself.
- Pick-up: San Francisco Airport
- Drop-off at SFO or a downtown desk
- Taxes and fees itemised up front
- Cancel for free until 48 hrs before pickup
For what a one-way rental costs, see our one-way guide.
Whatever the total says, read the desk’s weekend hours before you pay. Enterprise and Sixt at the Wharf close at 3 on weekends.
SFO, Oakland and the pier: your questions
How far is SFO from the San Francisco cruise port?
It’s about 16 miles and 27 minutes to Pier 27 by our route estimate, with no traffic. A metered cab comes to about $50 to $65 before tip on SFMTA’s rates (our arithmetic), and BART reaches downtown in about half an hour.
Can I rent a car at SFO and drop it at the San Francisco cruise port?
There’s no rental counter at the pier, so the drop-off is a downtown desk, such as Enterprise and Alamo at 350 Beach Street. One-way pages for San Francisco weren’t readable for any brand, so a drop fee isn’t something we can quote. The quote is where you’ll find it.
Is it sensible to keep a rental through a San Francisco cruise?
The Port offers no parking at the terminals, and it publishes no rate for the Metropolis lots it lists. Eight days of rental plus seven in a lot come to about $668 for two at our assumptions.
Is Oakland airport a good way to reach a San Francisco cruise?
It works, but it’s the longer way: about 20 miles and 34 minutes by car with no traffic, or BART to the Coliseum and on, or the SF Bay Ferry at $5.10. The Bay Bridge toll is $8.50 westbound.
More on renting around a San Francisco cruise
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