When you think about San Jose, the only thing that comes to mind is Silicon Valley. This organized city has several accommodations ranging from luxury hotels for an indulgent stay to the more comfortable and functional serviced apartments for a homey stay. While we understand you may travel a lot to San Jose due to work, this magnificent city also offers some amazing adventures to create beautiful memories. There are so many amazing places to visit but it’s hard to decide where to go and what to see. You may want to start by touring the downtown or pick one of our suggested tours to cover the entire city like a local. Continue reading to discover some of the best tours in San Jose, California.
1. Winchester Mystery House Tour (from USD 41.99)
The Winchester Mystery House is famous for its labyrinthine architecture, featuring staircases leading to nowhere, secret passageways, and doors that open into walls. The mansion’s construction is said to be driven by the belief of its owner, Sarah Winchester, that she needed to continuously build to appease the spirits of those killed by Winchester rifles.
During the tour, you’ll explore the mansion’s eerie and fascinating rooms, learning about the legends and ghost stories associated with the house. The tour promises a unique experience in San Jose, allowing you to delve into the mysteries and paranormal tales surrounding this historic mansion.
San Jose: Winchester Mystery House Tour
Duration: 65.0 minute
2. Brew Bike Bar Tour (from USD 55.0)
The Brew Bike Bar Tour is a guided tour that takes you on a pedal-powered brew bike through the streets of San Jose, California. As you pedal along with your group, you’ll visit some of the city’s best breweries and bars, where you’ll have the opportunity to sample various locally brewed beers.
The local tour provides an excellent opportunity to taste different craft beers and learn about the brewing process from knowledgeable guides. The interactive and social atmosphere of the brew bike creates an enjoyable experience for friends, family, or even solo travelers, as you bond over a shared love for craft beer and the excitement of cycling through the city.
San Jose Brew Bike Bar Tour
Duration: 2 to 3 hours
3. Half-Day San Jose Evening Bus Tour with Dinner and Pickup (from USD 76.0)
When you are visiting San Jose on a business trip, then the best way to make the most out of your vacation is by opting for an evening tour. This bus tour from San Jose permits you the flexibility to work through the day and spend your leisure time during the evening sightseeing. This is a five-hour tour on a comfortable double-decker bus that traverses around the city’s busy streets driving around its best landmarks, covering about 25 attractions. The tour includes a professional guide, a full dinner, pick-up from and drop-off back to your hotel, free WiFi, and free admission to all the attractions.
San Jose Evening Bus Tour with Dinner, Bilingual Guide
Duration: 5 hours
4. Trip to the Yosemite National Park and Giant Sequoias (from USD 289.0)
A convenient round-trip from San Jose, this tour lets you visit the famous Yosemite National Park and the Giant Sequoias. It is a day trip that includes park entrance fees so that you can focus on enjoying the views, and the park’s most scenic places on a guided tour. Make sure your camera is fully charged as you are going to love clicking pictures as much as you are going to enjoy hiking to Yosemite’s waterfalls and the Tuolumne Grove of Giant Sequoias. You will get plenty to time to explore the valley on your own. Please note that the Giant Sequoias are best visited between May and October. Also, some reviews mention that you may need to spend some extra bucks traveling from San Jose to San Francisco if there are no other bookings from San Jose.
Yosemite National Park and Giant Sequoias Trip from San Jose
Duration: 14 to 15 hours
5. Alcatraz Night Tour & Silicon Valley Tour from San Francisco (from USD 209.0)
About an hour’s drive from San Jose, this exclusive night tour is the perfect way to explore the Silicon Valley and the famous Alcatraz prison. It is a 24-hour tour that takes you around the best campuses in Silicon Valley covering Google, Apple, Facebook, and the Computer History Museum. Apart from these it also offers amazing views of the San Francisco city skyline, Golden Gate Bridge, and Angel Island while you are on the way to the Alcatraz Island, where you get to experience an audio tour titled “Doing Time: The Alcatraz Cellhouse Tour”.
