What to do in San Jose/Cupertino, CA?
 

Will be in Cupertiono/San Jose for a week, and will have every evening free. Any advice on things to do, where to go? My fiance and I will be there, no kids yet. Thanks for your help!

Go to SF for the evening.

When I read the title of your post, I'd planned to respond with the same answer as Alisa, but I guess you don't want to go in to SF every evening! How much time will you have each day? You could go over to the beach one evening, maybe to Santa Cruz. If you like sports, the Giants or A's or Sharks may have a game on one of the nights you're here. There's great shopping at Stanford, Valley Fair and Santana Row. There are wonderful restaurants with many different cuisines in the area (try www.chowhound.com)

Describe your time frame and interests a bit and maybe you'll gather more responses.

Well, Tek, what do you like to do? For the arts, music, clubs etc, check the Mercury Newspaper on line under entertainment for activities. Most of these will be in San Jose, but Cupertino does have the Flint Center for big events. For shopping there is Valley Fair (San Jose at 280/Stevens Creek), also across the street from it is the new Santana Row. Valley Fair is an absolutely huge mall but with Nordstrom, Macys, but also specialty stores like like Restoration Hardware. Santana Row is a new 'walking street' with lots of high end stores( Gucci, Burberry, but also interesting smaller stores like Mulholland, Sur La Table, and Anthropologie and a Borders bookstore. Really good restaurants, too, like the Left Bank --French Brasserie type place, good food, not formal. Also Pizza Antiqua which is especially good pizza. Santana row has great Sunday activities, including a farmers market, live music and outdoor tables to play chess or checkers. Also, Los Gatos is nearby (880/17 south) and has a wonderful park, Vasona, that is open until Sundown. Great way to unwind, then off to one of the many great restaurants there for dinner and drinks. Los Gatos Brewery is fun for drinks and beer tasting, good food, too. I Gatti is a great little Italian bistro. California Cafe and Tapestry are good, too. Great streets to stroll around there. If you are here in the summer, downtown San Jose has a Thursday night music in the park, I think it is free. Those are a few ideas, if you have more specific interests, please post them!

My boyfriend and I (we're in our 20s) like to go to the IMAX dome theater at the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose. We saw "The Human Body" and "Coral Reef" which were both really awesome. If you've never seen an IMAX movie on a dome, it is totally worth it. They have like hourly showings of a variety of films all day so you'll probably find something you're interested in, although I don't think you could go wrong with any one of them.

I also would recommend the modern art museum, just across the park from the Tech. There's plenty of clubs, bars, and restaurants in the area too.

Santa Cruz is about a half hour from downtown SJ. Being a part time resident of Santa Cruz, I'd really try to hit it during the day...I wouldn't go to the beach at night, the shops tend to close a little early...there's really only two areas to go--downtown (which you could walk the length of in like 30 minutes, and where there are hippies, movies, bars, hippies, and restaurants--Pizza My Heart is our favorite, very New Yorky), which WILL get seedy the later it gets, and the wharf, which is really only about seafood restaurants (Riva is our favorite) and tacky gift shops. The beach boardwalk with all the rides and roller coasters is by the wharf, but I'm not sure how late it's open. You'd probably have fun there though, we do. Ride the Dipper!

Kristin

Where will you be staying? When will you be in the city? What are you interested in? There's lots to do in the area. Some ideas would be checking out some of the great restaurants, especially downtown and in Willow Glen, go a performance at one of the many theaters in San Jose (ie:) Broadway play at the American Musical Theater, a play at the San Jose Repertory Theater, or the San Jose Stage Company, etc., the Opera or Ballet. The San Jose Museum of Art is open until 10 PM on Fridays. Of course, as already mentioned there's always something going on at the HP Pavilion. Right now the Arena Football Sabercats are playing and there are also various concerts.

Depending on when you will be in SJ, there is a "Music in the Other Park" series in Saint James Park on Thursday evenings during the month of June. There is also a "Music in the Park" concert series in Plaze de Cesar Chavez Park across from the Fairmont Hotel on Thursday evenings from July to September.

