San Francisco Peninsula Favorites

Covering a few hundred miles of surface area, the San Francisco Bay itself is massive and the cities surrounding it sprawl even farther. 

Locals refer to the western side of the bay from San Francisco city down into Silicon Valley “The Peninsula”. While we haven’t visited the whole bay area yet due to its size, here are a few of our favorite places in the peninsula after living here for a few years. 

San Francisco Favorites 

Our rule of thumb in San Francisco is the further you are to the northern tip of the city, the nicer it is and the fewer homeless people you’ll see. While San Francisco has many issues with homeless, they are often consolidated mostly Financial District/Tenderloin and nearby areas:

Our rule of thumb in San Francisco is the further you are to the northern tip of the city, the nicer it is and the fewer homeless people you’ll see. While San Francisco has many issues with homeless, they are often consolidated mostly Financial District/Tenderloin and nearby areas 

• Golden Gate Park – Maybe the best park in the entire US including Central Park. You could spend 2-3 days exploring everything here and it’s got a range from multiple museums, lakes, a bison paddock, pop up craft breweries, you name it 

• Crissy Field – best place to get a view of Golden Gate on a nice day. 
• Palace of Fine Arts – nearby Crissy Field and gorgeous outdoor spot originally built for a World’s Fair 
• Alamo Square Park – park with the famous “Painted Ladies” and arguably the best view of the city of San Francisco skyline 
• Oracle Park – truly stunning baseball park right on the bay. Highly recommend going to at least one baseball game there
• Ghirardelli Square – famous for the Ghirardelli sundaes. A local tip is if you go before 1PMish on a weekend you’ll still be there before the crowds and are able to get in and out and get your sundae in a breeze 
• Alcatraz Island – one of a kind island in the bay. Everyone has to go there at least once 

Silicon Valley’s unique restaurants 

• Rosotti’s Alpine Inn (called Zotts by locals) is an awesome outdoor spot in the foothills along the Portola Valley. On weekends in summer it’s filled with people finishing a long bike ride 

• Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside offers a quirky vibe in an upscale “cowboy town”. If you don’t have the money to spare for a flight to Jackson, WY this is the next best option
• Tootsie’s at Cantor museum in Stanford has almost a European atmosphere as you sit next to Cypress trees, there’s Rodin sculptures outside next to you (for free), everyone is tasting wine, and multiple languages are spoken every day 
• Pacifica Taco Bell is arguably the nicest taco bell in the world as it’s beachfront and right on a splendid beach

Downtowns

Additionally, Silicon Valley is made up of multiple small to medium size cities and many have cute little downtowns Each of these has more standard restaurants and among our favorites so far are:

1. Palo Alto (two downtowns in University Ave and California Ave)
2. Mountain View 
3. Los Altos 
4. Willow Glen (San Jose)
5. Campbell  

Palo Alto outdoor dining which common among many of them

Visiting Stanford 

Stanford is one of the premier universities in the US, but its campus might be even nicer. It’s almost all open to the public with parking free on weekends in some areas.

1. Cantor arts museum – free art museum with one of largest Rodin collections in the world. Sometimes requires reservations, but they’re super easy to get
2. Tootsies Art Cafe – double counting Tootsies, but if you go to the Cantor museum you have to go to the beautiful cafe open for lunch just outside it. It’s on the back of museum and is next to the “Gates of Hell” Rodin sculpture which gives you some of the best of the museum without even going inside 
3. Arboretum – Just off Stanford’s main street (or Palm Drive) – the arboretum is basically a big eucalyptus park. You park there for football games and tailgate amongst the trees and man that’s a heckuva vibe  
4. Memorial Church – the end of Palm Drive and most identifiable sign of Stanford and the Spanish style architecture. Beautiful on the outside and inside 
5. Hoover tower – Tall tower doubling as a place to get an awesome view of the whole campus as well as a museum to the Stanford president. Shockingly Herbert Hoover was in Stanford’s first graduating class and there hasn’t been a Stanford president since 

Outdoor adventures

AllTrails is generally best to find the right hike for you, but a few areas to look at in the peninsula are

• Stanford foothills are protected space just west of Stanford as you go into the Santa Cruz mountains. The 3.5ish mile Stanford dish loop is popular with locals and on a good day gives you a whole view of the Bay 
• Bordering the bay, there’s numerous protected parks which are great for bird watching. Byxbee Park in Palo Alto is my favorite, but there’s many other good spots
• In the Santa Cruz mountains, Purisima Creek has old growth redwoods which are a terrific place to hang out 

• Rancho San Antonio in Mountain View and Stevens County Park in Cupertino both offer lovely family friendly hiking locations
• Half Moon Bay is an amazing beach where during peak summer days you’re almost transported down to SoCal