My girlfriend is from Los Gatos, CA and I'm gonna go visit her in the next week. Can you guys recommend anything worth seeing in that area? Literally all I can think of is Google and The Tech Museum...
yeah, i know a place there, its a <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HTN6Du3MCgI?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HTN6Du3MCgI?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
San Jose has nothing except for the Sharks (hockey). SF: explore the city, Warriors game, Alcatraz, walk across Golden Gate bridge, go for a hike in the surrounding area.
If you like tech stuff, you would enjoy the Exploratorium and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Google is actually a pretty boring visit, and unless you know someone there, you can't even get into their buildings anyway (last I checked.) A drive up highway 1, from Santa Cruz to Daly City, especially with the sun out, is a fantastic trip. Take a break about halfway at Duarte's for some excellent soup, fried calamari, followed by pie.
The alternate take is: make Fisherman's wharf your last stop and your last priority. If you want to visit cool neighborhoods in SF, do North Beach and/or the Mission. Take a walk down Valencia St. from like 17th to 24th and back.
Take the boat across to Tiburon. A drive to Stinson Beach. no shortage of stuff in SF. San Jose? not so much.
I've only been to San Jose one time, to visit the Winchester Mystery House. I've been to San Francisco 3 times, and have personally experienced all the things I'm suggesting. There's really way too much to do. San Jose Winchester Mystery House San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge Golden Gate Park Alcatraz Blue & Gold Fleet Cruise Pier 39 Shopping (touristy area) Aquarium of the Bay Chinatown Japantown Ghiradelli Square Exploratorium / Palace of Fine Arts Union Square (retail shopping) Lombard Street Ride a Cable Car San Francisco Zoo Sausalito (dining and shopping) Muir Woods
San Jose has nothing to see, I would kill myself if I had to live there As for San Francisco, just walking around the city, you will find tons of things to see and do, along with all the stuff everyone has been listing already
San Jose gets a bad reputation next to San Francisco, but it (and Oakland too) are pretty interesting if you have a lot of time to find the interesting stuff. If you're into Indian food and Indian markets, for example, SF has almost nothing, whereas San Jose and parts of the east bay have vibrant Indian and Pakistani communities. Don't y'all get mad, but I kind of compare San Jose to Houston in one way. Visitors would be like WTF is there to do here? But if you have a local guide, it can be incredibly fun. But as everyone is saying in this thread, if you just have 1-3 days, go with San Francisco.
San Jose doesn't have a whole lot to do. Make the 45 mile drive from Los Gatos up to the city instead Marina Golden Gate Bridge Marin Headlands Golden Gate Park (lunch @ Beach Chalet) Land's End North Beach, Lombard Street Ferry Building Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower Union Square Also tons of cool places to eat here, especially in the Mission.
Depends on what things you like to do. In San Jose you have the already mentioned Tech Museum (used to be a docent there), Winchester Mystery House, and HP Pavilion (where the Sharks play), but if you like the outdoors there are many great places to hike and mountain bike (Henry Coe State Park, Forest of the Nisene Marks, Soquel Demonstration Forest, and a number of great parks along Skyline Boulevard). A bit of a drive takes you to Santa Cruz, Monterey, or Carmel, while close by you have Los Gatos and Saratoga (all good tourist places with shops, restaurants, and bars). In San Francisco, you have lots of things to do and see. I was born in The City and still enjoy doing tourist things with my family: park near Fisherman's Wharf, eat walk-away crab cocktails and Boudin bread and sandwiches, walk to the Cannery and end up in Ghiradeli Square for hot fudge sundaes and hot chocolate, take the cable car down town or head into Chinatown for dim sum. I like the ferry suggestion to Tiburon, and if you are into the outdoors you can take bikes over to Angel Island and ride around. Or head north to the wine country. heck, its only a 4 hour drive to great skiing and gambling at Lake Tahoe. The Bay Area is a great place to visit. Have fun.
The ferry to Tiburon for drinks at Sam's is a great idea if it's sunny out. Only problem is that it's been raining incessantly here for the past month, so might need to look into that first.
Wtf? San jose is pretty awesome. Pay me $20 and I'll take you on a tour of my high school in which you can observe the 90% asian student population in their habitat.
