GENERAL INFORMATION

Symposium Site

The symposium will be held at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The closest airports are the San Francisco and Oakland International Airports.

Hotel Accommodations

All conference attendees should make their own accommodation arrangements. Blocks of rooms have been reserved at the following hotels for a special group rate. Please phone the hotels directly to make your reservation. To ensure receiving the special rates, mention the INTERNATIONAL GROUNDWATER SYMPOSIUM.

Please check deadlines for room reservations for each hotel. Rooms may not be available after those dates.

Holiday Inn Express
1175 University Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702
(Special early morning and late afternoon shuttle buses will be provided to and from LBNL on meeting days.)
Phone: 1.510.548.1700
$118/night (includes continental breakfast)
Single Occupancy
Deadline for Room Reservations
February 24, 2002

Hotel Durant
2600 Durant Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94704
(Near University Campus and regular LBNL bus stop - very convenient)
Phone: 1.510.845.8981 or 1.800.238.7268
$118/night
Single Occupancy
Deadline for Room Reservations
February 24, 2002

Radisson Hotel Berkeley Marina
200 Marina Blvd
Berkeley, CA 94710
(On Berkeley Marina, San Francisco Bay, very nice location - not so convenient without a car. However, special early morning and late afternoon shuttle buses will be provided to and from LBNL on meeting days.)
Phone: 1.510.548.7920 or 1.800.243.0625
$118/night
Single Occupancy
Deadline for Room Reservations
March 3, 2002

Maps & Transportation to the Laboratory

View a list of maps on how to get to Berkeley Lab and environs. View a map of the Bay Area.

Transportation

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is 25 miles away. Click here to view transportation from SFO.

Oakland International Airport (OAK) is served by most major air carriers (AA, UA, Delta, Continental, Alaska) and low-cost carriers such as SouthWest Airlines and Jet Blue. Transportation from OAK includes shuttle, local buses and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART).

Public Transportation - BART provides frequent train service between San Francisco and all points in the East Bay. Local buses (A/C transit) serve all points in the East Bay and San Francisco. An Amtrak station is in nearby Jack London Square. View public transit information for the entire San Francisco Bay Area.

Getting to the Conference

Shuttle service in the early morning and returning in the late afternoon will be provided for the Radisson Hotel Berkeley Marina and the Holiday Inn Express.

The Durant Hotel is one block away from the LBNL shuttle stop, which runs every 10–15 minutes between university campus and LBNL.

Dining and Culture

No visit to the Bay Area is complete without sampling its wide range of fine foods. LBNL's restaurant web site provides an extensive list of places in Berkeley and North Oakland. Many local restaurants are listed on SFGate's East Bay Neighborhood site.

The Oakland Museum of California is located in downtown Oakland, accessible by BART or automobile. Also in Oakland, the beautifully renovated Art Deco Paramount Theater of the Arts is on 21st St. and Broadway. In Oakland's Jack London Square, Yoshi's is one of the Bay Area's leading jazz clubs, as well as a fine Japanese Restaurant. At UC Berkeley, Cal Performances offers concert and dances at the Zellerbach Auditorium and elsewhere on the UC Campus. The Berkeley Repertory Theatre is an award winning region theater group in downtown Berkeley. Across the Bay in San Francisco, late March is the season for the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Hall and the San Francisco Ballet at the Opera House. There are other plays and concerts throughout The City. Check SFGate for listings. And for something that is uniquely San Francisco, try Beach Blanket Babylon.

Bay Area and Northern California Sights

Late March is the perfect time to visit the Bay Area and Northern California. It is at the end of the rainy season, which colors the Bay Area's golden hills green and brings copious amounts of snow to the Sierra Nevada for skiers. Average high/low temperature for March is 62/46 F, with rainfall averaging 3.24".

Recreation and sightseeing possibilities in the greater San Francisco Bay Area are endless!

Nearby Destinations

Berkeley, home of the University of California at Berkeley, the Lawrence Hall of Science and LBNL, is known for its cultural diversity, art, beautiful parks, innovative businesses, and friendliness amongst neighbors. The Gourmet Ghetto, on Shattuck Avenue between Virginia and Rose, and the new 4th Street shopping/dining area on 4th and Hearst are well worth a visit.

San Francisco is only 25 minutes away by BART from the conference site. The cable car terminal, Union Square, Geary Street theaters, SF Museum of Modern Art, and the Metreon entertainment and dining complex are a short walk from the Powell Street BART station. The City is also accessible by ferry from Jack London Square.

Parks, including Marin Headlands, Point Reyes National Seashore, Muir Woods National Monument, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the East Bay Regional Parks, offer scenic hiking and biking trails.

Further Away

Napa and Sonoma are world-class wine regions are about an hour drive north of Berkeley.

Monterey, with its world-famous aquarium, and Carmel are less than 3 hours drive southwest of Berkeley.

Sierra Nevada Ski Resorts and Recreation Area are 3 hours drive east of Berkeley on I-80 (north Lake Tahoe) or US-50 (south Lake Tahoe).

Yosemite National Park is only a five hour drive away.