A Day In San Jose CA
 

We will be in San Jose for several days and have a free day. We would like some suggestions of what we can do within a reasonable travel distance. We have been to San Francisco and have seen the touristy things. Any suggestions??

It's fun to visit the small local charming mountain towns or Los Gatos and Saratoga---also many great restaurants in both for lunch and dinner. Also, it's fun to go to Santa Cruz if you already haven't been there. And the small charming beachside town of Capitola. Will you have enough time to drive to Monterey, Carmel, Pacific Grove, Pebble beach or even Big Sur? You can't beat that area for scenic beauty.

Sorry about the typo: or Los Gatos means of Los Gatos.

Oh, I forgot: the Monterey Bay Aquarium is fabulous.

What are your interests? Art, beach, shopping? Kids? What day of the week do you have free?

Santana Row is fun with lots of nice shops and restaurants - music in the square sometimes
Also love Los Gatos - more great shops and restaurants

Capitola is a cute little beach town -
I recently went kayaking on Monterey Bay - went with a guide - very fun

The Santa Cruz mountains are another option - redwood trees, small towns, good hiking, wineries.

The coast north of Santa Cruz is nice too - near Davenport, Pescadero, and Half Moon Bay. It isn't as spectacular as Big Sur, but it has some nice beaches for beachcombing and picnicking, nice sweeping views, a couple of neat towns along the way.

I agree with all the replies. I love Capitola, and Shadowbrook is special for dinner. http://www.shadowbrook-capitola.com/

Not knowing what you like, in San Jose a couple of interesting places are the Rosecrucian Museum http://www.egyptianmuseum.org/, and the Rose Garden http://heritageroses.us/. Also, perhaps the Tech Museum http://www.thetech.org/.

Agree that the Santa Cruz mountains are interesting. The railroad in Felton is fun to ride through the redwoods, http://www.roaringcamp.com/, and you can take a ride to the boardwalk at Santa Cruz. http://www.beachboardwalk.com/

Thanks for the ideas.....are considering Monterey ...someone suggested the aquarium

Am dredging up this older thread to share thoughts on San Jose's attractions, which were recently visited. Within the city itself, one can spend a couple days via public transport or perhaps one day if renting a car to see various things.

--Winchester Mystery House. Several miles west of downtown. Definitely the most eccentric Victorian residence I've ever toured, unusual for its relatively small rooms, low ceilings, and doors and windows and stairs that lead to nowhere or open onto nothing. Very ornate in a decidedly offbeat way, and has a nice garden and outbuildings. Enjoyed the tour a lot. Liked this.

--Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Approximately halfway between downtown and the Winchester House. The building is at one end of a curious park filled with garden areas and faux Egyptian trappings. Museum has a lot of smaller items (jewelry, papyrus, burial items, pottery) and a clutch of larger sarcophagi and mummies. Unfortunately, its underground burial chamber and most all of its larger items are fakes, mostly reproductions of famous pieces in the Louvre, British Museum, or Victoria and Albert Museum. I guess if you never plan to go to these European musts, it makes sense to see copies, but it wasn't clear to me what was so great about this. Not a big fan.

--San Jose Museum of Art. Located right downtown. Modest sized museum with a good permanent collection mostly consisting of post-modernist painting and sculpture, much of it by artists with California ties, and much of it of good quality despite the lack of brand names. Enjoyed this.

--Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph. This is right across the street from the art museum. A good church to see, has a larger dome in back that's a little like that of Florence's Duomo and spires up front that suggest a take on Spanish mission ideas. Inside, decoration seems somewhat recent but tasteful, with plenty of attractive frescoes and stained glass.

--San Jose Historical Museum. This is located at the south end of Kelley Park, about a mile or more southwest of downtown. It consists of several old area buildings that have been moved to this central location. There are among other things several Victorian era homes, a hotel, a stable, blacksmith's shop, migrant farm worker shacks, firehouse, church, fruit barn, and Chinese temple. Some are open and contain such things as a candy shop, souvenir shop, small art gallery, and tiny and somewhat eccentric museums. Pleasant to visit.