Suggestions for San Fran / San Jose / Napa

[eleguin]

Hi all,

FI and I will be traveling to northern CA over Memorial Day weekend for about a week. We''ll be spending a couple of days in SF without a car (I hear parking is a pain), and then we are renting a car for the remainder of the time to explore the surrounding areas. I definitely want to spend a day or two in Napa, and then drive down to San Jose and Monterey. For those of you familiar with these parts (or others in the area that are worth visiting), please give me some suggestions as to what activities there are and what restaurants you recommend. As for Napa, please recommend wine tastings and good food. We are thinking of visiting COPIA and having lunch at Julia''s kitchen. Has anyone been?

Thanks!

 

[Mara]

Here are some previous threads with a similar question for some information:


https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/visiting-san-francisco-for-the-first-time.51536/


https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/fun-thing-to-do-in-san-francisco.27722/


https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/san-francisco-advice.61106/

I live in SJ and have been all around the area, so I can fill up 10 pages with things to do. So it really just depends on what you like to do, what you want to see, where you want to spend your time. hehe.

In SF we like the Beach Chalet along the Great Highway, it's right across the street from the ocean and is all windows so you have a beautiful view of the water and it's great for a sunset dinner (assuming no fog). Also int he downstairs of the restaurant there is a cool history museum of that area. You can also walk along the path there. This is also near the Sutro Baths or actually, the ruins of them, and the Cliff House is a great place for dinner as well (right up the hill). You can go into North Beach for italian if you want as well, fun to walk around there! Embarcadero is a great long walk and lots of restaurants along there too. Fisherman's Wharf is super touristy and seems like it's always really windy and cold in that area in particular, but you can get yummy cracked crab and eat a chowder bread bowl! There's all types of things to do other than walk around and visiting the areas too. I am not sure what's there for plays and similar right now but taking in a show could be fun. Right outside of SF is Sausalito and Tiburon, small towns on the water that are fun to visit but won't take too much of your time. Dinner in Sausalito is something we do sometimes. If you have an afternoon, walk along the Haight area and get lunch at Magnolia Pub...they are a brewery, Greg LOVES their beers and they have fabulous lunch food too, a small but really tasty menu, and awesome people watching while sitting inside. There's a great HUGE used music store on the Haight too, called Amoeba and lots of little stores and boutiques.

In Napa we have eaten at a few restaurants in downtown (near COPIA) that have all been wonderful, don't think you can really go wrong. I would just go walk around and decide what you want to do when you are down there. Every time we are there we see one or two new places we want to try. We have stayed at the Napa River Inn in downtown for a night as well. The Wine Train is kitschy but can be fun for the experience (the food is just so-so).

From SF you can drive down the coast, Half Moon Bay is a nice place to visit between SJ and SF...it will probably be foggy. But there are tons of great places to eat there as well and you can get the whole 'drive along the coast' thing going on. Not sure if all of Hwy 1 is open but if not you can come down to 280 and then back up to the coast on closed areas. Make sure to give yourselves lots of time for driving along the coast, it can take a while esp as you stop in small towns along the way.

I'd go into Monterey and Carmel for a day...the drive from SF to Monterey will be maybe 1.5-2 hours? Depends on which route you take. If you take 880 to Hwy 1 then you can visit Santa Cruz, Capitola, Monterey and Carmel all in one day, whew.

San Jose itself doesn't have a ton of 'sightseeing'..we live near downtown and we love walking in there for dinner and stuff and there is a ton of nightlife in terms of theatre and clubs but we end up typically going into SF or coastal towns when we really want something to do or see.

We will actually be out of town on Mem weekend visiting the East Coast or else I would have loved to meet you guys if you came into the SJ area...!!! Oh well, next time. Have fun!!

 

[peridot83]

OK so my BF is from there..but...I don't think there's really anything to see or do in San Jose compared to SF, Napa, Monterey. I would skip all together (but this is my opinion).

Have you been to these places before? If not:

Golden Gate Park is a great pretty place to go to during the day. The Ferry building is an awesome place if you love food, it has a great farmer's market on Saturday, and has great merchants. http://www.ferrybuildingmarketplace.com/

IMonterey is nice, Carmel which is just slightly south is beautiful, small city by the sea. There's a "17 mile drive" between Monterey & Carmel along the coast which is absolutely awesome. I would advise staying away from 17 at all costs. Memorial day weekend that freeway can back up like no other.

