We are planning a trip to san francisco in October. I would like to see filoli and the
winchester mystery house. Are these sights good at that time of year(filoli) or too cheesy to bother?(mystery house)

I would call Fioli as they were closed last time we were there. Winchester Mystery is cheesy, but our family loves it anyway. It is not a place I would visit over and over, but if you have a builder in the family, it's a must see.

I have been to both filoli (www.filoli.org) and the Winchester Mysterey House (www.winchestermysteryhouse.com) and would recommend visiting both of them. I usually take out of town guests to both of these places and they always have found them to be interstting places to see.

We visited the WInchester Mystery House a few months ago. We didn't originally plan on going, but we ended up with a few hours to kill, so we took the tour. It was ok- not fantastic, but it was an interesting place to visit.

I'm afraid David will disagree with me, but I don't think the Winchester Mystery House is worth a trip from San Francisco to see. There are very interesting Victorian houses in San Francisco and tours available. It's a bit more than an hour's drive south of the city to the WMH, and you could get caught in some nasty commuter traffic.

Filoli might not be too spectacular in October, but they do have flowers in bloom all year round. Definitely call ahead. If you don't get there before noon you won't have enough time to look around before they close at 1:30pm (some days). They are beautiful gardens and a lovely drive down the 280 freeway from SF. Do plan your trip around the commuters, and allow about an hour to get there.

Susan,

While I do agree that there are nice Victorian homes in SF, the Winchester Mystery House is a unique place because of the superstitions of Sarah Winchester and the story about how the mansion was designed and built.

Patty: what day and time were you planning on going to San Jose? If it is a weekday, I would leave SF after 9 AM to miss the commute heading into the city. 280, which is a scenic freeway, would be the best route to take.