Hello HOs. We’ll be spending a week in the Monterey Carmel area in Sept but in and out of Oakland airport. I’m thinking of maybe doing a couple days in the Bay Area at the tail end in case there isn’t enough to do in M/C. We’ve been to both locations before and seen what tourists see in the BA. GG bridge/park. Muir Woods. Wharf. Ferry building. Chinatown. Trolleys. Coit tower and Lombard street. Science museum . Alcatraz. What would you recommend to do or see for someone who’s been to BA half dozen times? Like tier two tourist attractions or only for locals attractions. And is there a neighborhood that is good for walking and good for cheap delish eats where I might look for a hotel. We are more mom and pop grub than 5 star. Thanks much!
For the best cheap/amazing eats, it’s hard to beat Oakland’s Chinatown. Go to Shan Dong. Get the hand-cut sesame noodles. It’ll change your life.
If you feel the need for a LOT of cheese, you can get very good-to-excellent Chicago style deep-dish pizza from Zachary’s or Little Star. Both have a number of locations around the east bay.
https://thestarpizza.com/
The Oakland Museum of California is close by. Check out their website and see what the current exhibits are.
If you want to get into SF, the Japan Center is a HUGE Japanese mall on Geary, with TONS of neat shops and some truly excellent food. Be prepared for lines and waiting.
The Muse Mechanique is at Pier 45, and has some neat old-time coin op machines, nickelodeons, early games, and such.
https://museemecanique.com/
While you’re down in Monterey, I STRONGLY URGE you to check out this place:
https://noodlebar831.com/
Locations in Seaside and Marina. Absolutely DELICIOUS. We make it a point to stop there if we’re even sort of close, and I’ve actively looked for excuses to drive there from Sacramento.
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Berkeley Rose garden, if you’re into that. Plus Elmwood & Rockridge for cute walkable neighborhoods and Fourth St for shopping.
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A couple of other gardens: UC Berkeley Botanical Garden in Strawberry Canyon and the Blake Garden in Kensington. Both are affiliated with the university, and Blake Garden was the residence for the President of the University of California. If you want to do a little and easy hike (very little and very easy), there’s the Huckleberry Regional Preserve on Skyline Boulevard. The upper loop is pretty flat, while the lower loop has a bit of elevation change, but not much. The preserve is part of the East Bay Parks district, and we were surprised to learn that most of the preserve is actually in Contra Costa County (probably won’t mean anything to you, but we assumed it was Alameda County). The trail is part of a much larger trail system and you can go for miles, but it’s easy to find your way and you don’t have to worry about getting lost.
For grub, we like the Homemade Cafe in Berkeley. Good food, locally sourced, and they pay their staff a living wage. Plus, they have a program to feed the hungry, funded by donations. Mostly breakfast and lunch, although I hear that from time to time they have special dinner events. The Thai place next door looks and smells inviting, but we’ve never tried it.
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Around the corner from Homemade Cafe is Tanzie’s Cafe, serving northern Thai/Chiang Mai delights….Open from 8:30 a.m. - 2 when I last looked.
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Yeah, that’s the place. Forgot the name. Thanks! Is it any good?
Will you have a car ? SF or the peninsula has many different parts/neighborhoods/towns which are very different from each others to explore, e.g. Los Gatos, Palo Alto, Half Moon Bay, Pacifica, Japantown, Fillmore/Pacific Heights, Berkeley, Sausalito etc etc. Also there are so many possibilities to hike all over the Bay Area. You can find small mom and pop shops in all parts
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Obviously, you need to do the Bullitt tour, the Zodiac tour, and visit the Haight and the mountains…
all while wearing era appropriate clothing.
Here’s an Oakland day trip/ 2 day itinerary for you: Downtown Oakland, swans market. Piedmont ave, Rockridge, Temescal alley, downtown Berkeley, Berkeley campus/ Telegraph, north Berkeley, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
Eats- Taqueria El Paisa. Horn BBQ and a ton others.
If you are willing to drive north, here’s one of my favorite places in the Bay Area:
Point Reyes National Seashore, Cypress Tree Tunnel, Lighthouse, Tule Elk Preserve.
Eats: oyster farms e.g. Tomales Bay, Hog Island
If you go to the Ferry Building, don’t miss Lunette.
On your way back up from Monterey/ Carmel- Henry Cowell Redwood State Park.
Don’t know if you have done this already, but take a walk in the Presidio e.g. from Sutro Baths towards the bridge on Lands End trail, Fort Point under the bridge, Tunnel Top Park to Fort Point. Hike across the bridge itself. Go to Battery Spencer. All breathtakingly beautiful on a good day.
Grab an oyster flight from Sun Fat, grab a baguette and cheese from Bi-Rite, and picnic at Mission Dolores Park.
You have the time to do all the stuff that we locals love about the Bay Area without getting trampled by tourists.
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Tanzie’s is really good - keep going back for the lava eggs. It can get crowded, but if you’re out and about early, it’s a delight.
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Good tip. Unfortunately, Spawn2 rarely gets up before 10am, so early is not their jam!
Tanzie’s would be worth a try later in the day, then - after all, people are getting seated and happily dining!
Also very good and unusual is Lulu on Solano Ave in Berkeley, which takes reservations - a wonderful, beautifully presented “California take on Palestinian cuisine”.
We’ll have a car for the first part but I was going to return it and Bart around SF and Oakland. I’d need a compelling reason to hold onto it. Of your list what are the top 2-3 neighborhoods for cute walking, shopping, dining, iyo. That’s all we’d have time for…
Wow friends so many Berkeley recs! I toured the campus myself decades ago and more recently with my older kid who just graduated college. So I have no need to see the campus but the rest of town might get a visit.
FYI, the botanical garden and Blake Garden are not on campus but in the hills above it. You’re not going to want to walk up to either one from the closest BART stations, though!
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Noted. We are big walkers including hills. But add sun to that and we melt. Out hills are mostly forested and provide much shade cover. PNW.
Will roses be done in September? Seems late for them.
It won’t help you with getting rid of your car early but if you would like to get very different “vibes” from different parts of the bay area I would recommend Los Gatos for the Silicon Valley (+ nature/walks) part, Berkeley for the “laid back” bay area part (and also great hiking at Tilden Park and other areas close by) and Pacific Heights/Fillmore for the SF part. If you keep your car Sausalito across GG bridge is another different “seaside” part of the bay - sorry, I am
not a great help in narrowing down things
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It won’t be very hot in SF, trust me.
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Our highs here at home over the last 3 wks have averaged about 70. I’m guessing it’s all relative and unless we’re standing on the coast itself it will be at least that, warmer inland.
