Redwood City is a beautiful city San Francisco Bay Area of USA and this post shares quick glimpses of the place along with details around main things to do and explore around this town of San Mateo county in California. All photographs shared in this blogpost are clicked with phone camera.
Let's talk about main places to explore in Redwood City and it's neighbourhood and divide these options in different categories, like places close by, some interesting places at some distance but doable in a day and places which would require more than a day to explore.
Close by places to explore around Redwood City in San Francisco Bay Area :
- A tour of San Francisco City If it's your first time in San Francisco Bay Area, then taking Cal Train to San Francisco city is the best thing you can do. That's must do thing when you are in Redwood city for first time. Don't even think twice to make it your first plan.
If you are around Redwood City Downtown, you can simply hike to Red Morton Community Park, which is pretty beautiful and favourable for multiple activities like skating, cycling, jogging, walking, exercise, play with kids etc.
and you are a proper hiker still have energy, walk up till Edgewood Park and then there are multiple trails to hike inside Edgewood park as well.
That's a brilliant place in the middle of Redwood City Downtown. Very well maintained museum with diverse set of collections and representations. Check out above link to know more about Sa Mateo History Museum and decide if it sounds like a good option for you to explore. I certainly loved it and visited it twice.
Refuge is one of those places where beer lovers like to hang out with like minded people. And the place is not only about beer but some interesting eating options as well. It's in San Carlos downtown which is close by. To know more about it, check out the other blogpost linked in above mentioned title.
- Hiller Aviation Museum : This is one of the beautiful aviation museums in Bay area and pretty close to Redwood City, although on other side of the freeway. It's highly recommended if you want to visit & explore with Kids. Entry ticket for Hiller Aviation Museum in Redwood City is $15. One can take uber to the museum.
- Standford University : Standford campus is worth visiting and soaking in the amazing environment around this beautiful campus full of energy. I bet if you don't feel like going back to school after visiting this magical campus. Standford is one of the top universities in US and since it's pretty close to Redwood City, it makes sense for you to plan a visit if you are in this region of California, USA.
- Hakone Gardens : If you are in Paulo Alto area or visiting Standford University, and have time, it would be worth to visit this Japanese styled Hakone Gardens. Entry ticket for the garden is $10.
Now that we have discussed close by places around redwood City in California, now let's talk about places which may take a little more time or you need to do specific planning for commute. I hate the fact about US that public transportation is very poor.
Main places to visit around Redwood City, which need the time of a day to commute & explore :
Before I jump on to sharing these places I want to highlight the fact that best way to reach these places is by driving the car except there is a Cal-Train station nearby the place. You can certainly find connecting buses but that will eat lot of your time and multiple hops.
- A tour of San Francisco City : San Francisco is one of the most visited city in United States of America and there are plenty of things to visit, explore and do in SF city. If you want to explore this city well, you may need more that 3/4 days. Here is another blogpost which talks about some of the important places to explore in San Francisco - "Main places to visit around San Francisco Downtown"
- Napa Valley : Napa Valley has be very interesting destination if you love driving and interested in wine tasting experiences. Certainly there are many wineries in Bay area but Napa Valley is known for some of the best wineries in the world.
- Muir Woods which is natural heaven of California : Muir Woods is popular for it's high and old Sequoia trees and preserved national park. One important thing to notice is that you need to do advanced booking for parking area. In a day there are limited parking bookings available but in other cases there is a list of surrounding parking areas from where free shuttle is available for visitors of Muir Woods in California.
- Half Moon Bay : Half Mood Bay has certainly some of the beautiful beaches and lot of folks prefer this part of Bay area for Barbeque parties, Surfing, Kite flying and many other fun filled activities. There are some interesting breweries & sea-food restaurants around this Half Moon Bay drive.
- Point Reys Lighthouse : That's a little long drive but worth. The link would share exact details but the most special thing about this place was stunning view of the bay and the winds which was pushing us in a particular direction. All the big trees are inclined in direction permanently because of the strong winds in this part of the Bay.
If you are interested in exploring some of the huge houses surrounded by natural beauty and awesome beaches, 17 Mile drive can be one of those places. Please do check out the link above to more about how to plan, what to expect and some tips/information about entry tickets etc.
There are plenty of hikes around San Francisco Bay area and this one is close to Fremont. The link would share more about how to reach base of Sunol hike, how big the hike is, what to expect and how to go prepared etc.
