Here's our spin on getting the most out of San Jose and the Silicon Valley. While there are no tours of technology firms in Silicon Valley, the best way to catch the flavor of how technology shaped the area is in downtown San Jose. Visit the orange-colored Tech Museum of Innovation, where you can experience an account of Silicon Valley's electronic achievements, from the silicon chip to the birth of the personal computer.
Theater offer something for everyone.
Meanwhile, across the street, the San Jose Museum of Art features some of the Bay Area's best displays of twentieth-century art and other notable collections. House of Mystery One of the city's most famous sights is the Winchester House, erstwhile residence of the tormented widow of the nineteenth-century gun manufacturer. Curiosity seekers marvel at the unexplained stairways leading to nowhere and the mansion's forbidden rooms, which remain a mystery to this day, Dining Delights Much of the area's dining is a legacy of San Francisco's large Chinese influence to the north. Excellent Asian restaurants abound in Silicon Valley, not to mention the area's profusion of California, Mexican, and other New American gastronome delights. Higher Learning Legacy Stanford University, in Palo Alto, provided the impetus and the mindset that fueled the growth of Silicon Valley.