The HotelMap?? guide to San Jose, California

The largest city in Silicon Valley, San Jose is a characterful destination that the likes of Netflix and PayPal call home, and with the San Jose McEnery Convention Center located in the heart of Downtown, it's also a major business destination. The convention center boasts 520,000 square feet of exhibition and event space and welcomes more than 1.4 million visitors each year. When visiting the city, business travellers can enjoy a diverse dining scene and visit historic tech sites such as the very garage where Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created the first Apple computer.

So, if you're attending a conference or exhibition in the city, take a read of the HotelMap??San Jose guide to make the most of your time in Silicon Valley. 

by Steven Potter & Vicki Forde

Post-event dining: The best restaurants in San Jose

San Pedro Square Market has three market halls, more than 20 food traders and a huge outdoor patio

While the city of San Jose doesn't currently hold any Michelin stars (popular Portuguese restaurant Adega lost its star in 2019, but it’s certainly still one of the city's top tables) the surrounding area has a tally of four. Three of those are held by the outstanding Manresa, which has forged a reputation as one of the world's best restaurants thanks to David Kinch's experimental farm-to-table tasting menus. In Saratoga, Peter Armellino's elegant restaurant, Plumed Horse, has held onto its star for the past 10 years.

Having been awarded a Bib Gourmand in the 2019 Michelin Guide, Luna Mexican Kitchen is currently the only establishment in the city centre to be garnered with an accolade higher than The Plate. Standing for Local, Unrefined, Natural and Authentic, the restaurant uses grass-fed beef, sustainable Niman Ranch lamb and wild salmon for its tasty tacos, tostadas and big plates, making it the standout in a prolific line-up of San Jose Mexican restaurants.

Thanks to its diverse population, it's not just Mexican eateries dominating the restaurant landscape, and San Jose boasts a vibrant dining scene with a vast number of cuisines to sample. The city is home to more Vietnamese residents than any other city outside of Vietnam and its Little Saigon district offers a more authentic experience than most Western Chinatowns and Japantowns. Among the high concentration of Vietnamese restaurants, highlights include the family-run Cao Nguyen, the ever-popular Bun Bo Hue An Nam and banh mi aficionados Huong Lan Sandwich.

Stop at the Grandview Restaurant for panoramic dining on your way to Lick Observatory

For every world cuisine you can think of in one location, pay a visit to the expansive San Pedro Square Market where you'll find three market halls, more than 20 food traders and a huge outdoor patio filled with picnic tables and dressed in fairy lights. It's also a lively spot for a drink with live music most evenings and daily happy hours. Adjacent to the market is SP2 Communal Bar and Restaurant, which serves craft cocktails and American bistro cuisine across an expansive indoor restaurant and outdoor patio. Those looking for more traditional American fare should book a table at Dry Creek Grill for pit smoked BBQ dishes and small batch bourbons in a historic Moose Lodge building that was originally built in 1965. Alternatively, The Farmers Union is a cosy tavern offering casual dining and old fashioned cocktails.

While San Jose is best known for its casual eats, it does have one standout fine dining restaurant: Le Papillon. Despite being open since 1977, the restaurant has continuously reinvented itself to remain current, and today Scott Cooper, who worked his way up from dishwasher to executive chef, takes inspiration from his travels through Europe, the Pacific and Asia to serve contemporary French dishes with global influences.

Outside of the city, La Forét and the Grandview Restaurant are two of the best countryside foodie retreats. Located in Mount Hamilton, the latter is an Italian farm-to-table restaurant that offers panoramic views of Santa Clara Valley – be sure to request a table on the terrace overlooking the valley when booking – and is ideal as a stop-off when driving out to the Lick Observatory. La Forét, meanwhile, serves refined French classics in a quaint creek side boarding house that dates back to the 1800s.

Nocturnal networking: The best bars in San Jose

At Paper Plane you can enjoy cocktails created by one of America's top 10 bartenders

One of San Jose's best-known streets and mixed-use developments, Santana Row is home to an eclectic line-up of boutiques, craft stores, restaurants and cafes, and it's also one of the best spots for destination drinking. El Jardin Tequila Bar is a picturesque spot with outdoor seating set around a fairy-lit tree while Vintage Wine Bar sits behind a neo-Gothic church fa?ade and also features outdoor seating under a charming wooden trellis.

In Downtown San Jose, Paper Plane sees skilled mixologists such as Mary Palac – named one of America's top 10 bartenders in 2019 by the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation – whip up carefully crafted concoctions in front of a towering back-lit bar. The bar makes for a striking focal point while the rest of the space is equally sleek with polished wood flooring, leather booths, colourful wall murals and paper plane themed artworks.

Five Points takes inspiration from New York's legendary 19th-century gang-ruled neighbourhood

Five Points is another popular craft cocktail joint with drinks and interiors inspired by Five Points, New York – a legendary 19th-century neighbourhood that formed the backdrop of Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York. Dark wood furnishings, exposed brick walls and dimmed lighting make for moody interiors while antique books, chandeliers and a sweeping bar add to the effect. At 55 South, organic herbs and fresh fruit are sourced from local farmers' markets and syrups are made in-house to create contemporary twists on classic cocktails.