While you are in San Francisco Bay area and any baseball match is happening in AT&T stadium its worth planning. Apart from experiencing the game, you would get to see some amazing views of the bay. The views of amazing if the match is in the evening. Sunset looks beautiful from majority of the seats of AT&T stadium in San Francisco. This is approachable by Cal Train and it's located at walkable distance from CalTrain station in SF City.
California's Great America is approximately 100 acres amusement park located in Santa Clara, California. There are more that 40 rides and attractions in California's Great America. One of its most important attractions is Gold Striker. It's a pretty good place for rides and water activities. Kids definitely love this place.
There are plenty of hiking trails on Mount Tamapais and many of them expose you to brilliant views of San Francisco City, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and various other neighborhoods. Diversity of California state in USA offers lot of such amazing aerial views. Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods can be planned together.
Here is a brilliant view San Francisco City - from small houses to huge buildings on the other. Pacific Ocean and the mountains are on other side of the city. If you look through this straight road and notice a small white tower on other end, it's the famous Ferry Building of San Francisco.
Devil’s Slide Bunker is on Pacific Coast Highway which is also called as California State route 1. Supposedly this is the longest state highway in California, which is 650+ miles. Lot of folks do road trip from San Francisco to San Deigo through some of the main places to explore in California - San Francisco, San Jose , Santa Cruz , Monterey, Big Sur, San Simeon, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Malibu, Los Angeles, Long beach, San Diego.
Across the highway, there are parking areas near these beaches. Some of these parking areas are paid but most of them are free. The one near Gray Whale Cove Beach is relatively bigger and there are no parking charges. There are few toilets near this parking area, although a little hidden. One needs to climb a bit to reach these. While driving from San Francisco to Half Moon Bay, this parking area is on the left and beach is on right side of the highway. Keep a watch on your left for parking after crossing Devil’s Slide Bunker and that’s a good landmark after crossing Pacifica beach and the tunnels.
Weekend trips from Redwood City :
Here I would not go into details and would rather let you click on respective links for knowing more about these places along with tips for planning a trip to mentioned places.
1. Lake Tahoe
5. LA : Los Angeles
When I started compiling this post, I didn't thought of such elaborative post but then I realised that it makes more sense to share as much details as I can. If somebody is in Redwood City and want to do planning, it's important to have all details in one place. Each and every fact shared is important and how seriously you take these inputs is important for planning better exploration of places around Redwood City and San Francisco Bay area.
All the photographs shared in this blogpost are clicked around Redwood City Downtown and to see photographs of recommended places, you can checkout respective links along with all relevant details like how to reach, pocket friendly travel hacks and some of the recommended places to eat out in budget ranges as well as kinds of food you may expect. Above photograph shows library of Redwood City and it's located in the downtown. Going inside libraries of California is itself a very interesting experience, especially if you are from other country. Many of the things are automated for kids/citizens to pick/drop the books, CDs and other stuff. The organisation runs on trust and most of the services are free for residents of that county/area.
I have seen many folks planning their days as per shopping priorities. I will try to share some pointers on that as well, but probably with my limited knowledge of shopping places and kind of differences to expect. Let's quickly talk about each of these places and why I am recommending these.
- The Great Mall Milpitas : This is a place with wide range of shopping options. It's a huge Mall in circular shape with almost all main brands at one place and usually the prices are pretty good. During sale time, it becomes even better place because you can compare the deals very quickly at same place. Great Mall also has a nice food court with options of different kinds of cuisines.
How to reach The Great Mall from Redwood City?
- Take Caltrain from Redwood City to Mountain Views.
- Take VTA train from Mountain View of Great Mall. VTA station is very close to Caltrain station in Mountain Views and VTA station close to Great Mall is again very close. It's hardly 5 minutes walk from VTA station to the mall.
- Costco : I don't think I need to tell about Costco but still, these are the stores which offer probably the best deals on things available here. They have chosen product at very interesting prices but you may need to buy stuff in bulk. If you have never visited a Costco store, I would recommend it and I am sure you will come out with good stuff. But be mindful about what you are buying because good deals make you buy things which you may not really need. There is one Costco in Redwood City, but you need to find someone who has membership card. You would not be allowed to go in without a card.
- Bestbuy : There is a BestBuy which is technically in San Carlos but pretty close to Redwood City. Electronic items are found here with good variety, experts who can explain you things and reasonable deals. One tip for BestBuy - If you like something in the store and at the same time you find good deal for same thing online, just show it to the sales rep there and they would match the price. Isn't it awesome. There is TJ-Max and Ross close to Bestbuy if you want to do more shopping. Ross demands more time to find right thing for you but the prices are extremely low.
