Transportation
Abhayagiri Monastery is located about 2.5 hours north of the San Francisco Bay Area. If booking a flight, San Francisco and Oakland are the largest airports within 3 hours of the monastery. Sacramento and Santa Rosa airports are also convenient, but with limited service compared to SFO or OAK.
Public Transport
Please note that it is not possible to travel from the SF Bay Area round trip to Abhayagiri by public transportation in one day; it requires at least two days if coming from more than one and a half hours away. If you are staying at Abhayagiri overnight, in a nearby hotel, or friend’s home near the monastery, you can use the following information to travel here by public transport. We apologize, but due to the number of guests frequenting the monastery, we do not coordinate rides or go to Ukiah/Redwood Valley to pick up or drop off guests.
The closest city to the monastery with many services is Ukiah which is about 15 miles away. There are daily regional bus routes to Ukiah; from there, a taxi, Uber, or Lyft can cover the remaining distance.
Public Transporation from the San Francisco Bay Area to Ukiah:
Amtrak and Greyhound both provide service from San Francisco and the East Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, etc.) to Ukiah, CA. The Greyhound Bus from San Francisco to Ukiah does not run on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Please see the “From Ukiah” section below for further information on how to travel from Ukiah to the monastery.
Golden Gate Transit (route 101) provides service from San Francisco to Santa Rosa, CA (about 90 miles from the monastery). Please note: the schedule needs to be changed to northbound by clicking the right side drop down menu. There is a Monday to Friday schedule and a Saturday to Sunday schedule. To link up wth the MTA Route 65 CC Rider to get to Ukiah (see below) one must arrive at the 2nd Street Transit Mall in Santa Rosa by 1:45 pm.
Sonoma County Airport Express provides service from San Francisco Airport and Oakland Airport to the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, CA (about 90 miles from the monastery). To link up wth the MTA Route 65 CC Rider to get to Ukiah (see below) one must arrive at the Sonoma County Airport by 2:00 pm, Monday to Saturday.
Mendocino Transit Authority provides local bus service (Route 65 “CC Rider”) from Santa Rosa to Ukiah, CA, Monday to Saturday. . This bus will stop in Ukiah where a taxi or Uber can take you the rest of the way to the monastery (about $40-$50 in 2022). This bus does have a stop at the West Rd. exit of Hwy 101 (cloer to the monastery). Please keep in mind that this stop on West Road has no service and is more than a 7 mile walk from the monastery.
Renting a Car from SFO (or elsewhere) and Dropping It off in Ukiah on the Same Day:
Although this is more expensive than using public transport, it allows for much more flexability:
If you feel comfortable renting a car from San Francsico International Aiprport (SFO), you can do that through either Enterprise or Hertz, both of which have rental locations in Ukiah. Thus, you can pick up a rental car the SFO and drop the car off on the same day in Ukiah by selecting: “different drop off location.” To do this, you will usually pay 2x-3x more than the normal daily cost to rent a car. Enterprise tends to be about 25% cheaper than Hertz when last checked in 2022. The total cost for this in 2022 was $150 for the one day rental (you willl also need to pay for a taxi/Uber from Ukiah - see below)
If you take public transport to Ukiah, it is more time restrictive, but will cost about $35 to $60 depending on which option you choose.
From Ukiah
If you have managed to piece together the bus routes in order to get to Ukiah, the easiest option from there is to take a taxi, Uber,
Overnight guests are welcome to park vehicles at the monastery in the case that renting a vehicle is practical. San Francisco, Oakland, and Santa Rosa airports have rental car agencies; as well as Ukiah.