From San Francisco: Alcatraz Night & Silicon Valley Day Tour
Duration: 2 day
6. Full-Day Rafting and High Ropes Combo Tour (from USD 183.0)
If you have a day to spare and are searching for an adventurous full-day tour from San Jose, then this is the best one for you. It combines two adventure tours that include river rafting and rope climbing. You can expect to see majestic mountains, whitewater rapids, active volcanoes, surreal landscapes while you enjoy rafting in the Grande de Orosi River. During the second part of the tour, you get to experience the thrill of climbing 40 m (131 ft) high and cross a suspension bridge at that height. From such a great height you can admire the beautiful flora and fauna. While lunch and equipment are included in this trip, you do need to pack additional clothes, swimwear, a towel, and sunblock.
San Jose: Full-Day Rafting and High Ropes Combo Tour
Duration: 8 hour
7. San Jose Scavenger Hunt Adventure (from USD 20.0)
Touring around a city in the era of smartphones can be so much fun! Bring out the competitive side of yourself by indulging in this amazing scavenger hunt adventure around San Jose. There is no better way to explore the best sights of the downtown area than this! As you walk around San Jose using your smartphone as your guide, you get to learn about local history, find clues, solve puzzles, and earn points while you compete with other teams. The points of interests covered on this hunt are the Children’s Discovery Museum, Guadalupe River Park, Tech Museum of Innovation, Basilica of Saint Joseph, San Jose Museum of Art, and Paseo de San Antonio.
San Jose Scavenger Hunt Adventure
Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes
8. MetroDemic Scavenger Hunt in San Jose (from USD 19.0)
If you are searching for some family fun and cool ways to spend some quality time together with your group, then you must try this scavenger hunt. As its name suggests, this is a mad race to save the city from a deadly epidemic “the playgue”. You walk around a four-block radius starting from downtown to solve questions, brain puzzles, and pub-style trivia that can help you earn points. Your entire team will have fun solving this fun game while traversing through some of the city’s best attractions and competing with like-minded teams.
MetroDemic Scavenger Hunt in San Jose
Duration: 90 minutes (Approx.)
9. Clue-Gathering Adventure Game
Another fun self-guided tour that takes you around the city is this three quest challenge. It is a clue-gathering adventure game that can be played using your smartphone and will lead you on three interesting quests around the city. While you collect clues and perform challenges, you will get to spend two hours having fun with your loved ones. In case you get stuck, don’t worry, the app also has a remote guide that can help you on your little crusade to collect the most points!
Clue-Gathering Adventure Game - San Jose, CA
Duration: 2 hours (Approx.)
10. Baking French Baguette (from USD 54.0)
If you are a food connoisseur and want to learn the intricate way to bake the perfect French Baguette, then this last tour on our list is probably a haven for you! On this unique tour, you not only get a detailed recipe but you also get hands-on experience of the entire process right from kneading the dough to baking your very first baguette. This fun class is going to take only two hours and even lets you take home any spare dough so that you can bake again the next morning.
Baking French Baguette
Duration: 2 hours (Approx.)
11. Capital of the Silicon Valley San Jose Tour (from USD 179.0)
If you are going to be in San Jose for a limited time, then the best way to see the entire city is to take a tour. Offered by Viator, this San Jose tour also offers a skilled interpreter so that you can see everything and learn about the history of the city without being confused. This tour covers some of the top attractions of the city that include the Winchester Mystery House, Happy Hollow Park & Zoo, San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, San Jose Museum of Art, Lake Cunningham, Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, and Raging Waters San Jose, among a list of 14 other famous places to see.
Capital Of The Silicon Valley San Jose Tour
Duration: 3 to 8 hours
San Jose is a tourist paradise
Many people are not aware, but San Jose is a tourist paradise since there are so many things to do and so much to see! Having someone to help you plan a perfect itinerary that covers the best places to visit in San Jose might be hard sometimes, so try these specially designed tours that are best suited for different people and their interests. We hope you found our little list useful!
Happy Traveling!
Frequently asked questions about tours in San Jose
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