Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I will be in the SJ/SF/Oakland/Berkeley area for 5 days by myself in early March. Need some ideas on things to do. Will have a rental car. Want to avoid SJ completely as I am just flying in there because its cheap, but will visit Palo Alto and Mountain View like I did last year (when I did not get a chance to visit SF/Oakland/Berkeley, which I want to focus on this time).
1) Is traffic worst in the SF area? I was in this area last year, but did not visit SF. Palo Alto/Mountain View area traffic was not too bad, even in the evening. SF seems like it could be bad. How about Oakland and Berkeley? Is rush hour generally the worst 4-6pm in the evenings? In the mornings, I am not too worried as I will leave around 9-10 am from my hotel(s) each day. Any highways to avoid? Tolls?
2) Are there parts of Oakland that I should avoid even driving through at night? How about in the daytime? I like walking through sketchy neighborhoods, playing chess there etc... but not if they are crazy sketchy like Detroit.
3) Parking seems pretty expensive almost everywhere, even in hotels I am bidding on Priceline for one night in downtown SF. Can I park my car at BART stations for free and are those lots safe? I might need to park my car for 4-6 hrs at a stretch in various areas throughout the cities I visit, so besides BART, any recommendations in SF/Oakland/Berkeley will be helpful. I know what to do in Palo Alto and Mountain View:-)
4) I need to do some work on my laptop, and like working from very LARGE coffee shops with free wifi, people watching, decent eats nearby etc.. Any recommendations in SF/Oakland/Berkeley besides just looking through Yelp? Are there places in Berkeley where I will see lots of college students or people who are starting up their own companies? I want to do some networking and possibly hire an app designer down the road.
5) Any places like Palo Alto or Mountain View, where people from the IT industry congregate in?
6) Any recommendations on bars (any great nightspots like Capitol Hill or Belltown in Seattle)?
7) Is there any kind of 1 week BART/train and bus pass that allows for commuting all over the Bay Area?
Any other useful advice whatsoever would be much appreciated.
Last edited by usernametaken; 02-22-2013 at 03:43 PM..
We have the worst traffic in the whole U.S. according to recent studies. It's a tie with LA.
I would avoid Oakland all together. It's just not a safe city overall. Day or night.
San Jose is pretty boring overall and doesn't have much to see.
San Francisco I would spend my time there, there is just so much to see and do in the city. Enough to take up 5 days, go over to Marin etc. I own a home over there. Great food, Great views of the city. Just a lovely place.
3) Parking seems pretty expensive almost everywhere, even in hotels I am bidding on Priceline for one night in downtown SF. Can I park my car at BART stations for free and are those lots safe? I might need to park my car for 4-6 hrs at a stretch in various areas throughout the cities I visit, so besides BART, any recommendations in SF/Oakland/Berkeley will be helpful. I know what to do in Palo Alto and Mountain View:-)
7) Is there any kind of 1 week BART/train and bus pass that allows for commuting all over the Bay Area?
Driving in SF is a hassle and parking is almost nonexistent and/or expensive. Park outside the city and take BART into SF and Oakland. Getting around on public transit isn't that hard. There are many hotels south of SF near the airport where you can park for free and they have shuttles to the nearby BART station
BART has NO passes. SF Muni (bus, light rail and cable car) has 1, 3 and 7 day passes good only in SF. Most public transit stops running about midnight to 1AM.
Not much to see in Palo Alto or Mountain View, it's all suburbia. In San Jose, there is the Tech Museum The Tech Museum of Innovation. Not much in Oakland. Oakland has all the warmth and charm of some rust belt city back east. In SF, the tech companies are around 6th and Market (Twitter, ZenDesk) and other places south of Market (SOMA).
I would avoid Oakland all together. It's just not a safe city overall. Day or night.
Not true at all!
OP, what kind of stuff do you like to do?
Try Uptown, lots of bars, interesting architecture. Go around Telegraph/17th. Lots of activity. I like Make Westing, Dogwood, Flora, and Plum Bar in that general vicinity. Also check out the Fox Theater, amazing Art Deco building.
You can also head over to Grand Avenue/Macarthur: Grand Lake Theater, Boot and Shoe Service and Monkey Forest Road, and Camino.
I don't know what you mean about "walking around dangerous areas" you'll need to clarify.
Another fun spot? The Claremont Hotel. Lovely views of SF on a clear day!
The Oakland Museum is Great! ONe of my favorites in the region, exhibits of all types. Definitely fun to visit.
Off the beaten path in SF? Check out the Cartoon Art Museum. It is very conveniently located and lots of fun.
I will be in the SJ/SF/Oakland/Berkeley area for 5 days by myself in early March. Need some ideas on things to do. Will have a rental car. Want to avoid SJ completely as I am just flying in there because its cheap, but will visit Palo Alto and Mountain View like I did last year (when I did not get a chance to visit SF/Oakland/Berkeley, which I want to focus on this time).
1) Is traffic worst in the SF area? I was in this area last year, but did not visit SF. Palo Alto/Mountain View area traffic was not too bad, even in the evening. SF seems like it could be bad. How about Oakland and Berkeley? Is rush hour generally the worst 4-6pm in the evenings? In the mornings, I am not too worried as I will leave around 9-10 am from my hotel(s) each day. Any highways to avoid? Tolls?
2) Are there parts of Oakland that I should avoid even driving through at night? How about in the daytime? I like walking through sketchy neighborhoods, playing chess there etc... but not if they are crazy sketchy like Detroit.