If you are into shopping, you can't go wrong with Valley Fair or Santana Row or the Great Mall in Milpitas which is has outlet stores.

Check out the following links for more information.

www.sanjose.org

www.sjdowntown.com

www.siliconvalley.citysearch.com

Thanks everybody for all your input! We'll definately go to SF and Santa Cruz sounds fun too. My fiance will be in a conference from 8-5 everyday so I may have to do most of the daytime stuff by myself. We'll be there late on a Sunday night and leaving early Saturday morning, in early May. We're in our mid-twenties and enjoy live music (rock/blues/jazz), restaurants, theaters, and still do the bar scene every now and then. Thanks for all the info on SJ, that's where I'll probably spend most of my days. Any other info is greatly appreciated! Thanks for your help!

SF is too far to go just for the evening, especially with the traffic.

As far as live music and bars, etc, you can't go wrong with the South First Area (SoFA District) in Downtown San Jose.

The Metro Newspaper is a weekly entertainment guide that has information on what's going on in the San Jose area.

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/

http://www.metroactive.com/papers/me...tral-0229.html

This is also a good link for bars, nightclubs, etc.

The Improv Comedy Club is also fun.

http://www.sj-downtown.com/bus_nit.html

http://www.symfonee.com/improv/sanjose/home/Index.aspx

I'll post more tomorrow, so please check back again. :-) Don't miss Saratoga...a sweet, little, intimate town...at least the downtown is, & it has great restaurants! Hit it early in the week & you may want to visit it again. Very close...probably 15-20min...I think you'd take 280N to 85, but check maps. (we live north of it, so I don't know the directions from San Jose itself) If going, seriously consider trying a most unique & unusual experience: La Fondue Restaurant! Fantastic. See lafondue.com
Whenever we have friends in town, we go there. It's a full night experience...totally indulgent & fun. Neat atmosphere! Always wins "romantic" categories...and "best place for dates" categories. We consider it a restaurant not-to-miss. Don't go unless you're hungry, though...have to 'prepare yourself' for a feast & it's not inexpensive.:-)

tek,

You've received some excellent ideas on what to do during the evenings. Things for you to do during the day include: The Tech Museum, Peralta Adobe and Fallon House in San Pedro Sqaure, Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, Winchester Mystery House, take a tour of one of the many local wineries, stroll through the quaint Willow Glen neighborhood, go to Japantown, visit the Japanese Gardens in Kelley Park, and while in Kelley Park the History Museum of San Jose is also nice, and of course as already mentioned there's shopping at Valley Fair and Santana Row. I also like the Old Town shopping area in Los Gatos. There is more than enough for you to see and do in the San Jose/Silicon Valley area, so there's really no need to go to SF. If you do decide to go to SF and do not plan to drive, keep in mind that the Caltrain does not operate on the weekends.

Hi everybody. Thanks so much for all the advice!!! You've all been really helpful. I was worried about what to do all day by myself but now think I'll have no problem finding things to do. The website links have been really helpful too. Thanks a bunch! Can't wait to go! :)

Just a side note re: Winchester Mystery House...

Sometimes, when we pass it on the freeway, my boyfriend threatens to take me there if I'm not good. ("I swear I will turn this car around and go STRAIGHT to Winchester!")

It is a painful waste of time.

It's not mysterious at all, or even a little spooky, and a lot of the rooms are roped off so in order to see into them, you have to crane yr neck around all the people crammed around the doorway. This is assuming of course that there is something worth seeing in the rooms. There isn't. And why is a "stairway to nothing" so fascinating to people?

When I was little, I was into haunted houses and stuff like that and this place sounded so cool and even as a KID I was disappointed. It's boring.

I'm sorry, I wish it wasn't so.

Kristin

Kristin,
Thanks for the tip about the Winchester House. I've seen things about it over the years on TV and thought it would be kinda cool but I think I'll just take your word for it! I can do a better job wasting money somewhere else I guess! Kinda sad that lots of people flock to a crazy lady's house, huh? Thanks again!
Tricia