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Silicon Valley -San Jose Sightseeing Tour

Silicon Valley and its 'capital,' San Jose have revolutionized not only global communications but how we manage our daily lives. Come see where half a million creative minds are designing and engineering all sorts of future possibilities. We custom-design your tour and will pick you up anywhere in the San Francisco Bay area.

Why tour Silicon Valley and San Jose with A Friend in Town and not just rent your own car?

Because it's often hard to reach sites in Silicon Valley: most are far from each other, public transit is sparse, and traffic frequently slows to a crawl. We put what you're seeing in an historical context, respond to your questions, and help you optimize your time, minimize your stress, maximize your enjoyment.

Our Silicon Valley Tour & San Jose Tour Itinerary

Since more than half the inquiries re: our Silicon Valley tour involve these issues, we'll start with them...

First, if you want a tour inside Google, Apple or any of the other better known Silicon Valley companies, you must make those arrangements (directly with the desired company) yourself as we do not have any special access to them and most do not offer public tours..

Secondly, we get many inquiries for this tour from solo travelers or couples basically requesting to be paired up with other travelers so as to make the tour more affordable. Unfortunately, two parties wanting the same (or similar) itinerary on the same date very seldom happens for us, so if our fee doesn't fit your budget, then we probably cannot accommodate you.

If you have a very specific objective--for example, spending most of a day at the Computer History Museum's "R/Evolution" exhibit or exploring Stanford and Palo Alto--please feel free to ask: often we can accommodate your special request.

Our tour often starts with a stop in front of the iconic Oracle headquarters, its blue glass towers rising above a lagoon. Then we drive to the Intel Museum in Sunnyvale: this newly renovated and well-designed space features the history of, the concepts behind, and the design and manufacture of microchips—the essential core of every computer—and explains the operation of "clean room" facilities. (Usually you guide yourself, though docent-led tours can be arranged with sufficient notice.) Afterwards, we drive to Stanford University, the intellectual wellspring of much of the Valley's innovation, where a current undergrad will lead you on an hour-long (walking) tour of this multi-faceted and beautiful campus. (Sometimes we can arrange for people who can't walk that long to take the same tour by golf cart.)

Usually we have lunch in leafy downtown Palo Alto or at a great cafe featuring Indian cuisine. Or if you want to experience what this "Valley of Heart's Delight" was like before modern technology, we can visit one of the oldest houses in the area, having lunch at the golf club next to its windmill...less than a mile from the Googleplex.

For anyone seeking to comprehend the profound influence that Silicon Valley has had on our world, the rejuvenated Computer History Museum can provide the epicenter of your visit. With funding from many private donors (including William H. Gates III), the Computer History Museum has created an exciting, expertly designed 19-room exhibit called "R/evolution: the First 2000 Years of Computing" --so rich with information, videos, rare artifacts that if you're a true geek (or business historian), you'll need at least two hours to explore it. In a separate space they have a replica of the Babbage Engine, a computer designed in the 1840s! and other interesting displays. (Docent tours can be arranged with sufficient notice.) Afterwards you can walk around as much of the exteriors of the nearby Googleplex as its security will allow.

Late afternoon offers almost too many options: The Tech Museum in downtown San Jose, which has an IMAX theater; dropping by Tesla's showroom to gaze on their all-electric vehicles (if they still have any in stock); visiting the NASA Ames Exploration Center and its Immersive Theater; or drive-bys of a selected few of the following headquarters: Apple, Adobe, Yahoo, McAfee, Cisco…drive-bys since they do not offer public tours. (Apple does have a retail store selling logo'd merchandise.) Facebook has recently moved into its new headquarters...what we'll be able to experience there remains to be seen.

Yet again, you may choose to play hooky so you can: appreciate the elegant Hakone (Japanese) Gardens in Saratoga; tour heiress Sara Winchester's apparently haunted Mystery House; visit the Rosicrucian Museum (the largest display of ancient Egyptian treasures on the West Coast); cruise Santa Cruz' Beach Boardwalk, an old-fashioned seaside amusement park (with its Giant Dipper, voted one of the nation's best wooden roller-coasters). Or taste wines of the Santa Cruz Mountains region. Then return to The City via one of the area's most scenic highways.

There are so many reasons why we're your best choice for a tour of Silicon Valley and San Jose.

What will it Cost?

Because each tour is designed to fit your interests, our fees vary. Basically you pay by the number of hours in your itinerary. We do not add the fuel surcharges, "license fees," "tax" and mandatory gratuities that many other companies do.

FEE	Average Duration	Additional Costs (paid to vendors)	Gratuity	Add'l Hours	Minimum Duration	Minimum Fee
$560*	8h	Computer History Museum + The Tech Admissions, Lunch	**	$60 ea	7h	$560

* Not per-person

* These fees are for couples, groups of up to 6/7 people or solo travelers. For groups of 7 to 25 (whereby we charter a minibus), please ask for a quote.

** A gratuity is customary and will be appreciated, but is not required.

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