I will be at day of the devs myself!
So the bay area is a series of distinct-feeling-to-locals-but-probably-indistinguishable-to-outsiders towns that are smashed together, one right next to the other. San Francisco, as youāll quickly find, is a place with big buildings and reasonably poor weather which is only cool when you get away from the center of it, which you will likely not be able to do in the time. I actually truly do not understand the appeal of san francisco or the bay area in general in terms of tourism, unless you like seeing another big city but itās laid out differently.
Anyway, you probably wonāt have access to a car, which is what truly unlocks the potential of the area because you can go to the bay, the ocean, the redwoods (recommended), the mountains, the desert, all within an hour to two hours drive (several of these are mere minutes away). Truly the only things I can recommend about the bay area are scattered deep cuts. Specific restaurants, shops, hiking places, parks, etc. And america in general is obviously incredibly hostile to visitors in that itās very difficult to get around, itās expensive, and very few of the good things are next to each other. Especially coming from europe itās likeā¦ why do people live here and how do they get where they're going. Anyway!!!
With all that said, here are a few things I can recommend generally that may help get you started:
SF:
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SF chinatown. thereās interesting restuarants, bars, curio shops, all up and down SF chinatown, itās the only place in the city that Iād recommend. Itās touristy but in a good way, and also is full of regular humans who live there. There are two streets, the one thatās more touristy (grant), and the one thatās more local (stockton), but the touristy one is actually quite fun by itself.
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northbeach. once you walk to the end of chinatown youāre in northbeach which is an i-talian area with good food if you want that. If not donāt bother.
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golden gate park. Itās quite a nice park with a museum and a zoo in it but itās huuuuge and better with a friend.
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haight - upper haight is the old hippie zone. itās got chintzy shops and an amoeba records. lower haight has cool restaurants and bars but only worth going to with friends. so, if youāve got friends, you can go to the sausage place whose name has changed so I donāt remember it, and bring it next door to the nice bar (toronado) and thatāll be a fun time. If not, donāt go Iād say!
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if you have a car, muir woods is great.
Oakland:
First of all, just to note that as much as I talk up oakland, itās not really a place to be wandering around aimlessly, but neither is san francisco so itās probably fine. But you should not likeā¦ get out at the Colosseum exit and start walking around. Regardless of that, once you know where youāre going itās more chill, the weather is nicer, but it is just as spread out as SF and has fewer major landmarks and even worse public transit. Here's some places:
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Lake Merritt. A delightful heart-shaped lake with the first wildlife preserve in america (for birds, we have a lot of night herons), a bonsai garden with the oldest bonsai in america, childrenās fairyland which you canāt go into but can see the outside of (inspired disneyland, etc) and a constant stream of cultural events happening. Itās 3.4 miles (sorry, I will not be converting to kilometers today) and thereās stuff to see the whole way round.
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Oakland Chinatown. Chiller, smaller, denser than SF chinatown. Good place to shop for groceries (ha ha) but also just wander around and get food. It's small but nice.
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āOld Oaklandā is right next to oakland chinatown and has a nice but too busy bar called the trappist, and other eateries.
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Oakland Museum of California. Itās a museum - I didnāt recommend any SF museums but theyāre good also, you can go to them. The OMCA has events sometimes, a permanent exhibit about the history of California, but do spring for the pricier ticket because then you get to see the monthly/bimonthly dedicated exhibitions from certain collections or artists. Itās a much more community-focused museum but still high end. It's got a focus on contemporary art from california which is nice.
Note that you could conceivably walk from lake merritt to the museum to chinatown to old oakland and then take the train back to SF but that's a Big Long Day IMHO.
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Sibley Park or Redwood Regional - two nice hiking areas in oakland depending on the vibe you want to go for. You need a car to get there. Much closer way to see the redwoods or just have a Very California Hike.
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Temescal. This is an area that has nice restaurants and some interesting things along telegraph. I used to live here - itās really more of a food area (bakesale betties, alemās cafe) than anything else. Kingfisher is a bar some people like, thereās good ethiopian food, good pizza, etc. If you go a fair bit further youāll get to 1234 go which is a good record shop.
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Fruitvale. This is where I live now. Itās where to get good central american food, see some interesting culture you wouldnāt otherwise get to see, but I truly wouldnāt recommend it to anybody unless they were physically with me because there are directions in which you shouldnāt walk too far and it's hard to know where the good stuff is unless you already know.
