San Francisco-area Tourist Attractions

Great America Mystery House Swim Club Convention Center Softball Complex Row San Jose Santa Clara University San Jose University

Go on a whitewater rafting expedition, drop 22 stories in less than 4 seconds, take an antique roadster for a spin, then meet Dora the Explorer and Blue. And that’s just at California’s Great America. Then take a shopping break at exclusive Santana Row.

Or unravel the intrigue of the Winchester Mystery House. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to many top tourist attractions: it will be hard to choose what to do first! The St. Francis Arms is ideally situated for visiting them all.

California's Great America. California's Great America has it all from thrill rides and live shows to KidzVille and the Boomerang Bay Beach Club water slide park. There’s lots of fun things for kids to do when visiting this top San Francisco Bay Area attraction. Nickelodeon Central gives kids a place to interact with their favorite Nick characters and rides like SpongeBob’s Boatmobiles. For more info, visit www2.cedarfair.com/greatamerica.

Shoreline Amphitheatre Shoreline Amphitheatre occupies more than 60 acres in Mountain View. The world-famous venue is just 35 miles south of San Francisco, and one of the best things to do in the area. Top performers come to the state-of-art facility, which is one of the world’s largest tent structures. For concert schedule and tickets, visit www.shorelineamp.com.  [Top]

Winchester Mystery House. Stories about the Winchester Mystery House vary. What is known is that Sarah Winchester continuously constructed new rooms and added features onto her mansion for a period of 38 straight years, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The result is a gigantic mansion boasting more than 40 staircases (some leading nowhere), 467 doorways and 1,257 windows. For more info about mansion tours visit www.winchestermysteryhouse.com.

Santa Cruz Mountains Wine Country. Famed the world over for superb wines, Northern California offers a unique experience to enjoy fine wines directly from the vineyard. Stop for a tasting, take a tour and learn more about the fascinating process of winemaking. The Santa Cruz Mountains wine country offers many excellent destinations. Some of the most famous wineries in the area include Byington Vineyard & Winery and Testarossa Vineyards in Los Gatos, Cinnabar Vineyards & Winery in Saratoga, Thomas Fogarty Winery in Woodside, and Ridge Vineyards in Cupertino. For more details, visit www.saratogachamber.org/todo/wineries.htm.  [Top]

Santa Clara Swim Club. Boasting a history of champions, the Santa Clara Swim Club was established in 1951. From 1964-68, Olympic medalist Mark Spitz trained at the Santa Clara Swim Club. Today, the club is one of the leading swimmer’s organization and attractions in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Santa Clara Swim Club offers competitive programs, masters swimming and swim schools for all ages. To learn more about the many swim programs offered, visit www.santaclaraswimclub.org.

Sunnyvale Tennis Club. The Sunnyvale Tennis Club was founded in the early 1970s. Today, the club ranks as the nation’s largest Community Tennis Association. The group offers a wide choice of events and things to do for tennis enthusiasts in the San Francisco area. Choose from recreational tennis tournaments and social events to United States Tennis Association leagues for more competitive players. For more information, please visit www.sunnyvaletennisclub.org.  [Top]

Santa Clara Convention Center. The Santa Clara Convention Center is 262,000 square feet of high-tech meeting space for trade shows and conventions. Even the sharply modern glass-and-metal architecture is technologically advanced. Located just off 101, the convention center is approximately 5 miles from Mineta San Jose International Airport. The Santa Clara Convention Center can be reached in about 30-40 minutes from San Francisco International Airport. For more details, go to www.santaclara.org.

San Jose Convention Center. The San Jose McEnery Convention Center reigns as one of the nation’s most high tech with global communications services that run can worldwide meetings over their hyper-speed network. The convention center is state of the art, and offers impressive stats: 143,000 square feet of column-free exhibit space, a 22,000-square footage of ballroom, banquet facilities for 5,000 including seating and kitchen facilities, and floor space for 1,000 10 foot x 10 foot booths. To learn more, visit sanjose.org/meetings/index.  [Top]

Twin Creeks Baseball / Softball Complex. Twin Creeks Sports Complex offers an action-packed lineup of fun things to do in the San Francisco Bay Area. The well-equipped sports and fun center features a variety of batting cages with fast pitch softball and fast pitch baseball, plus slow pitch softball machines. Twin Creeks also has 10 lighted softball/baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball, volleyball and 14,000 sq. ft. clubhouse. Then after you get all the action you want, relax at Sluggers Restaurant, or have a drink at Pitchers Sports Bar. For more info and reservations, go to www.twin-creeks.com/home.htm.

HP Pavilion. The HP Pavilion began its reign as one of the San Francisco area’s leading attractions when it was built in 1993. Originally called The San Jose Arena, the stunningly modern structure is a fitting tribute to the high-tech industry of Silicon Valley. Always the site of top performances, HP Pavilion was second only to Madison Square Garden as the top-grossing non-sporting events arena in 2006. For tickets and info, visit www.hppsj.com.  [Top]

Santana Row San Jose. Deemed by many “the Rodeo Drive of Northern California,” Santana Row offers some of the area’s most prestigious shopping. Gucci, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo and Brooks Brothers are just some of the exclusive shops lining the wide, European-like streets of this living-shopping-entertainment complex. The luxury complex includes restaurants, apartments and movie theaters. For more details, visit www.santanarow.com.

Raging Waters, San Jose. Raging Waters, San Jose is Northern California’s ultimate water park wonderland and one of the best area tourist attractions. Explore 23-acres of fun, including the Dragon's Den, the park’s newest ride. Or take a dip in a 350,000 gallon wave pool. There’s non-stop action with high-speed water slides and The Pirate's Cove, a themed water fort. For more information about visiting, please go to www.rwsplash.com.  [Top]

Santa Clara University. Santa Clara University holds the prestigious honor of being the oldest operating faith-inspired higher-education institution in the state of California. The Jesuit, Catholic university offers students a prime Silicon Valley location near San Jose. Santa Clara University also holds the title for having the fourth-highest graduation rate among all master’s programs in the United States. To learn more, visit www.scu.edu.

Stanford University. Stanford University boasts a stunningly beautiful campus lined by a remarkable palm tree drive entrance. One of the academic world’s leading landowners, the Stanford University owns a whopping 8,183 acres of contiguous land surrounding the campus. Originally founded by California Governor Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane Stanford, Stanford University welcomed its first class in 1891. For more details, visit www.stanford.edu.  [Top]

San Jose University. San Jose State University ranks among the nation’s top 200 research universities. San Jose’s diverse offerings include bachelor’s and master’s degrees in 134 areas of study, with 110 concentrations of study. The university offers many attractions for students in the San Jose area. More than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students currently attend San Jose University’s seven colleges. To learn more, visit www.sjsu.edu.

Starlite Dance Club. The Starlite Dance Club offers dance classes and events for students and experts alike. Enjoy tango, samba, salsa, waltz, rumba, swing, foxtrot, cha-cha-you decide. The Starlite Dance Club is one of the San Jose area’s top things to do, and has everything you could want on the dance floor. Check out the Dance Socials on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings. For more information, go to www.starlitedanceclub.com.  [Top]