During my stay in San Francisco I have won`t have a rental car.

But I would love to go to
-Pumpkin festival in Half moon bay
-Mall in Milpitas
-Fleamarket in San Jose

Do you know if the public transport to these places is good?

Thanks for answering
Gabriele
Germany

Sorry for my english. Correction: "I won`t have a rental car"

Don't waste your time in Milpitas or the flea market in San Jose. Simply a complete waste of time. For example, the so -called "flea market" in San Jose is no longer a "flea market". It's all permanent stalls of junk.

Much more to do in the San Francisco area than waste your time on this commercial "stuff".

I agree with Curious above. The Milpitas Mall is just an ordinary outlet mall, and the SJ flea market is junk (lots and lots of it), unless you're shopping for furniture upholstered in plastic.

The Pumpkin festival might be interesting (and very crowded), but I have no idea about transportation from SF to HMB. Get there early. Maybe someone else will post.

The pumpkin festival in Half Moon Bay is not, as far as I know, accessible by public transport. I suggest you contact the SF visitor's bureau for information on that.

The Mall in Milpitas? The fleamarket in San Jose?

Are you a "troll" as they say on the Thorn Tree?

Maybe she likes malls and flea markets. People do, you know. A lot of somebody(s) are keeping these places busy.
I suggest you contact the festival organizers, GabiStephan.

Hi Gabi, If you have more information you might decide if you really want to go to these three places after all.

The Pumpkin festival is very crowded to get to unless you go really early. It's in a town called Half Moon Bay which is on the coast. I'd guess it's about 40 to 60 minutes south of SF, by car, depending on where you are coming from and how early you start. Thousands of people go each year and have a terrific time. Not sure how you would get there without a car.

Milpitas is about 60 minutes south of SF if you had a car. You can take BART from SF to Fremont and then take a bus. This would be time consuming but if you have lots of free time then that's okay. If you are expecting a GREAT mall you will be disappointed. My friend calls it the Mediocre Mall. Personally, I would probably never take a visitor there and I live 5 miles away. I go about 3 times a year.

The fleamarket in San Jose is about 10 or 15 minutes (by car) south of the Milpitas mall. It could also be reached by taking BART to Fremont and then a bus to a stop right across the street from the fleamarket. I live about 2 miles from the fleamarket and haven't gone in about 10 years. But thousands of people go every week so you might find it fun for one day.

The website for the bus system in the Milpitas/San Jose area is www.vta.org. The website for BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) is www.bart.gov. The email address for the pumpkin festival is: info@halfmoonbaychamber. You might want to write and ask about how to get there from SF on public transportation.

Personally, there are too many other fun things to do in SF and the surrounding area that I would do before the fleamarket or the mall. But each to their own. Happy travels.

There is public transit to all these places, though it will most likely require some patience and transfers.

There are different transit systems, which don't always coordinate their connections very well. For Half-Moon Bay, you might check www.samtrans.com - look for the coastside route. For Milpitas and San Jose, check www.vta.org

If Gabi has a month in SF, taking a day to see something else is reasonable. You would take Caltrain from SF south (www.caltrain.com), then transfer to one of the vta busses. I'm not a big fan of the Mall in Milpitas (though I was just there this afternoon); but it is a reasonably accessible example of the "outlet mall", certainly easier to get to than the ones in Vacaville or Gilroy. I haven't been to the flea market in a number of years, but I thought it was mildly entertaining at the time (Tijuana goes north).

If you make a day trip to San Jose, some other points that might be interesting: Valley Fair mall/Santana Row (more expensive but much nicer than mall in Milpitas). Stanford University (separate stop on Caltrain in Palo Alto). Kelley Park and San Jose Historical museum (a picture of California life 100-150 years ago). Tech Museum.

Thanks for your answers, links and email-adresses.
Dont panic. I have a full month !! in San Francisco. Just vacation, just me. So all the great places in SF, Sausalito, Angel Island, Tibouron, Berkeley, Oakland etc. are already on my to-do-list. Because I wont have a rental car, I will make a guided tour with a little! group to Monterey, Carmel, Highway 1.

I like american malls and so I guess I can spend one day of one month.
Bus-driving is a chance for me to see american highways. Dont laugh. But if you would go to Germany, you possibly like things, which I take for granted.

