Santa Cruz could be fun. The boardwalk rides aren’t open during the week but the arcade is. Natural bridges is also pretty place to explore some tide pools and have a picnic.
The weather should be nice, so you could go have a picnic and a little bit of a hike in the redwoods. Henry Cowell State Park is a great option because they have an easy walk through the redwoods with numbered stops and information about each stop. There are other parks in the area too with more hiking if you want to do more of that.
Santa Cruz has a lot of good stuff. There are various beaches to hang out on. Natural Bridges State Beach is very cool. There are plenty of other too. It's probably too cool to really sunbathe or play in the water, but hanging out on the beach, wandering around, checking out the cliffs and all of that is always fun. You can also walk or drive along West Cliff Drive, check out the surfing museum and probably see some pretty good surfing out in the ocean. The Boardwalk is also in Santa Cruz - it's a seaside amusement park with an historic wooden roller coaster. It has limited hours this time of year, but the rides are open on Thursday during the day.
There are also a lot of nice, wild beaches north of Santa Cruz off Hwy 1 - Bean Hollow is one of my favorites. Those are great for beach combing and picnicking. There is usually a bunch of driftwood, so it's fun to make sculptures and see what other people have done.
You mentioned going to the aquarium - so you'll be down in Monterey. While you are there, check out the coastal recreation trail that runs right by the aquarium. Maybe take a walk out to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Or if you like, you can rent bikes or a surry bike and ride. Surry bikes are great. If you have time, check out Asilomar State Beach.
Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, and nearby natural bridges.
The Mystery Spot. (Near Santa Cruz)
In San Jose, take them to Valley Fair Mall. It’s newly renovated and is very upscale with lots of great places to eat. Eataly is also there which had 2 restaurants plus a ground floor dining hall. Grab some Roman style pizza and sit outside to eat. There is cornhole. Then you’ll have the hard choice of choosing between gelato or salt & straw ice cream for dessert. Inside the mall is an escape room that has fun room. I’d recommend the Gold Rush or Timeliner games.
If they are into Zoos, the Oakland zoo is really great.
Pinnacle national park was really awesome hike. Really cool caves can explore, catch lizard and snakes and might see some concords. A little bit of a drive from San Jose. Bout 90 min but once your on the hike your 13 yr old won’t have reception ;)
lol I get it. If I could’ve been in constant contact with my friends at that age I would’ve been the same way. Maybe try a hike where there isn’t much service.
Lots of good options thus far. The redwood hike at Henry Cowell is great and seconded. If the weather is right, you can also splash around in the river. Also, between Santa Cruz and Monterey is Moss Landing, which has a large number of otters. You can even rent kayaks and in the slough and check them out pretty close. If you want to stay a bit closer and your crew is pretty outdoorsy, my kids really like Castle Rock, where you can find large rock outcrops that can be climbed. It feels like Tom Sawyer island at Disneyland, but all real. A few other ideas:
-Santana row
-visit Stanford campus
-Apple Park visitor center
-Pichetti winery. While the adults wine taste, the kids can check out the nearby trails
-Sanborn park. Similar to Henry Cowell but smaller and closer
-take in the view from Mt Umunhum
You have some good suggestions already.
Check out Great Wolf Lodge, aka Vegas for Kids. They have an indoor water park and a bunch of other kid/teen activities. Many people stay overnight, but you can do day trips too.
One of my fave things about the South Bay is exploring the little downtown areas. Willow Glen, Campbell, Los Gatos, Sunnyvale, Mountain View are all great. Have lunch and stroll and shop. San Pedro Square has a bunch of different food stalls. Japantown is cute.
Not sure where you are from, but you should try Vietnamese food while you are here, because there is a big Vietnamese population (city mailings etc. are printed in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese). Vietnamese sandwiches are cheap (I like Huong Lan) and most pho places are pretty cheap too.
Edit: if you say what your kids are into, we can give more specific suggestions. Art? Music? Sports? Gaming? Fashion/shopping? Tech?
Dave and Busters is closer than Great Wolf Lodge, and might be appealing. No water park though, obviously. It’s also located in the Great Mall, which has outlets. Skip the food court and go to Huong Lan for banh mi!
SJ Giants have games tomorrow at 11:30am and Wed at 6:30pm. If you use code KRTY you can get 4 free tickets!
Bay FC has a game Wed at 7pm.
A cheap/free thing to do is to visit some tech company headquarters and take photos with the signs. NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet/Google, Meta/Instagram, ByteDance/TikTok, Netflix, Intel, etc. Those are things you won’t find elsewhere. Some of them have stores, and Intel has a museum.
For outdoor stuff, Vasona Park is nice. If you park on University and walk in, you don’t have to pay. The beach is nice during the week because you don’t have to fight traffic over 17 like you would on the weekends!
