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Old 07-09-2012, 07:55 AM
 
56 posts, read 93,508 times
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Hi everyone,

We will be visiting in a couple weeks and will be taking the drive from San Jose to San Francisco. Are there any little interesting stops along the way or do we just take the drive straight away on the 280? Since we'll be passing if there's anything to see I wouldn't mind stopping. Thank you!
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Old 07-09-2012, 09:24 AM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA
936 posts, read 2,060,055 times
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The best thing about that route is just the scenery along 280. But if you want to stop there's a lot of suburbs with nice little unique downtowns along the way. Like Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Mateo and so on. But those would be more convenient via the 101. You could theoretically easily make a day of checking out each town on the way up but I would just head straight for SF if I were you. An alternative for a scenic drive up to SF would be to take 17 south from San Jose to Santa Cruz, check out that beachy town for an hour or two, then head up the coast along highway 1 and check out half moon bay and perhaps Sam's Chowder House for lunch-killer lobster rolls. It will certainly take longer as highway 1 winds along the coast and is by no means Straight or direct but it's worth it if you have the time! It probably takes 2 hours as opposed to 1 hour along 280 or 101.
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Old 07-09-2012, 10:29 AM
 
Location: Bay Area
3,981 posts, read 8,955,314 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mamajoy View Post
Hi everyone,

We will be visiting in a couple weeks and will be taking the drive from San Jose to San Francisco. Are there any little interesting stops along the way or do we just take the drive straight away on the 280? Since we'll be passing if there's anything to see I wouldn't mind stopping. Thank you!
I don't know your situation but if you have younger kids, then definitely make a stop to Coyote Point (which they've apparently renamed).. CuriOdyssey | Touch science. Meet animals.

It's a great way to spend an hour or so. Or if you're looking for a pretty drive along the coast stop off at this place during lower tide! Friends of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
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Old 07-09-2012, 11:31 AM
 
Location: surrounded by reality
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Previous posters are absolutely right in that most of the interesting stuff is on US-101, not on I-280. But if you really want to stop for a cup of coffee and a muffin and explore a tiny bit, I would suggest Woodside Bakery in Woodside or Konditorei in Ladera/Portola Valley.
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Old 07-09-2012, 12:20 PM
 
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Originally Posted by mamajoy View Post
Are there any little interesting stops along the way or do we just take the drive straight away on the 280? Since we'll be passing if there's anything to see I wouldn't mind stopping. Thank you!
There's the rest stop with the statue of Junipero Serra just north of Bunker Hill Dr. There are great scenic views at this location.

Famous rest stop reopens
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Old 07-09-2012, 01:19 PM
 
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All the suggestions to this point are pretty good, but one more possible route is taking Skyline Blvd./Summit Rd. (CA-35, California State Route 35 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) most of the way up to SF from San Jose. It is one of the most scenic ways to go with great views of the Santa Cruz mountains, the redwood forests at the top of the mountains, and (since you're driving around 1,000 - 3,000 feet most of the way) tremendous views of San Jose/Silicon valley and the peninsula when the forest opens up.

This obviously would be more of a scenic/nature trip and would be longer than 101 or 280 (by distance and time), but you'd have plenty of parks and open spaces to check out on the way up (OPENSPACE | Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District), my favorites being Windy Hill, Russian Ridge, and Purisma Creek Redwoods. If you did choose to go Skyline/Summit (CA-35), you could either get there by CA-17 (Santa Cruz Highway) or CA-9 further north.

The nice thing about Skyline Blvd./Summit Rd. is that you don't have to go all of the way to SF on it (although, one can, if they choose to). When you get to CA-92, you can either:

- head down the hill east towards San Mateo (and could check out Coyote Point like Clongirl suggested) and then take 280, 101, or Skyline Blvd up to SF;
- or you could alternatively head west toward Half Moon Bay and the ocean (stopping at the various Half Moon Bay sites, such as Sam's Chowder house (which, as a warning, is ridiculously crowded on the weekends)), and then take CA-1 all of the way up the coast to SF.

You have a lot of good options for getting from SJ to SF, but if I were to rate them, I'd rate them the following ways (in order of quickest routes by distance/time):

101 - By far the least scenic, boring, straight and quickest route. Advantage is the convenience of being able to get off the road quickly to see some of the small peninsula downtowns (Mountain View, Palo Alto, Redwood City, San Mateo, Burlingame being the best). Although it's usually the quickest route, if driving during rush hour, very prone to backups/traffic congestion and can become the slowest route.

280 - More scenic than 101 (driving through valley adjacent to Santa Cruz mountains), but more removed from the peninsula downtowns (although, not that far removed), still somewhat quick to get to SF. Have quick access to some small towns, such as Woodside, and can get off at Canada road for a little scenic side trip to see the filoli house or the Pulgas water temple.

CA-17/CA-9 to CA-35 (Skyline/Summit) - Very scenic drive through the Santa Cruz Mountains, with options of stopping at scenic parks/opens spaces on the way. Can mix route either with CA-1 along the coast, or if more of a hurry can hop on 280 or 101 at CA-92. Along with CA-1, this is one of my favorite drives in the Bay Area.

CA-17 to CA-1 - Very scenic drive along the ocean. Longest route to SF (both by time and distance), but lots of beaches/nature to see. Have the option of some parks along the way (Big Basin, Pescadero/San Gregorio state beaches, Purisma Creek, McNee Ranch State park/Montara mountain). Not many towns until you get to Half Moon Bay/Pacifica, though. Along with Skyline, this is one of my favorite drives in the Bay Area.


Obviously, you'll have to decide how much you have time for, but there isn't any shortage of options of things to do on the way. If you're more concerned about just getting to SF, than obviously try the quicker routes, but I don't think you'd be that disappointed if you decided on a more scenic route.

Last edited by HockeyMac18; 07-09-2012 at 01:29 PM..
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Old 07-09-2012, 01:28 PM
 
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Besides Woodside there are places like Portola Valley, Belmont's Carlmont district, and the whole set of communities at the North End of 280 before entering into the City.

There are also some destination type places such as Stanford Univ, Villa Filoli and the several Vista Points.
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Old 07-09-2012, 02:26 PM
 
24,328 posts, read 26,735,248 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mamajoy View Post
Hi everyone,

We will be visiting in a couple weeks and will be taking the drive from San Jose to San Francisco. Are there any little interesting stops along the way or do we just take the drive straight away on the 280? Since we'll be passing if there's anything to see I wouldn't mind stopping. Thank you!
Depends on what you want... shopping, hiking, dining etc?
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Old 07-09-2012, 05:38 PM
 
56 posts, read 93,508 times
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Great! Thank you everyone for the awesome suggestions. I will take the advice and begin my research so we can plan our day. We are traveling with 3 children, ages 16, 10 and 3. How exciting!!
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Old 07-09-2012, 08:30 PM
 
Location: South Korea
5,242 posts, read 13,033,778 times
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Flintstone House!
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