What about the Valley Park Hotel? It seems very reasonable, but I'm wondering about the quality of the place. I'm really looking for a location where my wife can check out shops/museums while I'm in class all day. We're not much on night clubbing so somewhere quite would be great. Thanks for all the replies. Sorry I hadn't replied sooner, but Fodor's was messed up or something because I couldn't see my original post.

There aren't too many museums in San Jose - the Modern Art Museum, no shopping. She'll be bored. However, the train station is easy to walk to or catch the shuttle from your hotel to the train station. It is so easy to get to SF on the train. Lots of Museums there. If she would like to hire a native guide who speaks the language, I'm available. I say this rather jokingly, but I'm unemployed at the moment and love SF.

I agree that Los Gatos would a nicer place to stay. From there you're only a 20 minute drive to Santa Cruz if you want to visit the ocean on your trip.

<b>A few good starting points:</b>
___________________________

http://www.sanjose.com/

http://www.sjdowntown.com/bus_gal.html

http://www.sanjoseca.gov/attract.html
_____________________________________

<b>Museums:</b>

http://www.thetech.org/

http://www.egyptianmuseum.org/

http://www.sjmusart.org/

http://www.artagogo.com/reviews/sjma/Sjma.html

http://www.cdm.org/index.asp?f=1

http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org/

http://www.historysanjose.org/

http://www.historysanjose.org/visiti..._park/map.html

_________________________________________
<b>Foreign Culture Museums in San Jose:</b>

http://www.jamsj.org/

http://www.serve.com/phsc/

http://www.sjhistory.org/site/newxh/
_____________________________________

Don't forget that while San Jose was the first civilian settlement in California in 1777, it has always lived in the shadow of the major seaport of San Francisco. Here's more:

#1 IN TECHNOLOGY EXPERTISE
The San Jos&eacute; area is home to the largest concentration of technology expertise in the world--more than 6,600 technology companies employing more than 254,000 people.

CLIMATE
Temperatures vary from an average of 50 degrees in January to an average of 70 degrees in July. San Jos&eacute; boasts an average of more than 300 sunny days per year, and has a mean annual rainfall of 14.4 inches.

ttt &amp; good example of a travel thread...

This area is great to snag a hotel inexpensively through Priceline. Here's the list of Sunnyvale/Santa Clara hotels that you'd be likely to get if you bid:

4 Star
The Westin Santa Clara
Hilton Santa Clara

3 Star
Four Points Sheraton Sunnyvale
Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel
PRIME Hotel Sunnyvale (formerly Wyndham Sunnyvale)
Marriott Santa Clara
Biltmore Hotel &amp; Suites

2 ½ Star
Woodfin Suites Sunnyvale
The Sundowner Inn
Residence Inn Silicon Valley I
Residence Inn Silicon Valley II
Larkspur Landing
Wild Palms Hotel
Staybridge Suites

If you decide to use PL, go to bidding fortravel.com, scroll down to San Jose/Silicon Valley and read about successful bids. I got the list above from this page. Just be sure you learn exactly how to bid from the BFT site.

I'm sitting in Sunnyvale as I write this, and can assure you that all areas are safe, but some can be boring!

Neat thing about San Jose and other cities that are built &quot;out&quot; instead of built &quot;up&quot; is that your wife can get anywhere by car.

I know the area of the <b>Valley Park Hotel</b>. To get to <b>Santana Row and Valley Fair shopping centers</b>, she just needs to go a few blocks west on San Carlos Street -which becomes- Stevens Creek Blvd. as it crosses over Hwy 880 and these two are located opposite Stevens Creek Blvd from each other. It should be too far to walk comfortably with two handfuls of shopping - but it's doable.

Valley Fair is an indoor mall with nearly everything a person might want, or need.

Santana Row is an outdoor mall with higher-end stores and restaurants in a very nice environment. Live music some nights. Free chessboard tables and a &quot;giant&quot; sized chessboard set into the ground.

Fridays, there is a <b>Farmer's Market</b> held at <b>San Pedro Square</b> in the heart of downtown SJ on San Pedro Street between St. John and Santa Clara Streets. There are several restaurants at San Pedro Square open for lunch &amp; dinner. Arrive early as the Farmer's Market clears after the lunch crowd returns to their offices. One block east and a couple blocks south is the SJ <b>Museum of Art</b>; free admission and donations are collected. Next to that is the Fairmont Hotel.

For the most part, odd numbered streets go one way: North, and even numbered streets go one way: South. There are some that allow both N/S traffic.

A block south of the HP Pavilion where the <b>Sharks Hockey Team</b> plays is a great new restaurant called <b>Poor House Bistro</b>. 91 South Autumn Street (xs is San Fernando). Driving, you can see the 6-story stadium in grey and white and steel colors.

We left the office and had a great lunch at Poor House Bistro today: Muffaletta sandwich, red beans &amp; rice, Abita TurboDog beer &amp; bread pudding. Really nice people there and they are -of course- forwarding the donations they have collected to the Red Cross. I'll post on Chowhound later.

