What it’s like to live in Silicon Valley — and the best things to do when you visit
Blue Bottle Coffee in Palo Alto
Silicon Valley is the name given to a strong of towns lying south of San Francisco and north of San Jose. It is home to the tech industry, including Apple, Google, and Facebook. The valley is surrounded by low mountains and, behind those mountains, is the ocean on the west and the desert on the east. The climate is great. It is sunny for more than 200 days of the year. Temperatures in the summer tend to be in the 70s, and it almost never rains. Temperatures do reach as high as the mid-90s, but the lack of humidity still makes it comfortable. In the winter, temperatures tend to be in the high 50s and there is intermittent rainfall.
Besides the beautiful, sunny, rain-free summer days, another great aspect of the desert-influenced climate is that insects do not like arid weather. Because of that, there are very few mosquitoes, and you can spend long summer nights outdoors. One downside of the valley’s location is the wind. There is a constant strong gust, both along San Francisco Bay and at nearby coastal beaches. Your outdoor activities in Silicon Valley will typically consist of hiking, biking, sailing, or kite boarding. The best beach near Silicon Valley is Half Moon Bay, but since it is almost always windy and foggy there, a true beach day is rare. (But Half Moon Bay does have great hiking, and the town is adorable.) For a wind-free, white-sand beach experience you will have to travel south to Carmel. (Things could definitely be worse since Carmel is lovely.)
If you are moving to, or visiting, Silicon Valley here are the six towns you will be hanging out in, listed in order from north to south.
Burlingame
The main shopping strip in Burlingame
Burlingame is one of the nicest towns in Silicon Valley. Its upscale main street (Burlingame Avenue) has the feel of a resort town. Wooden benches line the avenue, and people take ample advantage of them, using them to sit and read, enjoy their coffees or ice creams, or just people watch. There are fun stores to browse in -- like Warby Parker, Lululemon, Banana Republic, and Apple -- lots of restaurants, a very popular ice cream store (Salt Lick) and more coffee shops in a concentrated area than we’ve ever seen. There is a Philz, Peets, and Starbucks as well as various independent cafes and bakeries.
Joe and the Juice is a great place to work remotely
On one end of Burlingame Ave. is Mollie Stone’s, a very nice high-end supermarket chain similar to Plum Market in Ann Arbor. This is the place to come for lots of vegan options and the best choices of California-made ice cream sold in cartons, including our favorite, McConnell’s. (The salted caramel is amazing.) There is also a Safeway supermarket within walking distance of Burlingame Ave.
Hotels in Burlingame: Your best option would be one of the hotels at the San Francisco airport which is just an 8-minute drive away.
San Mateo
The San Mateo farmers market
San Mateo has a large town center that appeals to students from three nearby colleges, as well as young tech company interns. Because of this, it has the feel of a college town. Its restaurants are less expensive than those in the other towns, there is a movie theater, and the number of bars and exotic ice cream and doughnut places definitely outnumber the number of coffee shops! Hot Wok Chinese restaurant has been there for decades and serves standard, but high quality, food.
Outside of the town center, you will find lots of shopping options including Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Barnes and Noble. The San Mateo farmer’s market is very nice. Located on the grounds of a college campus, it skews more towards prepared and baked goods than produce. (Check out the Scone Guy. The scones are more like biscuits than scones, but definitely worth trying, as those waiting on a constantly long line will attest.) Housing options in San Mateo include lots of apartments as well as small houses that interns tend to share with co-workers.
Safeway is the major supermarket chain in this area and the one in San Mateo is pretty dumpy. (The nicest Safeway is in Menlo Park and the one in Burlingame is the runner up.)
Fun Fact: Draper University has a gorgeous dorm tucked away in the heart of San Mateo. (You can see the pool in a courtyard across the street from the Equinox gym.) Located in a former hotel, it even has an outdoor swimming pool and barbecue grills.
Hotels in San Mateo: Most of the hotels are pretty blech. They are fine to sleep in, but you wouldn’t want to spend much time in them otherwise. Most chain hotels have outposts here and most are located adjacent to, or close to Highway 101, which results in a lot of freeway noise at many of them. We stayed at Hyatt House Belmont/Redwood Shores, choosing it because of a previous stay at the excellent Hyatt House in Cupertino. We had enough Hyatt points to pay for a month. That means we tend to love Hyatts, but this Hyatt was the pits. The pool was closed because of a problem with the machinery and a garbage can floated in it until we contacted Hyatt’s corporate office and told them about it. All but one washing machine was out of order (resulting in consistently long lines of people waiting to do their laundry in the evening), and the dishwasher was not mounted properly and would literally fall out when you opened it. We bought cleaning spray so that we could clean the outdoor tables ourselves, and we fixed our front door ourselves when, one night, it – literally – would not close. The people working here were all very nice and, after the maintenance guy did not return her phone calls, the night-time front desk clerk had her father bring over his tools so we could use them to fix our door.
