Inner East Bay

The inner East Bay is a dynamic, diverse stretch of urban fabric across the bay from San Francisco. Though this area can be grittier than the outer East Bay on the other side of the Berkeley Hills, its extraordinary patchwork of cultures and history means you'll never run out of new things to discover in this often underappreciated part of the Bay Area.

Cities

37°45′0″N 122°11′17″W

Map of Inner East Bay

There is no countryside between many of these cities, listed here from north to south. One city blends into the next in a continuous urban fabric stretching from Richmond to Fremont and beyond.

38.0044-122.29111 Pinole – a small suburban town on San Pablo Bay
37.9358-122.34782 Richmond — World War II industrial history and nature parks with great views of the bay, plus the charming Point Richmond neighborhood
37.916-122.3113 El Cerrito
37.8869-122.29784 Albany
37.8708-122.29285 Berkeley — city of about 100,000 people, long home to hippies and a world-class university.
37.838-122.2976 Emeryville – a suburb of Oakland that's home to Pixar, big chain stores, and a hub for Amtrak
37.807-122.2697 Oakland — the biggest city in the East Bay, with cultural and culinary diversity to rival San Francisco
37.77-122.278 Alameda — a city on an island near Oakland; lively neighborhoods and lovely walks along the bay
37.725-122.15619 San Leandro — small city with a cherry farming heritage, nestled between Hayward and Oakland
37.6942-122.086410 Castro Valley — in the foothills of the Diablo Range; east of Hayward
37.6689-122.080811 Hayward — city north of Fremont and south of Oakland near the San Francisco Bay
37.6-122.08912 Union City — city between Fremont and Hayward
37.53-122.00313 Fremont — one of the largest cities in Alameda County, Fremont has more than 200,000 people, and also has a history going back more than 200 years
37.5333-122.033314 Newark — city on the San Francisco Bay near Fremont

Other destinations

37.5-122.11671 Don Edwards San Francisco Bay Wildlife Refuge (Fremont/Newark). (updated Aug 2018)

Understand

Climate

The area's climate is moderated by the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay and receives fairly consistent temperatures year-round (with the exception of summer heatwaves). Snow is virtually unheard of.

There is a wet season and a dry season. The wet season peaks from the months of December to February, while rain is rare to impossible in summer months.

Get in

By BART

From San Francisco, the Peninsula, San Jose, or the outer East Bay, you can use the BART rail system, which connects many of the Bay Area's cities. The trains go across San Francisco and then through a tunnel underneath the San Francisco Bay to get to Oakland.

By car

Entering the inner East Bay by car can be easy or difficult, depending on which road you take and at which time you take that road. Some major roads, particularly I-680 and I-580, often have traffic jams due to the great number of commuters that live in and around this region.

If you are entering from the south, the main route is through San Jose to Fremont. A couple freeways go this way: I-680 and I-880.

From the east, the main routes are I-80, CA 4, CA 24, and I-580.

Finally, from the west, you will need to cross one of the toll bridges over the San Francisco Bay (mostly $7 as of 2022). You can take the San Rafael–Richmond Bridge from Marin; the Bay Bridge, which goes from San Francisco to Oakland via Yuerba Buena Island; the San Mateo–Hayward Bridge, which goes from San Mateo to Hayward right across the bay's middle section; or the Dumbarton Bridge, which is near the southern end of the bay.

By train

Amtrak serves a major station in Emeryville and also stops in Oakland and Richmond.

By plane

The main airport in this area is Oakland Airport (OAK^IATA), but also nearby are the San Jose (SJC^IATA) and San Francisco (SFO^IATA) airports.

By bus

From Marin County, Golden Gate Transit bus 580 is likely the easiest way to get here without a car. It goes from San Rafael to El Cerrito Del Norte BART station. Other buses from the North Bay serve the same hub; see El Cerrito for details.

If coming from Palo Alto (including Stanford University) on a weekday, consider the Dumbarton Express to Union City with connections to BART.

From anywhere else in the Bay Area, buses are unlikely to be your best choice unless you're traveling an unusual route or it's very early in the morning before BART starts running.

Greyhound buses serve Oakland, Berkeley, Hayward, Richmond, and that same El Cerrito Del Norte bus hub.

Get around

See also: Bay Area public transit

Public transit in this area is surprisingly decent by American standards, so you may find that you're best off visiting without a car, especially if you're not going too far off the beaten path. That also allows you to avoid the bad traffic and unfortunate risk of car break-ins.

BART, the Bay Area's rapid transit system, is centered on this region, with every BART line going through it. AC Transit provides extensive bus service. There are only a few notable destinations without any transit service, mainly military history sites.

Google Maps is pretty good for transit directions in this area, but its real-time bus statuses are not always accurate. For AC Transit, use the ACT RealTime website to see how soon the next bus is coming.

The region also has a strong biking culture, and new bike lanes are continually being added.

See

Views of the bay from parks in Richmond, Berkeley, Emeryville, and Alameda.
Museums, especially in Berkeley and Oakland
Interesting and creative public art, like the miniature houses in Little Point Richmond, huge murals in Oakland, and ever-changing junk art at the Albany Bulb
World War II history sites in Richmond, Oakland, and Alameda

Do

Performances, music, urban sightseeing.

Since it's wedged between the hills and the bay, this region has hiking trails and beaches as well. For hikes, try Richmond, Berkeley, Oakland, Hayward, or Union City, and for a stroll along the bay go to Pinole, Albany, or Alameda. But you'll find bigger, wilder, and more beautiful expanses of nature in the less dense parts of the Bay Area.

Eat

Since this is one of America's most ethnically diverse regions, almost any kind of cuisine can be found here: Mexican, Salvadoran, soul food, Korean, Japanese, Ethiopian/Eritrean, Vietnamese, Chinese (Cantonese, Sichuan, northern, or Americanized) – and those are just some of the most common. Curious foodies are sure to be able to find a cuisine they've never tried before, with lesser-known options like Liberian, Tanzanian, Algerian, Cambodian, Argentinian, or Mexican-French fusion. It's a very cosmopolitan region, and one with a passion for food.

Stay safe

Both traffic accidents and crime are concerns in this area.

Roads

There are several highway interchanges that are fairly difficult to navigate, and are therefore a hotspot for accidents, so be careful when driving through them. These include:

I-80/I-580/I-880 in Oakland, known colloquially as "The Maze"
I-880/I-238/Washington Ave in San Leandro

Crime

Be cautious exploring these cities during the night.

When driving, it is imperative that you do not leave anything visible in your car whenever it is parked, not even loose items or cellphone mounts. This is an invitation to thieves to smash your windows and ransack your car.

Richmond has high rates of homicide, robbery, assault, rape, carjacking, and other violent crimes, and visitors should exercise extra caution. Fire dangers at refineries in the county have on rare occasions caused alerts where residents were told to "shelter in place" and avoid unnecessary outdoors excursions due to the potential for hazardous fumes - if you hear a warning siren immediately check the news for instructions.

Go next

This region travel guide to Inner East Bay is a usable article. It gives a good overview of the region, its sights, and how to get in, as well as links to the main destinations, whose articles are similarly well developed. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.