<b>http://www.poorhousebistro.com/home.html</b>

Many of the streets downtown are named after the saints by the Spaniards who built missions when the New World out west was being mapped and established: San Fernando, San Pedro, San Salvador, San Antonio, San Carlos. Is there a San Juan in history? I dunno, but I found St. John Street.

I was thinking art museums since that is what interests me; there just aren't that many art musuems in SJ. There is the Cantor Museum at Stanford which has many nice Rodin Sculputres if you have a car.

http://www.stanford.edu/dept/SUMA/

I might add that the main streets of Palo Alto and Los Altos are &quot;quaint&quot; little shopping streets with lots of restaurants as well as Los Gatos. I especially enjoy Maria's Antiques which has stores in Los Gatos and Los Altos. French fabrics, dishes, antiques. Fun to browse.

From DICTIONARY.COM for my pal, ronda, who will later apologize to dozens of docents across the planet:

<b>mu·se·um</b>
noun.

A building, place, or institution devoted to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, or artistic value.



And here's <b>ART</b> defined:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=art

#7 would be your most pertinent definition, miss ronda.

poor ronda, this seems to be nit-picking to the extreme--I understand her meaning--art galleries can contain very new, avant guarde stuff, and art museums can be very traditional, with a focus on &quot;classical&quot; art. (The quotes because I fear repercussions on the word.)

Valley Park Hotel looks to be on Stevens Creek right before it becomes San Carlos - this is a very central location across the freeway from Valley Fair and Santana Row (already mentioned) both high end shopping malls. Also the close freeways can take her to Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Santa Cruz, etc. - most of the places mentioned in these posts - quickly. I would highly recommend you get a car and let her keep it during the day - she'll be stranded without it.

You'll also be right next to an old SJ favorite the Falafel drive-in - get a falafel and a banana shake!

Unfortunately the 880 overhang is where that neighborhood turns from new to old - and it looks to me like your on the old side. Not sure how you feel about that ...

Geez, sylvia3, there's no limit on the number of words a person can use on this site, so why didn't Ronda say what she meant? What is 'art' anyway? All media are considered, including found objects -- which some consider 'junk' art.

On the museum subject, I visited the Intel museum on my last trip to San Jose / Silicon Valley. Interesting to those of us in the industry, but not to very many others. Surely, there's a John Deere museum somewhere in the US?

Max, dude, IM me when you're going to 'jack my threads!

The Intel museum is okay, but I wouldn't recommend it for kids. The hands-on style of the Tech Museum in San Jose is great for kids. As is the Exploratorium in SF. The Minolta Planetarium in Cupertino is cool. The skating rink in San Jose is great during the winter. San Jose Jazz Festival is the largest free Jazz Festival in the country.

Changes are abrew in that city.
<b>http://tinyurl.com/7tdw9</b>

So, if the neighborhood is old, does that mean it's run-down? Or just old? Old doesn't bother me unless it's not well-kept.

That neighborhood is not so much run down. You'll be fine there. It's not &quot;the wrong side of the tracks&quot; either. There are many retail shops on San Carlos Street. The city spent a bazillion dollars planting palm trees in the median strip. Each tree is lit from the ground by two lights. Some of the buildings are being remodeled. San Jose was founded in 1777, so areas have been re-zoned and remodeled several times since then.

If this applies to anyone, I'll be glad I took the time to update here:

Hwy 152 at Hecker Pass is being widened and is closed until the end of Sept 2005, 129 is being suggested instead.

Oh yum! I love the Falafel Drive in! It's a super very, very informal little place with a taste of local SJ food. Go there for lunch and you could be sitting at one of their picnic tables next to the CEO of a Silicon Valley company.

IMHO, there are better areas to stay in. Refer to the PL suggestions above for good rates, or the Valencia at Santana row if price doesn't matter.

I mean it's older, not necessarily run down - a lot of San Jose is shiny chrome and green glass these days, on San Carlos it's more like old store fronts and local bussinesses that are losing out to the new big box retailers.
That's just my opinion. I agree w/ fehg - the city is putting money into rebuilding the area. It's safe and I think it's a fine choice.
Have Fun!!

jcallicotte: Can you get a room at the Hilton, Fairmont, or Marriott in the center of San Jose for $150 in November? The Biltmore in Santa Clara?

About seven years earlier San Carlos would put you in a prime location to visit the Saddle Rack. It's a shame it moved after being a San Jose institution for so long. We used to travel to SJ for biz when I worked for another company. Largest bar in California used to have 5 bars, 2 stages, 3 dance floors, a mechanical bull, barber's chair and it was always busy.

Well, Agent 13, I *can* get a room at those hotels, but it costs $200/night. I checked into Priceline, but they suggested $170/night for a four star hotel. The Valley Park costs $109 and we get a hot breakfast. I haven't seen any negative comments on the web about the place, only positive. Unless someone has a compelling reason to not stay there that's where we'll be.

I *do* appreciate all of the comments and suggestions. It's great to have friendly people in San Jose.