3) Parking seems pretty expensive almost everywhere, even in hotels I am bidding on Priceline for one night in downtown SF. Can I park my car at BART stations for free and are those lots safe? I might need to park my car for 4-6 hrs at a stretch in various areas throughout the cities I visit, so besides BART, any recommendations in SF/Oakland/Berkeley will be helpful. I know what to do in Palo Alto and Mountain View:-)
4) I need to do some work on my laptop, and like working from very LARGE coffee shops with free wifi, people watching, decent eats nearby etc.. Any recommendations in SF/Oakland/Berkeley besides just looking through Yelp? Are there places in Berkeley where I will see lots of college students or people who are starting up their own companies? I want to do some networking and possibly hire an app designer down the road.
5) Any places like Palo Alto or Mountain View, where people from the IT industry congregate in?
6) Any recommendations on bars (any great nightspots like Capitol Hill or Belltown in Seattle)?
7) Is there any kind of 1 week BART/train and bus pass that allows for commuting all over the Bay Area?
Any other useful advice whatsoever would be much appreciated.
1) Traffic on the 80 through Berkeley is terrible during rush hour, as is traffice on pretty much all of the 101. The Richmond Bridge is the only bridge where long lines at the toll plaza are rare.
2) Oakland has a lot to offer. Most of the places you would go as a tourist are fine to drive in at night and walk in during the day. There are some neighborhoods that are as sketchy as Detroit (but less abandoned). The only place I can imagine an out of towner being drawn to in the sketchy neighborhoods is the Coliseum. Do not walk anywhere near the Coliseum at night.
3) Parking in SF is insanely expensive. BART stations won't let you park overnight. The east bay generally has cheaper parking (and cheaper hotels).
4) For coffee shops in Berkeley with lots of students, try Cafe Strada or Cafe Mediterraneum
5) I'm not in IT industry
6) Primary bar section of bay area is the SF Mission - also a very good area to meet young people from tech industries.
i'm heading "home" to the city tomorrow after having been gone over 12 years. this "no parking in the city or insanely expensive" will have to step aside cuz i intend to have clam chowder on the wharf and REAL sourdough bread!! wish me luck. then i'll head south cuz a) it's cheaper and b) it's not so crazy/congested and c) that's the real reason i'm going!
i'm a native of the bay area and certain parts of oakland were quite fine. if you want fancier, jack london square is good. a family tradition we had was dinner at spengers in berkeley. Spenger's Fresh Fish Grotto - Berkeley
and i was reading about a vegan restaurant in oakland that i'd love to try. alameda is kind of quaint, marin has all kinds of great places, and downtown oakland has a good music theatre - Welcome to the Paramount Theatre, Oakland, California
i didn't spend a lot of time in oakland at night but as a single female i did feel quite safe parking and walking to the paramount theater.
Although Oakland can't match San Francisco, which is a world-class metropolis, I have to laugh at the ignorance of people who recommend avoiding the entire city of Oakland. It's a huge city with good and bad neighborhoods.
For one thing, the downtown and uptown areas have some amazing urban art-deco architecture that is rare in SF, so if you're a city planning buff or enjoy that sort of thing, just walk around there and check out cool places to eat and drink. If you enjoy urban hipster culture, you'll love the area.
Jack London Square has nice waterfront scenery and some nice restaurants, including SF celeb-chef Daniel Patterson's Haven (who also owns Plum and Plum Bar in Uptown), Bocanova, and Forge. There is also a cool wine bar nearby in the warehouse district called Encuentro that's really packed. And Chop Bar is an industrial-chic local fave in the area. Also, SF's famed Blue Bottle Coffee and Miette Bakery actually have their roastery and bakery in the area, so be sure to pick up a cupcake at Miette's shop and walk over to the REAL Blue Bottle and hang out.
Piedmont Avenue has block after block of cute shops and great restaurants, including Michelin-starred Commis. The same chef also owns a funky Asian street-food place downtown called Hawker Fare, with graffiti murals and $10 rice bowls with unique ingredients. And don't miss Fenton's Creamery on Piedmont Ave (worth a drive just for that), of Pixar's "Up" movie fame.
Walking around Lake Merritt is gorgeous, with Mediterranean views to one side and the skyline to the other. It's packed during the day with joggers, and a weekend farmers' market at the famous art-deco Grand Lake Theater (great for old movies) is a treat. There are two streets of shops and restaurants in the Grand Lake area as well, with more well-known restaurants like Boot and Shoe Service (one of the best pizza places in the Bay Area, with a great back patio), Camino, and a few others. Also, check out Oaktown Spice Shop, an apothecary-type store for spices that opened last week. On the shores of Lake Merritt is also a great place for a drink and a view: Lake Chalet. A gorgeous restaurant with huge decks over the water. And check out the Lake Merritt Garden Center with botanical gardens including rare toipcal palm trees in the Palmetum.
The Oakland Museum of CA has been mentioned, and it is well worth the visit. Some of the best collections of California based art and photography in the country, and a large museum. I saw a Pixar exhibition there once.
Oakland Chinatown is smaller but more authentic than SF. The markets are cool, and Martin yan's favorite place, Shan Dong, makes its own noodles.
Rockridge and Elmwood districts are more upscale and yuppie, with shops like Goorin Bros. Hats, AG Ferrari foods, salons, boutiques, and such, with many nice restaurants, and the Rockridge Market Hall, which is a European style market with bakery, cheeseshop, coffee bar, butcher, etc. Oliveto restaurant abuts it, and is one of the best Italian restaurants in the Bay Area.
All that said, if you have only FIVE days, focus on SF. So scenic, so colorful, so interesting, nothing else will rival it.
In fact, I'd instead go over the bridge to Marin and drive along the coast to Stinson Beach and take a stroll on the sand. If you're forgoing the city's urban pleasures for something else, I'd choose scenery over a second-rate city.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
then i'll head south cuz a) it's cheaper and b) it's not so crazy/congested and c) that's the real reason i'm going!