The management company that owns this Hyatt was clearly trying to squeeze out every last dime from its investment, at the price of the comfort and safety of its guests. We were three people staying for almost a full month, but the hotel still would not give us more than 4 forks, 4 knives and 4 spoons. We went to Marshalls and bought our own silverware, plates and bowls. Hot breakfast was canceled and the grab and go consisted of bagels and cream cheese. No hot sandwiches you could heat up yourself, no cereal, and the only fruit option was green apples. Staying at this Hyatt felt more like camping at a third-rate campsite than like staying at a reputable hotel. If you are looking for a hotel just for a day or two, this is a good option because it is quiet and not directly on Highway 101. Of course, things may get better with time, or a new management company, but I would ask questions before you book a room for a long-term stay there. Also, note that there is no elevator, so if that is an issue for you, ask for a room on the ground floor. Otherwise, the higher floors have more sunlight and offer more privacy.
Foster City (Home to: Zoox)
Foster City is just east of San Mateo and, so, is very close to all the amenities San Mateo offers. Companies headquartered here include Zoox, an autonomous taxi development company that was acquired by Amazon in 2020. If you are interning, or working, here, you will most likely be living either in Foster City or San Mateo. There is a pretty bike trail along San Francisco Bay that connects Foster City to San Mateo, so biking to work is an option if you choose the location of your housing wisely. Some ambitious souls who don’t mind the drive commute from San Francisco.
Many office complexes have picnic tables set up outside, so eating lunch outdoors is an option and some of the offices are just steps from San Francisco Bay. The town has a lagoon and canals, and two very nice parks are nearby. Seal Point Park has a nice walking-biking path along San Francisco Bay and a great, very large dog run.
Coyote Point Recreation Area is our go-to spot for working remotely outdoors, or going for an easy, pretty hike. It consists of 670 acres and has beautiful beaches, hiking and biking paths, a marina, and lots of picnic tables.
The picnic area at the Harborview/CuriOdyssey parking lot at Coyote Point Recreation Area has the prettiest view of the harbor and is protected from the constant wind coming in from the bay. There is also a cool view of planes landing at San Francisco International Airport. (They fly directly overhead.)
If you windsurf, or kite board, check out the wind surfing beach at Coyote Point. It is full of people kite boarding from 5 pm until sunset seven days a week.
Hotels in Foster City. See above, hotels in San Mateo.
Palo Alto (Home to: Stanford University)
Palo Alto Sunday farmers market
Palo Alto is a lovely place to live if you are an adult and/or wealthy. This is, after all, the town Steve Jobs called home. The houses are nicely landscaped and there are various upscale shopping centers scattered throughout the town. Even the emergency room at Palo Alto’s Stanford University Hospital feels more like a Four Seasons Hotel, than a hospital. (We needed to visit for a minor emergency and were stunned at how pleasant an ER visit could be. We are used to Manhattan and Long Island hospital emergency rooms where people are lined up on stretchers in hallways as far as the eye can see.)
The center of town is University Avenue, which ends in Stanford’s campus. It is lined with restaurants, ice cream places and a few shops. Verve Café has a lovely well-utilized outdoor area for remote work. Another popular option for working outside was the magnificent Blue Bottle Coffee – an architectural stunner.
Another nice street to visit is College Avenue, location of the wonderful Palo Alto Sunday Farmer’s Market. Hands down, the Sunday market on College Ave was our favorite farmer’s market in Silicon Valley. This is a real farmer’s market with the most amazingly delicious lettuce mixes and vegetables we have ever had. It is also lots of fun because College Ave is lined with lots of fun restaurants with outdoor seating. Joanie’s Café has many outdoor tables and is the best location for people watching and having a lovely, reasonably priced Sunday brunch.
Best Bike Ride in Palo Alto:
This ride takes you from the Stanford Campus, through town, to Steve Jobs house (at 2101 Waverly St.) and to the Hewlett Packard Garage, the birthplace of Silicon Valley.
