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Old 04-30-2018, 11:35 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,193 posts, read 107,809,412 times
Reputation: 116092

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Quote:
Originally Posted by the topper View Post
No Japanese Tea Garden? What about the one in Kelly Park? Huge Parks? Guadalupe and Kelly Park.
Sad. This is just sad. But at least you love your town! Good for you. But in terms of attractions, it just doesn't compare with SF. Nothing does, except maybe Manhattan. And IMO, SF's natural setting is much more beautiful. Not to mention the redwood forests, a hop, skip an a jump a way. OK, in San Jose, you can claim proximity to Big Basin. That's something, I'll give you that. NYC doesn't have that.
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Old 04-30-2018, 01:26 PM
 
3,335 posts, read 2,923,136 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
Sad. This is just sad. But at least you love your town! Good for you. But in terms of attractions, it just doesn't compare with SF. Nothing does, except maybe Manhattan. And IMO, SF's natural setting is much more beautiful. Not to mention the redwood forests, a hop, skip an a jump a way. OK, in San Jose, you can claim proximity to Big Basin. That's something, I'll give you that. NYC doesn't have that.
You need to visit SJ more often. Nothing beats Manhatta, at not SF for sure, but San Jose easily can.
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Old 04-30-2018, 01:47 PM
 
351 posts, read 341,980 times
Reputation: 764
Quote:
Originally Posted by the topper View Post
You need to visit SJ more often. Nothing beats Manhatta, at not SF for sure, but San Jose easily can.
I've visited SJ. It's boring. The end.
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Old 04-30-2018, 06:51 PM
 
Location: Seattle, WA
456 posts, read 774,092 times
Reputation: 331
We recently spent a family vacation in SF with our 9 and 11 year old kids. Overall it was a good trip and worth it for the sights but homelessness was particularly concentrated over the core and a bit hard to avoid. (Worst experience was tripping on vomit coming out of the light rail on Market st.) My advice is despite the large number of hotels and convenience of the location don't stay in union square.
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Old 04-30-2018, 09:34 PM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California
522 posts, read 736,197 times
Reputation: 638
Quote:
Originally Posted by Commonproject View Post
I've visited SJ. It's boring. The end.
Same. It's not a bad thing. San Jose is a giant suburb, nothing wrong with that, but if you're trying to compare it directly with San Francisco for an urban experience, it's nowhere near comparable. San Jose has a really nice downtown, and a stadium. Compare yourself to Sacramento, that's a fair match up. San Francisco, and even Oakland/Berkeley have much more to do for tourists than SJ. Come on, man.
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Old 04-30-2018, 09:49 PM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,193 posts, read 107,809,412 times
Reputation: 116092
Quote:
Originally Posted by PixelatedTherapy View Post
Same. It's not a bad thing. San Jose is a giant suburb, nothing wrong with that, but if you're trying to compare it directly with San Francisco for an urban experience, it's nowhere near comparable. San Jose has a really nice downtown, and a stadium. Compare yourself to Sacramento, that's a fair match up. San Francisco, and even Oakland/Berkeley have much more to do for tourists than SJ. Come on, man.
Oakland has attractions I never knew about! I've gotta go visit that redwood park! And I love the Oakland Museum! They do a great job. I haven't been to Lake Temescal since I was a kid. I should go back, for old times' sake. . Tilden Park is great for kids. And the Exploratoriium up at Lawrence Hall of Science.

You're right, Pix! Berkeley/Oakland could be fun for a family vacation.
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Old 04-30-2018, 09:59 PM
 
Location: San Diego CA>Tijuana, BC>San Antonio, TX
6,498 posts, read 7,527,078 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by calgirlinnc View Post
We are considering Northern California for our vacation this year...we can get great prices on flights to SFO...and although my husband and kids have been to many typical bucket list destinations, they have never been to San Francisco or Northern California in general.

We could spend two nights in the city before heading out to other places such as Carmel, Yosemite, etc.

However I read such horror stories about the city now that I'm unsure whether to go there at all.

We have a 15 yo son and an 11 yo daughter.

Thoughts?
Your kids are at an age where they might enjoy the city experience more than the forests, I know I would have at 15.
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Old 04-30-2018, 10:21 PM
 
Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California
522 posts, read 736,197 times
Reputation: 638
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
Oakland has attractions I never knew about! I've gotta go visit that redwood park! And I love the Oakland Museum! They do a great job. I haven't been to Lake Temescal since I was a kid. I should go back, for old times' sake. . Tilden Park is great for kids. And the Exploratoriium up at Lawrence Hall of Science.

You're right, Pix! Berkeley/Oakland could be fun for a family vacation.
UC Berkeley itself and Telegraph Ave are also awesome! Lake Merritt is great, too! Downtown Oakland has a ton of stuff to do now and there's Jack London Square!

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Old 05-01-2018, 10:02 AM
 
Location: State of Transition
102,193 posts, read 107,809,412 times
Reputation: 116092
Quote:
Originally Posted by PixelatedTherapy View Post
UC Berkeley itself and Telegraph Ave are also awesome! Lake Merritt is great, too! Downtown Oakland has a ton of stuff to do now and there's Jack London Square!

The UC campus is like a park! I've taken international visitors through there, and they've been enchanted. I always enjoyed the campus anthropology museum, too. And yeah, Telegraph Ave. is like a blast from the past, from the 60's. Except Cody's Books is no longer there. . But Moe's is. And they have a better book inventory than ever before, since they've been cashing in on the online bookseller boom, via Amazon. I need to explore Oakland more, too.
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Old 05-01-2018, 12:47 PM
 
45 posts, read 55,078 times
Reputation: 46
I live in Pacifica and work in downtown San Francisco. AVOID Civic Center and Powell (forget the cable cars) because there are hundreds of filthy, dangerous, cracked out, meth heads and heroin addicts shooting up all over the place. If you want to go downtown, go straight to Embarcadero and walk the Ferry building to Pier 39/Ghiradelli. Don't even bother using BART Civic Center or Powell Stations. If you are going downtown to shop (I don't see any reason to do this), use Montgomery Street and walk a bit more. It's not worth dealing with the Market Street/Civic Center/Powell vile-ness. Chinatown is fine for an hour or so but I'd bypass it and stick to the waterfront. I have lived here since 1979 and it's so bad downtown now. Haight Street has a scummy element (lots of homeless kids) but the hippie and punk shopping is really fun for kids. Will smell marijuana everywhere. Noe Valley/Castro is more upscale. In SF, drive up to Twin Peaks on clear day to see the whole Bay Area. Don't bother if it's foggy. Do the drive from SF to Santa Cruz along highway one. The city really sucks, no parking, etc....If you want to see the city without hassle, take a hop-on, hop-off bus but don't hop off at Civic Center/Powell.
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