- Standford Shopping Complex : There are some interesting shopping complexes around Redwood City and few of them are Paulo Alto downtown and Standford Shopping complex. They are worth visiting even if you don't buy anything. Paulo Alto has it's first Apple store where Steve Jobs used to visit. There is one Tesla showroom in Standford Shopping Complex as well.
- Hillsdale shopping center : This is closest place with Macy's and it's a mall with various other showrooms and good part of that it's approachable through CalTrain. So just catch the Caltrain and get down at Hillsdale station, walk for 5 minutes and you are ready fro shopping. If you are in a group of 3, booking an uber/lyft would be better. Almost in same cost you will save time and at times some money as well.
- Santana Row (There is a bonus of visiting Winchester Mystery House)
- San Francisco Union Square and China Market can be interesting places for shopping while you visit San Francisco City.
Now certainly you have huge list to chose from but it's not complete, so if you need specific inputs please drop comment and ask your questions. We would love to share further details as per your personal priorities.
Now it's important to understand modes of transportation around Redwood City.
- Redwood is well connected to places around Cal Train. Caltrain station is in middle of the downtown, so going to SF kind of places is super easy.
- There is Bus terminal close to CalTrain station and if you wish to use Buses, do try Google app to plan better. The link would share more about why I am saying so.
- Uber/Lyft is certainly an expensive affair.
- Renting a car is one of the best options if you want the flexibility of moving around without much hassle and there is a priority to save time.
Redwood City Downtown is small but pretty, especially in the evening the whole place is lit pretty well. Some of the trees are also decorated with lights and I am not talking about Christmas time. I have seen it other times of the year as well. There is a good range of restaurants offering multiple cuisines and to decide better you can take help from platforms like Yelp. Interesting Yelp is not only about food reviews but it's heavily used for other purposes in US.
Above photograph shows one of the multi-story building under construction and it you notice closely, these buildings are made up of wood and certainly iron. Wood is one of the main and important material used in construction around San Francisco Bay Area. It's also linked with the likelihood of earthquakes in this area. If interested on this topic, you may want to read more about the real-estate in California and how it's also linked to the fact that it's earthquake prone.
Above photograph is shot during one of the evenings in Redwood City Downtown. The well lit trees look awesome in the evening.
Redwood City Weather is usually pleasant except winters when it's chilled. It's recommended to carry jackets in Bay Area because of chilly winds during mornings and evenings. State of pollution is also changing in Bay area for last few years because of wildfire. As of today, San Francisco ranks on the top in the list of most polluted cities in the world. It's a scary thing but probably it would be controlled well in coming years.
On one side, San Francisco is of-course the main city and San Jose is another big downtown on the opposite side. San Jose is also connected well with Redwood City through CalTrain. San Jose is another big hub for tech companies of bigger sizes. Santa Clara on the way has this huge Levi's Stadium where different games keep happening across the year and it's very close to California's Great America.
Above photograph shows CalTrain stop near Redwood City Downtown. Caltrain is heavily used for daily commuters for their offices. Lot of folks bike to the CalTrain Station and take those bikes along inside the CalTrain. Daily commuters use Clipper card and they need to swipe that when they need to board a train. Swiping machines are installed on the stop area. For others, there are ticket wending machines installed on both sides of the Caltrain track. There are all instruction available on the vending machine - there are defined zones with names of CalTrain stations and there is fixed ticket fees from one zone to another. You are supposed to know the zone, enter the zone number from where you are boarding the CalTrain and the Zone number where you will get down, insert money and the machine will give you ticket along with change. If you intend to use Caltrain multiple times in a day, it's recommended to get Day-Pass from same vending machine but you should do your own calculation before deciding that.
There are few water bodies around Redwood City. This one is very close to my office Sumologic and the building you see in above photograph is Sumologic office, close to this water creek. Because of these water sources you would also find some interesting birds around Redwood City. During the weekend, you can attend some of the walking tours around this place and I also noticed some birding activities although I haven't done that personally.
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If you liked this post and found it helpful, I would request you to follow these things when traveling -
1. Manage your waste well and don’t litter Use dustbins.
2. Tell us if you went to a place and found it hard to locate a dustbin.
3. Avoid bottle waters in hills. Usually you get clean water in hills and water bottles create lot of mess in our ecosystem.
4. Say big no to plastic and avoid those unhealthy snacks packed in plastic bags. Rather buy fruits.
5. Don't play loud blaring music in forests of jungle camps. You are a guest in that ecosystem and disturbing the locals (humans and animals) is not polite
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