Thank you very much
Gabriele
Germany

Half Moon Bay is accessable by public transportation. BART to Daly City, then a bus. The bus system in that area is SamTrans, they have a website with maps and schedules.

San Jose flea market may be doable by CalTrain from SF to SJ and then a bus.

Monterey and Santa Cruz are also accessible by CalTrain and Amtrak bus. Also on Amtrak website you can check how to get to Yosemite and South Lake Tahoe. They may also have a bus to Napa.

Amtrak is a system of trains - local and long-distance - and Amtrak buses connected to the trains.

Check out Golden Gate transit bus schedule, there is a free shuttle from a bus to Muir Woods, it may run only on weekends during the summer, not sure.

Are you going to Great American? BART to Fremont, express bus from there.

There is also public transportation to Marine World.

This is the website for transit information for all Bay Area

http://transit.511.org/schedules/index.asp

Amtrak and Greyhound are not on it.

There are tons of malls in the Bay Area, and most are better than the one in Milpitas. If you want to come to San Jose, I would recommend the Valley Fair mall and Santana Row, which are directly across the street from one another.

You can take Caltrain to San Jose and then a city bus over to the mall.

Someone mentioned transportation from San Jose to Santa Cruz, and I just wanted to mention the Hwy 17 Express, which is a bus linking downtown San Jose and Downtown Santa Cruz. It runs very regularly. Once in downtown Santa Cruz you can walk to a lot of things or take a city bus. Santa Cruz and the surrounding areas are very accessible by bus. I grew up there and didn't have a car until I was 20.

Here is the link to the Santa Cruz metro bus system site:

http://www.scmtd.com/

I actually enjoy the SJ Flea Market - great place for people watching and the food vendors are pretty good. On the weekends you can often catch some live music there, usually Mexican music. It is fun. I am not sure which bus to take over there, but you should be able to find it on the Santa Clara County (VTA) web site: www.vta.org

Hi, Gabrielle:

As J_Correa has mentioned there are many malls in the Bay Area.

You may have a month here but your time is still limited and I would suggest that you not waste it on the Great Mall in Milpitas but spend the time at some other mall.

Besides the ones mentioned by J-Correa, at least three other malls come to mind: Stonestown right in San Francisco itself; the Hillsdale Mall which is probably bigger than the Great Mall (sorry, I'm not a "mall baby", so can't be sure of my facts and figures); and the Stanford Shopping Center. you could combine visiting the Stanford Shopping Center with a trip to Stanford University. Then walk along University Avenue and have lunch and experience another type of shopping - the small downtown shops.

Oh yes, there's another mall that comes to mind: the San Francisco Center (used to be the old Nordstrom's Center) with it's semi-curving escalator - this one is about as centrally located as you could wish. On street level right by the Center is an Old Navy Store which is very popular with young people.

Have fun shopping!

Thank you so much for your postings. Good informations.
I didnt know that Milpitas isnt the biggest/best mall. Thanks for the other malls.
The most important is that it is good accessible with public transport and a in a nice area. I love american breakfast so I need to walk a lot. And I will. Also the free walking tours from public library, which Stu Dudley recommend, they sound very interesting. Great America is an amusementpark, right?
Greetings
Gabriele

The walking tours through the library are definitely good. We took the Chinatown tour and were fascinated.

Great America is an amusement park and is a lot of fun - a bit expensive as amusement parks generally are, but you can often get discount coupons. Sometimes at the grocery store, on soda cans, in coupon books, etc. Keep your eyes open. It is really easy to get to on public transportation as well. From SF you take Caltrain south to Mountain View and then take the lightrail to the Great America station.

One other thing I just thought of - in SF there is a visitors center, I think it is at the Powell St BART station - BART is the train that connects SF with the East Bay - Oakland, Berkeley, etc. At the entrance to the Powell BART station, you will find a visitors center with brochures and leaflets about all sorts of stuff to do in SF and the surrounding areas. You might want to stop in there and see what piques your interest.

Another vote for Valley Fair Mall in San Jose (it is HUGE, and has everything), then Santana Row right across the street. If you are looking for a shopping extravaganza, this would be the place. Lots of nice restaurants and cafes, too, at Santana Row. Have fun!