San Jose California Travel Guide: 22 BEST Things To Do In San Jose CA

The Tech Interactive is a hands-on science and technology museum in downtown San Jose with exhibits focusing on space, genetics, clean energy, sound, and more, offering activities for kids to design robots, try computer coding, and build technologies.

Plaza de César Chávez is a public park known for its lively events and open-air atmosphere, featuring a statue of the Mayan god Ketzel Kawatal and ground-level fountains, hosting food festivals, music performances, and other public events.

The San Jose Museum of Art features modern and contemporary art, focusing on West Coast artists with over 2,500 pieces in its permanent collection, and offers learning programs for various groups.

The Winchester Mystery House is a large, unusual mansion with over 160 rooms built by Sarah Winchester, featuring secret passageways, staircases that lead nowhere, and strange rooms designed to confuse spirits, offering tours to see its unique architectural details.

Japantown, also known as Jtown, is one of the last three historic Japan towns in the United States, offering a mix of shops, restaurants, and cultural sites linked to Japanese American history, where you can find handmade ceramics, origami supplies, kimonos, and anime merchandise, and taste Japanese dishes like ramen and sushi.

The Municipal Rose Garden is a 6-acre park with over 3,500 rose bushes of 189 different varieties, featuring walking paths, pavilions, and a pond, and is known for testing new types of roses.

The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is home to the largest collection of ancient Egyptian items in Western North America, featuring four main galleries with real mummies, sarcophagy, and a tomb replica, along with rotating exhibitions, an alchemy garden, and a planetarium.

Alum Rock Park, the oldest municipal park in California, offers hiking, biking, and horseback riding trails, natural mineral springs, and wildlife spotting opportunities, with picnic areas and grills available.

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, built in 1877, is a Roman Catholic church in downtown San Jose known for its detailed design and calm setting, featuring 39 colorful stained glass windows, large domes, and romanesque style details, with regular services and a season of hope concert series in December.

Santana Row is a busy outdoor center with over 50 shops, including designer stores, and more than 30 restaurants offering various cuisines, along with a movie theater, spas, and the boutique Hotel Valencia, featuring happy hour deals, music, and patio dining.

The Japanese Friendship Garden is a peaceful 6-acre garden featuring koi ponds, waterfalls, and wooden bridges surrounded by traditional Japanese plants, created as a symbol of friendship between San Jose and Okyama, Japan, with quiet walking paths, a tea house, and spots for weddings and celebrations.

The Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose has more than 150 hands-on exhibits about science, art, and culture, offering activities like the waterways, amazing air maze, and Imagination Playground for kids from babies to 10-year-olds.

San Pedro Square Market is a lively food hall in downtown San Jose with over 30 vendors offering various kinds of food and drinks, featuring California dishes, Southeast Asian flavors, and meals inspired by Peru, Mexico, Japan, Italy, Nepal and Vietnam, with live music adding to the busy social atmosphere.

The SAP Center is a large indoor arena known for hosting San Jose Sharks hockey games, major concerts, WWE events, and national competitions, featuring seating for over 17,000 people and the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.

History Park takes you into a recreated 19th-century San Jose, with 32 original and replica buildings including a schoolhouse, fire station, and blacksmith shop, offering a vintage street car ride and exhibits about early communities.

Happy Hollow Park and Zoo offers a mix of classic rides and a small zoo with more than 150 animals, focusing on conservation and sustainability, with puppet shows and educational programs for children.

The SoFA District, also known as South First area, is San Jose's creative center with art galleries, theaters, and music venues, including the Institute of Contemporary Art, colorful murals, and lively bars, with South First Fridays bringing local artists and live music to the streets.

Almaden Quicksilver County Park, originally a mercury mining site, covers over 4,100 acres with more than 50 miles of trails for walking, biking, and horseback riding, featuring peaceful settings, spring wildflowers, and wide views of the Santa Clara Valley, with old mining structures and the Almaden Quicksilver Mining Museum.

The San Jose Flea Market, opened in 1960, covers 120 acres and hosts about 6,000 vendors each week, offering vintage clothes, antiques, handmade crafts, fresh produce, and electronics, along with food stalls and kid-friendly activities.

California's Great America is a 112-acre amusement park offering roller coasters, live shows, concerts, and fireworks, including high-speed coasters like Flight Deck and smaller rides in Planet Snoopy, along with South Bay Shores Water Park.

The Santa Cruz Mountains, located 30 miles from San Jose, offer hiking trails with ocean views and tall redwood trees, swimming holes in the San Lorenzo River, and wineries where you can taste award-winning wines while enjoying mountain views.

Vasona Lake County Park offers 45 acres of lawns, trails, and a reservoir with fishing, paddle or rowboat rentals, picnic areas, and spaces for frisbee, softball, and soccer, along with the Youth Science Institute and the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad Miniature Train nearby.

You will find Happy Hollow Park at the north end of Kelly Park.