I don't know what your budget is but here's some recs for SF area restaurants (& one napa!), also Chowhound.com is an excellent resource, but difficult to navigate:

http://www.amateurgourmet.com/the_amateur_gourmet/2007/04/what_to_eat_in_.html

 

[elsie]

We just got back from our elopement/honeymoon there -- great time to visit! We actually did things similarly to your plan -- we flew into Oakland, drove down to the Monterey area for 2 days, drove up to Napa to get married, then dropped off the car in SF and spent 3 days there.

I would highly recommend staying in Moss Landing (1/2 hr north of Monterey) at the Captain''s Inn (http://www.captainsinn.com), whose rooms have great views of the Nature Reserve. We went kayaking there and saw tons of seals, otters, and birds (closeup in some cases!) -- so pretty.

For the Napa area, we stayed in St. Helena, which we really enjoyed. Our B&B was on a vineyard and had fantastic views. I would highly recommend eating at Terra in St. Helena -- the food and service were both excellent. We went to a bunch of wineries around St. Helena, but I''m not a big drinker, so I don''t know if I could make definite recommendations without knowing what you prefer (places whose wines you can''t buy elsewhere? Well-known wineries? Pretty gardens?).

As for SF, we did most of the touristy things (Lombard St, Alcatraz), stuff you probably already know about. We did finally find a really good, authentic hole-in-the-wall place in Chinatown, though, which made us very happy -- 5-course meal for 2 for 21 bucks! Score!!

 

[Gypsy]

OH. Napa restuarants. French Laundry is just... WOW. It''s hideously expensive, exclusive and hard to get reservations for though... SO, just down the street is a little French bistro that is owned by the same chef that is FABULOUS (can''t recall the name of it now), less expensive and easier to get into. Lunch there is wonderful.

One of my favorite wineries is Darioush. The architecture is a small scale replica of Persepolis and they have YUMMY Viognier then.

http://www.darioush.com/

 

[Regular Guy]

One more thread...

 

[bosoxbw]

Honestly, I would skip San Jose.

Instead, go straight to Carmel (both the town and drive the valley if you have time). Monterey is fun for an afternoon.

What I would definitely do is head south to Big Sur, particularly Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park. The drive down Highway 1 and the easy to moderate hikes at Julia Pfieffer are fantastic and shouldn''t be missed.

I would go to Sonoma Valley (Russian River, Dry Creek, Alexander) over Napa... much less touristy.

 

[FireGoddess]

I love the tasting at Mumm...really good stuff. Also, V. Sattui is one of the wineries that has its own deli area - and you can buy some yummy crusty bread and cheese there and have a picnic while sipping some wine! Most wineries don''t allow picnicking but V. Sattui is one of those that do. So is Viansa.

 

[peridot83]

FYI, Thomas Keller who owns the French Laundry, the other two restaurants that are his are:

Bouchon & Ad Hoc

Ad Hoc was reviewed in the link I sent you above

I hope you have an awesome trip. I have great pride in Nor Cal.

 

[Gypsy]

Date: 5/10/2007 6:32:04 PM
Author: FireGoddess
I love the tasting at Mumm...really good stuff. Also, V. Sattui is one of the wineries that has its own deli area - and you can buy some yummy crusty bread and cheese there and have a picnic while sipping some wine! Most wineries don''t allow picnicking but V. Sattui is one of those that do. So is Viansa.

That''s a great tip. Would love to do that... will they allow you to bring some of your own food to picnic?

 

[eleguin]

Thanks for such fun suggestions everyone! Here''s what we have planned so far. Feel free to give advice on these activities, as many of them are not set in stone and I am easily swayed by great ideas:

1. Hiking in Muir Woods
2. Sausalito
3. Staying in Napa for a night, having lunch at Julia''s Kitchen
4. Hot air balloon ride over Napa with champagne brunch

FI and I are not huge wine afficionados, but we''d like to tour some vineyards and learn more about wine. I jotted down the suggestions others made above and any more are welcomed too!

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 5/11/2007 9:29:28 AM
Author: eleguin
Thanks for such fun suggestions everyone! Here's what we have planned so far. Feel free to give advice on these activities, as many of them are not set in stone and I am easily swayed by great ideas:


1. Hiking in Muir Woods

2. Sausalito

3. Staying in Napa for a night, having lunch at Julia's Kitchen

4. Hot air balloon ride over Napa with champagne brunch


FI and I are not huge wine afficionados, but we'd like to tour some vineyards and learn more about wine. I jotted down the suggestions others made above and any more are welcomed too!

If you're staying in SF before you go to Sausalito I highly recommend renting bikes and biking over the GG bridge into Sausalito. Very fun. Then you can either bike back or take the lazy route and ferry back!