San Fran / Napa Valley (7 days)
 

looking at going to SFO and Napa/Sonoma for 7 days


- what is a decent area to stay in SFO (budget friendly)
- should we rent a car for all 7 days? or just the portion for Napa / Silicon Valley
- I'd like to visit Googleplex / Facebook / Apple - will likley need a car from what I gather - is this worthwhile trip?

eat / see / do ?
- any musts?
- so far: alcatraz/ golden gate

tartine is a must imo

I stayed at an Air Bnb in Daly City, much more reasonable pricing compared to downtown San Francisco. Ubered everywhere except for the last day where I rented a car to go into Silicon Valley.

Stuff I did while I was there (4 days):
- Baseball game (Giants vs Blue Jays)
- Alcatraz
- Computer History Museum in Mountain View
- USS Hornet Museum
- Fisherman's Warf

A month ago I was in Napa, it's a small little town. Definitely book ahead of time as there are corporate gatherings there all the time and I had a hard time finding a room. Ended up staying at the Napa River Inn, right downtown, was built in the 1800's. Very cool hotel, right on the river walk. Sauntered up to a kick ass BBQ house that also specializes in procuring rare wines. I had a smoked chicken on a beer can and omg, it was amazing. Lots of people were taking pics of my bird. lol. Bounty Hunter Wine Bar and Smokin BBQ - definitely check it out. They also brew their own beer and it was damn good as well.

is Napa like a get there in the am drink all day sleep in napa get back the following day kin d of place?

day 1 - sf
day 2 - sf
day 3 - napa
day 4 - sf
day 5 - silicon
day 6 - sf
day 7 - get back

would this be a good program?

what about san jose - would anyone care to venture there - day trip for quick sights?

Travelling in and out of San Fran is a nightmare - an 80 mile drive can take 5 hours in bad traffic. San Fran has gotten really dirty, you'll see. If you plan to venture to Napa, make it a few days and drive around a bit and see the area, it is the nice part of Cali.

I am heading to Sacramento tomorrow and then down to Modesto area, I plan my flights to land mid-day to avoid Cali city traffic.

Why would you waste your time visiting office parks in Silicon Valley? Go drive down to Santa Cruz, Monterrey, and Big Sur.

Thank me later.

Looks like coastal towns?
Can you tell me some things to do?

Would appreciate.

The scenery is second to none. Just google image it. Drive the Pacific Coast Highway (Hwy1), stop in towns, eat, hike, go to the beach.

Do the classic Boardwalk in Santa Cruz
Monterrey Aquarium
Carmel 17 mile Drive
Nepenthe Restaurant ($$$ but get a drink for the view) in Big Sur
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (the famous waterfall coming out onto the beach)

Beats looking at a bunch of people working in front of their computers I bet.

In San Jose, eat some Vietnamese food and check out the Winchester Mystery House.

ok we decided to make the offices "on the way" instead of destination.

This is our days now

day 1, land, pick up drive to napa valley
day 2, do sonoma in the am and back to sf , do sf
day 3, do sf
day 4, do sf
day 5, drive to SJ
day 6, drive to Santa Cruz, Monterey, Big Sur
day 7, more SC , drive back to SF
day 8, return.

keep the suggestions coming guys - it's really helpful. last time i went to LA in general was loooong time ago.

I love NAPA, no kids, all adults, no rowdy people, so it was safe and fun.

R+D Kitchen was where we stumbled into and the patio was really good.
Address: 6795 Washington St, Yountville, CA 94599, USA

it's like jap fusion; i didn't eat any of the jap stuff but their salads were legit.

any must see / do in San Jose?

San Jose > Santa Cruz > Monterey > Big Sur in 1 day is a lot...

I mean the entire appeal of Santa Cruz and Big Sur is taking it easy and enjoying the laid back art culture and beaches with the carnival area in SC and the views/scenery in Big Sur. Monterey is kind of resorty and expensive but does have Laguna Seca racetrack.

I might be a bit biased because I love Santa Cruz... lol

San Jose to me is just a place to live while working in Silicon Valley... I don't recall there being anything to do there in particular besides go to Sharks games.

What about Japantown anything interesting or nice there?

yeah the drive to Big Sur from SF is going to take you the better part of the day. You won't have any time to do anything else. Just stay overnight somewhere like in Santa Cruz. Hit up San Jose on the way back...honestly it just looks like a giant suburb (very So-Cal feeling as opposed to SF). Other than the Winchester House I don't think there's much to see there.