You could take Amtrak from Fresno to San Jose - ride takes about 2 hours, combo of train, then bus.

www.amtrak.com

Then you could take Caltrain from San Jose to Palo Alto. The trip takes 20-30 minutes depending on which train you get (all stops or limited stop). There is a shuttle from the PA Caltrain station to Stanford.

www.caltrain.com

Amtrak is the best way to go. You can book a single ticket from Fresno to Palo Alto.

It's also a lot faster than Greyhound, and the buses are better.

Rastaguy can you describe how the OP can book a single ticket. The Amtrak site doesn't have a station for Palo Alto so it may not be obvious how they should do this.

I was going to ask the same thing. Is there a bus connection to the train somewhere?

As best as I can tell, you'd have to take the train to Stockton and then a bus to Palo Alto.

http://www.rome2rio.com/s/Fresno-Airport-FAT-United-States/Palo-Alto

I couldn't find the single ticket on Amtrak to PA either. If that can be done, it seems like the best choice. If not, then Fresno to SJ on Amtrak and then SJ to PA on Caltrain seems like the fastest choice.

Interesting suggestion about one ticket I thought, maybe Amtrak now has an agreement with Caltrain? NO.

I can't imagine it taking two hours to get from Fresno to San Jose. High speed rail is a long way off yet and Amtrak is always late.

I looked at Amtrak. It goes from Fresno to Stockton, then you have to take a bus from Stockton to San Jose. The minimum amount of time is over 4 hours. This segment of the trip can also take over 7 hours, depending on which combination you take.

After that you still have to get to Palo Alto and Caltrain would be the best solution. The minimum travel time would be over 7 hours - if you choose the right combination. Train-bus-train.

OTOH, I also looked at the Greyhound Bus Schedule. You can get from Fresno to San Jose without having to change buses and the trip on the "Express" bus takes just slightly less than 4 hours.

The Greyhound Bus station is about a mile from the Caltrain Diridon Station in San Jose. There are frequent Caltrain trains from San Jose to Palo Alto.

If you take Greyhound and Caltrain it'll probably take you about 5-6 hours. This is a bus-train route.

I would consider how much luggage you have, the different costs, how many of you there are, and the age(s).

If there are several of you, driving will cost less and will run you about 3 hours.

I don't think the train from Fresno to the Bay Area is too bad. You'll have to take BART to get clear to Stanford, but that's a nice metro too. I live in southern California now, and I'm talking about much better public transit than what we have.

You'll have to take BART to get clear to Stanford, but that's a nice metro too.

I have no idea what this means (maybe she means "Caltrain"?) because BART only goes as far south as Millbrae.