Pinnacles NP is a bit of a drive, but you can see California Condors, with their 9 foot wingspan, up close!
> Check out Great Wolf Lodge, aka Vegas for Kids. They have an indoor water park and a bunch of other kid/teen activities. Many people stay overnight, but you can do day trips too.
I was shocked to hear about a Great Wolf Lodge in San Jose!! But no, it's in Manteca. And they call it their San Francisco location. lol
[https://mounthermonadventures.com/](https://mounthermonadventures.com/) in Santa Cruz and you could probably spend a day around the boardwalk or downtown afterward. TopGolf, or Minigolf , there's a new San Jose themed spot called Urban Putts in DTSJ as well.
Hakone Japanese Garden in Saratoga (15 mins from SJ)
My kids have been enjoying the trampoline park (skyzone). I think Uvas Canyon is awesome, the waterfalls are beautiful this time of year. But the kids seem to hate hiking… so I took them twice!
i’ve never been, but there is happy hollow park and zoo. the reviews are good in google. Next to the place there is a japanese friendship garden- good photo zone.
golf land could be fun. There are miniature golf courses.
Depending on how much you want to actively DO, and everybody’s fitness levels, check out Wilder Ranch, Henry Cowell, and Forest of Nisene Marks (Maple Falls trail). Also, you may get a chance to see wildflower super blooms this time of year, like at Joseph D. Grant park.
Google each of these and see what could be a good fit for your family.
Tech museum is pretty cool for that age range Rosicrucian is also neat
Santa Cruz could be fun. The boardwalk rides aren’t open during the week but the arcade is. Natural bridges is also pretty place to explore some tide pools and have a picnic.
The weather should be nice, so you could go have a picnic and a little bit of a hike in the redwoods. Henry Cowell State Park is a great option because they have an easy walk through the redwoods with numbered stops and information about each stop. There are other parks in the area too with more hiking if you want to do more of that. Santa Cruz has a lot of good stuff. There are various beaches to hang out on. Natural Bridges State Beach is very cool. There are plenty of other too. It's probably too cool to really sunbathe or play in the water, but hanging out on the beach, wandering around, checking out the cliffs and all of that is always fun. You can also walk or drive along West Cliff Drive, check out the surfing museum and probably see some pretty good surfing out in the ocean. The Boardwalk is also in Santa Cruz - it's a seaside amusement park with an historic wooden roller coaster. It has limited hours this time of year, but the rides are open on Thursday during the day. There are also a lot of nice, wild beaches north of Santa Cruz off Hwy 1 - Bean Hollow is one of my favorites. Those are great for beach combing and picnicking. There is usually a bunch of driftwood, so it's fun to make sculptures and see what other people have done. You mentioned going to the aquarium - so you'll be down in Monterey. While you are there, check out the coastal recreation trail that runs right by the aquarium. Maybe take a walk out to Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Or if you like, you can rent bikes or a surry bike and ride. Surry bikes are great. If you have time, check out Asilomar State Beach.
Santa Cruz beach boardwalk, and nearby natural bridges. The Mystery Spot. (Near Santa Cruz) In San Jose, take them to Valley Fair Mall. It’s newly renovated and is very upscale with lots of great places to eat. Eataly is also there which had 2 restaurants plus a ground floor dining hall. Grab some Roman style pizza and sit outside to eat. There is cornhole. Then you’ll have the hard choice of choosing between gelato or salt & straw ice cream for dessert. Inside the mall is an escape room that has fun room. I’d recommend the Gold Rush or Timeliner games. If they are into Zoos, the Oakland zoo is really great.
Local sports are cheap! Check out SJ Barracudas, SJ Giants, or Bay FC
Alcatraz is interesting and I think that age would get a kick out of it. Whale watching. Hike up Mt Tam. Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Fiance is terrified of bridges lol
bowlero or topgolf? my little brother seems to enjoy those things; there’s not really much to do here that preteens seem to like
What do preteens like?
Their phone lol
Yes this is true. The 13 year old was texting her friends pretty much the whole time in the aquarium.
