OT: Travel to SAP Centre

[Harbessix]

Hi everyone. I’ll be travelling to San Jose in April from Halifax, NS Canada to fulfill a bucket list dream of mine to see the Sharks play live in their home building. I’ve only seen them play live once in 2009 in Ottawa before my kids were born. Just hoping to get some tips regarding the best/quickest/most affordable way to get to the arena from Santana Row, whether it be buses, vta ect… Also some things to do around that area for the other few days I’ll be there. Thanks in advance

Click to read more...

 

[Gecklund]

My girlfriend and I went last year and it was the first time I didn’t go with my family that’s from SJ. I always went with my dad and we just took the light rail there and that was super easy. When I went last year, we ubered to a taproom next to the arena called TrueBrew like 3 hours before the game that we read online was supposed to be a huge hit. Their kitchen was closed for some reason so we walked over to the Whole Foods right next door. That place was PACKED with Sharks fans. Huge selection of food that was actually much better than a normal Whole Foods (basically a grocery store). They had a taproom upstairs too and a big sitting area. Was nice to sit there before the game.

Some things to do beforehand, Santa Cruz is about a 30-40 minute drive. Beautiful beaches and some nice places to walk around. Winchester Mystery House isn’t too far either. There’s actually a lot to do there. Just depends if you have a car or not. If you don’t rent a car, I’m not 100% sure because Uber could get expensive and I don’t really know the extent of the public transit.

 

[Cas]

I feel like the easiest way to get from Santana Row to the SAP Center is just to take San Carlos/Stevens Creek about a mile east, then turn north up one of the side streets. Either that or take 280 to 87 for a very short distance.

While you can fly directly into San Jose, check the prices for San Francisco and Oakland - they're not far and maybe you'll save some money.

I could recommend the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum - it's about a mile west of the SAP Center. The Tech Museum is well known - I haven't been since I was a teenager, and I believe it's pretty expensive, but may be worth it. If you're a reader, there is a rather large used bookstore (Recycle Bookstore) about half a mile west. I frequent it regularly when I'm in San Jose. This is all in San Jose itself.

Further afield, if you're interested in gardens or architecture, there is an old mansion named Filoli about half an hour north of San Jose on Highway 280. There are also tours available at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The Lick Observatory is about an hour away, on top of Mt. Hamilton.

I live in the Monterey Bay area, so I'm not as familiar with San Jose and the San Francisco Bay Area (even though I actually went to San Jose State), but I can highly recommend visiting the Monterey Bay - either in the Santa Cruz area (easily accessible via Highway 17, with bus access) or further south in the Monterey area (about an hour's drive - you can take the bus there but it's not very convenient).

Santa Cruz has great beaches, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park, plenty of unique local shops and artists, and plenty of outdoor parks (I can recommend the UCSC arboretum as well).

Monterey has great beaches and parks as well, the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium (although no whales), lots of local historical sites (Monterey is a former capital of California), some shopping, and tons of golf courses. If you are ambitious, you could even go as far south as Big Sur along the magnificent coastal highway.

 

[CupfortheSharks]

Light rail doesn’t go near Santana Row. You can probably pick up a bus that runs down Steven’s Creek Blvd/San Carlos Blvd that put you pretty close to the tank but honesty, I would just Uber. It’s only a few miles. You will be able to walk to the Winchester Mystery House from Santana Row.

You should check to see if the Cuda are in town when you are here. Tech CU arena and Sharks ice are pretty cool.

 

[Cas]

Oh, Northern California can be cold and sometimes wet in April. Don't expect warm days.

 

[CupfortheSharks]

Oh, Northern California can be cold and sometimes wet in April. Don't expect warm days.

He’s from Halifax. Our cold is probably warm to him. Pregame at Whole Foods near the tank is a good call.

 

[Mattb124]

Lows in April will likely be in the 50F range - so t-shirt weather for those for Halifax. IMO the best pre-game festivities are around San Pedro which is a few blocks east of SAP center. If you are staying at Santana Row, just Uber/Lyft.

 

[Harbessix]

Thanks for all the reply’s.

 

[LadyStanley]

NASA Ames in Mountain View used to have tours available. The air tunnels are impressive.

Into wine? Lots of wineries near Los Gatos, or south to Santa Barbara.

Hearst Castle is good, but 3-4 hour drive each way. I hear the sunset tour is awesome.

Yosemite is 3-4 hours away if you like dramatic landscapes.

Drive a couple hours south to Big Sur.

Hour drive to San Francisco. Walking tours where authors lived. Chinatown. Beach Blanket Babylon. Union Square. Pier 39. Ghirardelli Square. Fort Mason. Presidio (Disney Family Museum is awesome). Crissy Field. Walk the Golden Gate Bridge. Fort Point. Tours to Alcatraz Island. Lombard street. (You cannot do it all in a day)

Sausalito just north of SF has the Bay model which looks at tides.
Skywalker Ranch has a museum, IIRC, maybe tours.

 

[Harbessix]

NASA Ames in Mountain View used to have tours available. The air tunnels are impressive.

Into wine? Lots of wineries near Los Gatos, or south to Santa Barbara.

Hearst Castle is good, but 3-4 hour drive each way. I hear the sunset tour is awesome.

Yosemite is 3-4 hours away if you like dramatic landscapes.

Drive a couple hours south to Big Sur.

Hour drive to San Francisco. Walking tours where authors lived. Chinatown. Beach Blanket Babylon. Union Square. Pier 39. Ghirardelli Square. Fort Mason. Presidio (Disney Family Museum is awesome). Crissy Field. Walk the Golden Gate Bridge. Fort Point. Tours to Alcatraz Island. Lombard street. (You cannot do it all in a day)

Sausalito just north of SF has the Bay model which looks at tides.
Skywalker Ranch has a museum, IIRC, maybe tours.

Awesome thank you. Sadly we won’t be renting a vehicle and are only there for three days really so I imagine we’ll be staying local. The Egyptian Museum, Winchester mystery house, Santana row and the San Pedro square market is likely what we’ll be focusing on. Maybe the rose garden or google campus tour if we have time.