Hi

In San Francisco for a couple of days and wanted to get to the Great Mall of the Bay Area. Friends have told us to go there and also surrounding area. Any suggestions for easiest option to travel there, bus, train, car??? Thanks

Hi Lesley. The Great Mall is in Milpitas. I don't think there's any convenient way to travel there using public transportation. Your best bet is to just drive. It should take about 1-1.5 hours to get there, depending on traffic and which roads you take. Don't want to discourage you from visiting sites you have your heart set on, but The Great Mall is no real attraction here, it's just like any other regular discount mall in the U.S., but a tad bit bigger. They don't have any particularly interesting stores to recommend and quite a few of the spaces are still vacant. They do, however, have a large restaurant/video game center and have recently built movie theatres. I work about 10 minutes away from it, and I basically only shop there when I can't make it to the other, better malls around. It seems to be quite a long drive just to visit, especially since there's so many other things to see and do in the Bay Area!

Leslie - Like Ashley, I am also not impressed with the selection at the Great Mall. It would be difficult for you to get there without a car. For outlet centers, I prefer the one in Gilroy (one Hwy. 101, about 30 minutes south of San Jose), but you would also need a car. At least it is a straight shot from SF. For some reason, I think that there might even be a tour operator that goes there from the city. But, why waste a day going to the mall?? SF's South of Market and lower Potrero Hill neighborhoods have many clothing manufacturers' outlet stores - real ones! Any good guidebook or the SF Visitor & Information Center can give you a map or directory of where they are. And this way, you'll also get a different glimpse of SF. Have fun and happy shopping!

Lesley, use "Google" my favorite Search Engine:

www.google.com

Type in search words:

San Francisco outlets

Then peruse the websites that pop up and make your list of which to visit.

P.S. If you want to be more specific in your search type in the appropriate word between SF and outlets, such as

San Francisco clothing outlets

If friends told you to go there, ask them how they got there.

Here's the Great Mall website:

http://www.greatmallbayarea.com/