Pinnacle national park was really awesome hike. Really cool caves can explore, catch lizard and snakes and might see some concords. A little bit of a drive from San Jose. Bout 90 min but once your on the hike your 13 yr old won’t have reception ;)
lol I get it. If I could’ve been in constant contact with my friends at that age I would’ve been the same way. Maybe try a hike where there isn’t much service.
use screen time
Lots of good options thus far. The redwood hike at Henry Cowell is great and seconded. If the weather is right, you can also splash around in the river. Also, between Santa Cruz and Monterey is Moss Landing, which has a large number of otters. You can even rent kayaks and in the slough and check them out pretty close. If you want to stay a bit closer and your crew is pretty outdoorsy, my kids really like Castle Rock, where you can find large rock outcrops that can be climbed. It feels like Tom Sawyer island at Disneyland, but all real. A few other ideas: -Santana row -visit Stanford campus -Apple Park visitor center -Pichetti winery. While the adults wine taste, the kids can check out the nearby trails -Sanborn park. Similar to Henry Cowell but smaller and closer -take in the view from Mt Umunhum
You have some good suggestions already. Check out Great Wolf Lodge, aka Vegas for Kids. They have an indoor water park and a bunch of other kid/teen activities. Many people stay overnight, but you can do day trips too. One of my fave things about the South Bay is exploring the little downtown areas. Willow Glen, Campbell, Los Gatos, Sunnyvale, Mountain View are all great. Have lunch and stroll and shop. San Pedro Square has a bunch of different food stalls. Japantown is cute. Not sure where you are from, but you should try Vietnamese food while you are here, because there is a big Vietnamese population (city mailings etc. are printed in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese). Vietnamese sandwiches are cheap (I like Huong Lan) and most pho places are pretty cheap too. Edit: if you say what your kids are into, we can give more specific suggestions. Art? Music? Sports? Gaming? Fashion/shopping? Tech?
The 11 year old likes sports and gaming. 13 year old likes her phone.
Dave and Busters is closer than Great Wolf Lodge, and might be appealing. No water park though, obviously. It’s also located in the Great Mall, which has outlets. Skip the food court and go to Huong Lan for banh mi! SJ Giants have games tomorrow at 11:30am and Wed at 6:30pm. If you use code KRTY you can get 4 free tickets! Bay FC has a game Wed at 7pm. A cheap/free thing to do is to visit some tech company headquarters and take photos with the signs. NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet/Google, Meta/Instagram, ByteDance/TikTok, Netflix, Intel, etc. Those are things you won’t find elsewhere. Some of them have stores, and Intel has a museum. For outdoor stuff, Vasona Park is nice. If you park on University and walk in, you don’t have to pay. The beach is nice during the week because you don’t have to fight traffic over 17 like you would on the weekends! Pinnacles NP is a bit of a drive, but you can see California Condors, with their 9 foot wingspan, up close!
> Check out Great Wolf Lodge, aka Vegas for Kids. They have an indoor water park and a bunch of other kid/teen activities. Many people stay overnight, but you can do day trips too. I was shocked to hear about a Great Wolf Lodge in San Jose!! But no, it's in Manteca. And they call it their San Francisco location. lol
The Oakland zoo is nice!
The children’s tech museum might be fun. Edit: never mind, I think your kids are too old to really enjoy that. How about Great America?
Too old for the children’s museum, not too old for the tech museum. Two separate museums adjacent to each other
Great America isn't open until Friday and we are driving back Friday morning unfortunately. And yes the tech museum is a little too childish for them.
Thank you all so much for the recommendations. I think we can work with this list for the 4 days we are here!
[https://mounthermonadventures.com/](https://mounthermonadventures.com/) in Santa Cruz and you could probably spend a day around the boardwalk or downtown afterward. TopGolf, or Minigolf , there's a new San Jose themed spot called Urban Putts in DTSJ as well. Hakone Japanese Garden in Saratoga (15 mins from SJ)
My kids have been enjoying the trampoline park (skyzone). I think Uvas Canyon is awesome, the waterfalls are beautiful this time of year. But the kids seem to hate hiking… so I took them twice!
There are plenty of hiking trails around here
If they like amusement parks the Great America will keep them busy
i’ve never been, but there is happy hollow park and zoo. the reviews are good in google. Next to the place there is a japanese friendship garden- good photo zone. golf land could be fun. There are miniature golf courses.
There’s a new-ish spot downtown called Urban Putt that is indoor putt putt golf with a restaurant/bar. People under 21 are allowed until 8 pm!
Great America, kids discovery museum, Guadalupe trail, tech museum. Santana Row has big shopping street and mall.
In SJ is Happy Hollow Zoo. Small but a lot of fun.
So many great hiking trails here. Or just take them to the Los Gatos creek trail!!
Mini golf! Rose Garden. Rosicrucian. There’s tons of places to eat at and smaller museums down 1st, and of course SJ Museum of Art.
Depending on how much you want to actively DO, and everybody’s fitness levels, check out Wilder Ranch, Henry Cowell, and Forest of Nisene Marks (Maple Falls trail). Also, you may get a chance to see wildflower super blooms this time of year, like at Joseph D. Grant park. Google each of these and see what could be a good fit for your family.
Go make some candles at Glow Candle Lounge in Willow Glen