I arrive at SFO nearly 4 hours prior to my colleague.
I'll be picking up a rental car and waiting for her to arrive.
I figure I would rather kill time away from the a/p that sit and wait.

So, I thought downtown Palo Alto might be an easy place to kill a few hours... but hoped that you nice Fodors folks might have some additional considerations.
I am interested in shopping.
Preferably local/boutique type places... not too expensive. I am not interested in high end jewelry, for example, but love handmade sterling items.
Here are some of the things I would be interested in:
- Handcrafted bath/beauty products
- Candles
- Fragrance
- Handmade jewelry (but not beading type shops)
- Affordable art (affordable to me is under 100.00)
- Handcrafted food items/cheese
- ROCK shops, minerals, semiprecious rocks, etc...
I like places like downtown Orange, Cedros Design District in Solana Beach, Balboa Island, etc... you know, just a street with independant shops of all sorts.

I arrive at 330pm and need to be back at SFO around 715pm.
This is on a Monday, which also may be a consideration as many small shops are closed on Mondays.
I am comfortable driving around the bay area and the traffic is no shock.
Any suggestions?
Thanks!!!

Palo Alto is great, but it will also mean driving back to the airport in rush hour. If it were me, I'd head straight to Burlingame Avenue, in Burlingame, which is one town south of the airport. Plenty of shopping, both high end and not so, chains and local boutiques, and loads of restaurants and coffee shops and great places to sit and people watch.

sf is right you will be in the middle of rush hour, which unfortunately, is in both directions on the Peninsula (people leaving City heading south for homes on Peninsula; people leaving jobs in Silicon Valley heading N for homes in City). So although Palo Alto would fit your requirements, you would be safer with Burlingame.

Then head over to kincaid's along the coast near the airport. I believe it is also in burlingame, or just next to it. Great views, OK food, happy hour looking out at the water. There is a jogging/walking path that follows the water in front of it.

The walking path that goes by Kincaid's is mostly very nice, but with 3-4 hours, I'd head elsewhere, or if you want to stroll along the bay, plan on an hour there and then still head to downtown Burlingame.

Burlingame Ave.

You don't want to go all the way to Palo Alto and get caught in rush-hour traffic.

Stu Dudley

Awesome information! Thanks so much!
I went to a place in the 90s that was the 'original' sushi boat place.
I cannot recall the name, but I think it was also in Burlingame?

Probably Isobune. My friends who are sushi connoisseurs tell me Sakae is the best in town.

Mingalaba Burmese and Burlingame Ave. Easy.

Thumbs up on Mingalaba rec.