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Jack London Square - thereās a nice bay walk you can do, thereās Heshers Pizza made by friend of the show Zak Mccune, lots of other food and stuff to do, a sinking/slanted bar called heinhold's first and last chance saloon, this is a solid place to go (if you have a car lol).
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Chapel of the Chimes and the St. Mary Cemetery. It's a really big cemetery park which is super nice to walk around, and Chapel of the Chimes is a crematorium you can go in that has interesting architecture and the whole thing is a unique vibe. You can walk down piedmond and get to shops and stuff from there but getting there in the first place is several busses or car.
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I forget whether day of the devs includes a first friday but if so you could definitely go to the Oakland First Friday by walking up telegraph from 12th st bart. Definitely an experience with vendors and music and galleries. Just leave before 10 pm I'd say.
Berkeley:
You can pretty much see all you need to of this place by walking up Telegraph Ave, close to the university. Good shops to walk along, two record stores (amoeba, rasputin), a berkeley branch of one of my favorite fruitvale taco shops (tacos sinaloa), and then you can walk around the UC Berkeley campus which is quite a nice place to go.
Extreme āI have a carā places to go:
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Laney Flea Market in Oakland. Cool flea market that I like a lot, cheaper and easier to get to than the alameda one.
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Berkeley Rose Garden. It's nice to spend 30 minutes in!
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Little Saigon in Oakland - good place to get vietnamese food, also a good place to get into some Big Trouble if you donāt know where youāre walking ha ha oops.
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Port Costa. A biker/artist town way out in the zone. you can walk along the train tracks by the reservoir, listen to a dad band play at the big bar, listen to a jazz band play at the small bar, go to a curio shop if itās openā¦ itās a cool place and the first place on my list to take Swery if he had half a day free. It also has a high chance that everything will be closed whenever you go though.
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Niles, CA. a big stretch of antique shops and ice cream shops and things. Itās fun and feels olde time, and is in fact the old rival to Hollywood, because Charlie Chaplin had his studio there. Thereās a silent movie theatre there that plays movies on weekends, and also has tours. Once you're here, you got here by car, so you can go to Fremont and get good indian food.
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Concord. Phoenix Games, a good half price books, some okay places to eat like Bambinos (old American pizza place), generally a chill time.
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Alameda. an old army base, so has a weird 50s americana vibe. thereās some antique shops (thereās also a huge antique fair that happens every weekend), and the best game store in the bay area called The Experience Share.
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Northern Californiaās coastal cities are really fun to go to in my opinion. they feel like āold americaā but if it were rich, and about to be under water. So, Pt Reyes, Bolinas, both near the water and other hiking, have a unique vibe, and are neat to be in. But youāve gotta drive an hour and a half from anywhere to get there.
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San Jose. The biggest suburb youāve seen in your entire life. 1m people live here, itās huge, and full of weird stuff - recycle book shop, the rosecrucian museum, the rose garden, an old abandoned japan town, amazing food all over (best place to get chettinad food!), but you will drive 15-20 minutes between everything here, after having driven an hour to get there.
Well, I could go on forever and Iāve forgotten a lot Iām sure, butā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦there you go! If you were here for a month Iād have a lot of Real Specific Recommendations but those arenāt useful for a shorter trip.
Oh yeah, the good music venues are:
SF: the chapel, great american music hall, DNA lounge, rickshaw stop, hotel utah, the independent, elbo room. All the others shut down basicallyā¦
Oakland: Eliās, Crybaby, New Parish, Golden Bull, Starline Social Club, the other Elbo Room (lol) and then if youāre a cool person on their instagram: Oakland Secret, Stay Gold Deli
The good record stores are: Amoeba, Rasputin, Streetlight (San Jose), 1234 Go, Needle to the Groove is fine but if youāre in Niles youāll go there anyway, but all the stores around here are alright.
The good game stores are scattered to the 4 winds but the experience share in alameda is the best one, then in San Jose youāve got Retro Fix, Game World, and Game Shop, in Milpitas thereās Retro Rewind, I Concord thereās Phoenix Game, and in Fremont thereās Cartridge Cartel (which is very small). I think a new one opened in a mall somewhere but I haven't heard good things. There is no game store in san francisco.
Final note: Truly the best thing to do in the bay area is google a place, find some thrift stores or restaurants, go check them out, and get the vibe of that particular area. This is not really possible in a tourism capacity because we simply don't have public transportation. weee