Starting point: Rent a bike at: Campus Bike Shop. This bike shop is located in the Tressider Union Building, near the center of Stanford’s campus. Since it serves students, prices are very reasonable. Should you have any gear questions, the manager has an encyclopedic knowledge of bicycles. (This is Stanford, after all.) Hop on the bike and ride to Lasuen Mall, turn left on Jane Stafford Way, then right on The Oval to Palm Drive. (The bike store has a map.) Palm Drive brings you directly to University Avenue. (Ride underneath the train overpass to get there.) Very soon on University, turn right onto Emerson St. You will pass various restaurants you might want to check out later, as well as Whole Foods where you can use the restroom. Plug Jobs’ address into your GPS to get to his house, then ride around the lovely neighborhood. You’ll be surprised how modest his house was given his immense wealth and how accessible the reclusive Jobs was to his neighbors. No gated mansion here, and he even parked his Mercedes on the street. Then put HP Garage (367 Addison Ave.) into your GPS and head over to another lovely street. Then GPS your way back to the bike shop.
Hotels in Palo Alto:
The pool at the Rosewood Sandhill Hotel
Rosewood Sandhill: The nicest hotel near Palo Alto is the Rosewood Sandhill in Menlo Park. (Menlo Park is where Facebook is headquartered.) The hotel is (and feels like) a lovely convention center/wedding reception venue, but it is very upscale and quiet. Everything at the hotel is well thought out, including the pool area, where every lounge chair was shaded by an umbrella and the chairs were nicely spaced for privacy.
Dinah’s Garden Hotel. Many websites (including Trip Advisor) will steer you towards staying at (or eating by the pool at) Dinah’s Garden Hotel (4261 El Camino Real). It was recommended so often, that we checked it out as a place to possibly stay in the future. We were disappointed to see that it was, basically, a motel with a koi pond and fountain area in the back. The pool where so many Trip Advisor posters said they ate looked like what it was – a motel pool. Many people were, indeed, eating alongside it but they “looked like residents in a retirement home,” as my 20-year-old son put it. And the menu matched their food preferences, skewing towards fried chicken, hamburgers and meatloaf -- in July! If that is your demographic – or if you are taking your elderly grandma out for her birthday -- you might like this place. The hotel owner is lovely and told us to make sure to see the koi pond before we left. If you are looking for a hipper vibe, or a more upscale hotel, this is not the place for you.
Many chain hotels – some of which look quite nice -- are located nearby on El Camino Real.
Mountain View (Home to: Google)
Mountain View’s main street consists, almost exclusively, of sit-down restaurants. This gives it a nice, fun vibe. There are very few shops, so the main reason to come here is to eat.
The Ameswell’s beautifully designed restaurant, with a Google facility in the background
Hotel: The Ameswell hotel is the newest upscale addition to the hotel scene here. Inside, the place is contemporary and beautifully designed. Sadly, there is a big downside – its location. First, it is in the middle of nowhere. You cannot walk to town. Second, the hotel shares its grounds with a Google facility and a large cement parking structure, so when you walk out the front door, you are looking at cement. But the major, and we mean MAJOR issue of the hotel is that it backs up directly onto Highway 101, so you hear the loud roar (and we mean LOUD ROAR) of the freeway on the grounds. The hotel plays music outside to try to cover it up, but that just means you hear music and traffic noise. We would never stay here for that reason.
Cupertino (Home to: Apple)
Apple is an amazing place to intern, but Cupertino is not a good place to live. Like San Francisco, the town has a huge problem with car break ins. Most Apple employees choose to live in San Francisco. Every morning, you will see a sea of white, luxurious, unmarked buses carrying Apple employees from San Francisco to the stunning Apple headquarters and then see the same fleet returning to in San Francisco in the evening. It’s like something from Back to the Future, except, of course, the future is now. As an employee, or intern, in this area, you will be part of all the wonderful developments happening here. Apple pays for its interns’ housing, so they have no choice of where to stay. But if you are renting your own place, you probably will want to live outside of Cupertino.
Hotels in Cupertino: We stayed at two different Hyatts in Cupertino – at both, there were car break-ins literally every night. (We would walk out to the parking lot in the morning and see several cars with windows newly smashed open.) Apart from that, the Hyatt House in Cupertino is excellent. It is one of the newer Hyatts, so the furnishings are contemporary; it is well run, and the outdoor pool is very pleasant to sit at.
Text and photos by Irene Daria