San Jose
The largest city in Northern California, with a million inhabitants, is the capital of a 70 km valley that gave birth to the microprocessor, Apple, Google and Nvidia, between vanished orchards and glass campuses. People come to see the HP garage, the computers of yesteryear at the museum in Mountain View and the Stanford campus, before crossing the mountains to the redwoods and beaches of Santa Cruz.
By PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ views on Google MapsBy PierrickLocal Guide ★8 · 14M+ Maps views
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San Jose · Photo XAtsukex / CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Things to do in San Jose in 6 days
Day 1
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A 160-room Victorian mansion that Sarah Winchester, widow of the rifle heir, kept enlarging from 1886 to 1922, full of stairs leading to the ceiling and doors opening onto nothing.
💡 Book a timed slot online, as weekend tours are often full. Self-guided access to the basement and attic can be added to the guided tour. Price: paid guided tour, price varying by day; self-guided basement and attic access $19, about €16, optional.
The wub / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
An unexpected collection of Egyptian antiquities assembled by an esoteric order in a building inspired by the Temple of Amun at Karnak, with mummies, sarcophagi and a replica Old Kingdom tomb.
💡 The museum opens only from Friday to Sunday: Friday from 9 am to 4 pm, Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm. Buy a timed ticket online. Price: $15, about €13, adults; $10, about €9, ages 7 to 17; free up to age 6.
The wub / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 2
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Downtown San Jose's hands-on science and technology museum, where you design a robot, code a game or study cells in a biology lab, before ending up under the IMAX dome.
💡 Opening hours vary by season: check the online calendar before you come. Combine it with the San José Museum of Art and Plaza de César Chávez, opposite. Price: $38, about €33, adults; $28, about €24, ages 3 to 17, students and over-65s, one IMAX film included.
The Tech Museum of Innovation / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)Learn moreMore
A glass and timber pavilion opposite Apple's ring-shaped headquarters in Cupertino, with an augmented reality model of the campus, a rooftop terrace, a café and an Apple Store.
💡 Do not come for the building itself, which can only be seen from afar, but combine the visit with a stop at 1 Infinite Loop, the former headquarters, less than 3 km away. The visitor centre car park is free. Price: free.
Daniel L. Lu (user:dllu) / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 3
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One of the world's largest museums of computing, in Mountain View, tracing 2,000 years of calculation from the abacus to the Cray-1, an Apple I and Google's first home-made servers.
💡 Open Wednesday to Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm, closed Monday and Tuesday. Allow half a day, and check the programme of the day's demonstrations and guided tours at the entrance. Price: paid admission, online or on site.
Antony-22 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 4
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The university founded in 1885 whose alumni created HP, Google and Nvidia, with its sandstone Main Quad, the mosaic-covered Memorial Church and a free Rodin collection at the Cantor Arts Center.
💡 Park in the paid car park near the Cantor or take Caltrain to Palo Alto, then the free Marguerite shuttle. Ten minutes away by car, the garage at 367 Addison Avenue, where Hewlett and Packard founded HP in 1939, can be seen from the street. Price: campus and Cantor free.
Frank Schulenburg / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 5
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California's oldest state park, created in 1902 to save the coast redwoods, where most of the giants survived the 2020 fire and trails pass trees more than 1,000 years old.
💡 Book your parking space online, as parking is limited and often full at weekends. Come for the day and bring food, as there is no restaurant. Price: $6, about €5, plus a $2 booking fee, or $10, about €9, per vehicle without a reservation.
Allie_Caulfield from Germany / CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
Day 6
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California's oldest amusement park still operating, opened in 1907, with the 1924 Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster and the 1911 Looff carousel, next to the beach and the sea lions' wharf.
💡 Entry and the boardwalk are free, rides are paid individually or with a day wristband; the rides park closes on weekdays for part of the winter. Avoid Route 17 on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Price: free entry; rides paid.
The wub / CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)"Book" (hotels) and "via GetYourGuide" (activities) are affiliate links (Booking, GetYourGuide). Prices, times and distances are approximate.
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Good to know before you go
🍽️ Must-try food
Burgers and barbecue
brisket and ribs cooked low and slow, done differently in every state.
Clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl
the classic lunch on the San Francisco waterfront.
Mexican food
tacos from a truck in Los Angeles, a Mission burrito in San Francisco.
Pancakes and weekend brunch
a national habit, generous to the point of excess.
Craft beer, and California wine from Napa and Sonoma.
Dishes to look for in the good places: San Jose.
⚠️ Best avoided
- Tipping is not optional: add 15 to 20% in restaurants and bars.
- Prices on menus and in shops exclude sales tax, which is added at the till.
- Do not plan more than four or five hours of driving a day: the distances are larger than they look on the map.
- Never travel without health insurance. A night in hospital can cost thousands of dollars.
- In summer, do not hike down into the Grand Canyon in the heat of the day: the climb back out is where people get into trouble.
Have you thought of…?
The little details that make all the difference once you're there.
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📄 See the full guide: San Jose, detailed month-by-month weather, budget, what to avoid and FAQ.