One for beer lovers, Original Gravity Public House is the city's original craft beer bar and has 35 draught beers, cider and mead on rotation alongside a small, well-considered selection of cans and bottles. The bar puts a strong emphasis on local, independently owned breweries so you can expect to find beers from San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento as well as cities throughout America.

Hoppy fun: The best breweries and taprooms in San Jose

Floodcraft Brewing brings craft beer to San Jose's Whole Foods Market

For those who prefer to drink straight from the source, San Jose is also home to a high concentration of craft beer breweries with the likes of Strike Brewing Co, Clandestine Brewing, Uproar Brewing Company, Camino Brewing, Hermitage Brewing Company and Santa Clara Valley Brewing all located on a 2.5 mile stretch through Downtown. All of the breweries have taprooms, providing the perfect opportunity for a boozy beer tour through the city, while Strike Brewing Co. also offers tours of its brewery.

A little further away but still in the Downtown district, Hapa's Brewing Company has a huge warehouse taproom where it serves 14 rotating lagers, ales, IPAs and porters on tap. There are plenty of board games to play while making your way through the line-up, and street food trucks selling pizza, burritos and burgers park up outside from Wednesday through to Sunday. Nearby, Floodcraft Brewing brings craft beer to the city's Whole Food Market.

Wonderful wines: The best vineyards and wineries in San Jose

House Family Vineyards sits high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, providing 36-degree views of the vineyards and valley below

With the Santa Cruz Mountains on its doorstep, San Jose is also a fantastic destination for wine tasting featuring more than 150 wineries in the area. Ridge Vineyards is the largest and perhaps the most famous, producing around 80,000 cases every year. Their Monte Bello Estate is located high in the Santa Cruz Mountains, about a 30-minute drive from San Jose, and they offer the chance to taste their award-winning wines while overlooking the beautiful surrounding mountains.

House Family Vineyards is another winery perched high in the mountains, enabling visitors to take in 360-degree views of the vineyards and Silicon Valley while sipping on wines on the expansive outdoor terrace, which has umbrellas for sunnier days and roaring firepits for chillier ones. Picchetti Winery and Savannah-Chanelle Vineyards are two more fantastic rural options while in nearby Saratoga the Big Basin Vineyards Tasting Room and Cinnabar Winery Tasting Room provide a more easy-to-access option and also bring the opportunity for a pre-dinner wine flight before heading down the road to Michelin-starred restaurant, Plumed Horse. Testarossa Los Gatos Winery is also located close to a Michelin-starred eatery with three-Michelin-starred Manresa just a ten-minute drive away. Set within a historic wine cellar, it's an atmospheric venue with a 19th-century tasting room and a pretty outdoor patio. 

In San Jose itself, the J.Lohr San Jose Wine Center offers daily tastings with the chance to sample six wines for $15, which is waived when purchasing two or more bottles from the tasting menu.

Techtastic: The best tech tours and sights in San Jose

Look back at the origin of computers and discover new advances in technology at the Computer History Museum

As the capital of Silicon Valley, San Jose counts tech giants Google, Apple, Tesla, LinkedIn and Facebook among its neighbours while eBay, Netflix and PayPal all have headquarters in the city itself. Further to this, notable sites such as the garages where Google, Apple and HP were born are also located in the area.

While several tours will take you to the front door of the headquarters, you'll need to book with a company such as Silicon Valley Tours to get inside. Offering some of the best one-day experiences, the company provides the opportunity to be guided through the Google Headquarters and Stanford University Campus by knowledgeable insiders. The company's Insiders Tour also has IBM and the Intel Museum on its agenda while the Legends Tour covers the Apple Visitor Campus. Both tours also give participants the chance to take part in a Tesla Experience test drive.

For more tech-focused fun, The Tech Interactive is an engaging, interactive museum that invites visitors to design a robot, experience wearable technology and visit the first interactive bioengineering exhibit in America while the Computer History Museum in Mountain View looks back at the origins of computers as well as showcasing new advances in technology.

Out of this world: The best stargazing in San Jose

Lick Observatory sits at the summit of Mount Hamilton, offering spectacular views and public tours

A road trip worth taking when staying in San Jose is to Lick Observatory, which sits roughly a one drive hour away on the summit of Mount Hamilton. The observatory is the world's first to permanently occupy a mountain top and offers breathtaking 360-degree views across the Diablo Mountain Range. That's not the only views to be had, however; the observatory's public evening tours programme runs on select dates from April through to September and provides the chance to view celestial objects through the historic Great Refractor telescope. The tours also include a visit to the mountain's largest telescope, the three-metre Shane Telescope, and a history lecture about the construction of the observatory.

On your way to the observatory, be sure to stop off for an early dinner at the Grandview Restaurant for panoramic views across the valley. Request a table on the terrace when booking. 

San Jose Photo Gallery