Headed up to the Mountain View area this weekend for a little get together..I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few recommendations. Looking for a nice cheap hotel. Found a Best Western for 56 bucks..does it get much better than that? Also, what fun things are there to do/see in and around the Mountain View, San Jose area? I'm 25..my girlfriend is 28..we don't have a ton of money..so, recommend some stuff on a budget.

Thanks in advance.

How much time do you have to spend roaming, what kind of transportation do you have, and what are you and your girlfriend's interests?

I have Saturday evening and Sunday all day. I'll be driving my truck. We have lots of different interests..music, arts of all kinds..We've both never been to the area..What is the stuff that we have to do?

Bay area is really eclectic, and entertaining, especially at night, from what I've heard..

Any ideas anyone?

I used to live in Mountain View. Apart from some nice restaruants in Castro street, there is not much to do. Why don't you drive up to San Francisco? It only takes an hour and you can have a great time on Sunday.

Hi,
here are a few interesting places which are in mt view and one in palo alto (which is just minutes from mt view)
:
1 . computer history museum
Computer History Museum

2. nasa ames research visitor center
Visiting Ames Research Center

3. cantor museum
http://www.yelp.com/biz/cantor-arts-center-palo-alto

All these places are free and none of them takes too long to visit...

ALSO: you're in luck, since your stay coincides with: http://www.yelp.com/events/mountain-...ine-festival-2
which is pretty cool (and free too! )

have fun!

SFO is closeby, worth the trip to see the sights and get some good food and go to some clubs if thats your thing.

Castro is nice in Mountain View, some nice restaurants to eat at. If you want to stay in the city and not drive much, there really isnt much else to do during the day. But a short 1 hour drive away, theres a lot of stuff to do.

You can check out Big Basin Redwoods forest, its about 45 minutes from there, massive redwoods and one that you drive through, and another thats completely hollow in the middle, quite fascinating if you are into that sort of thing.

Else get to the coast line, Half moon bay, Stinsons Beach on the North, Monterrey, Big Sur on the South. All lovely places, to visit, easy to plan a day trip since its just a short 1-2 hr drive. Monterrey has a wonderful aquarium that I've visited several times, there are some good restaurants and beaches in that area as well. Ofcourse theres the world famous Pebble Beach right next to it, with 17 mile drive, which is a tad overrated IMO, but a nice place to visit nevertheless.

Then theres the Tech museum en route to SFO, if you are into tech stuff, its slightly kid oriented, but theres still enough stuff there to see for adults. Its cheap, but they close early so that takes up the day, which I dont quite like that much.

There are a few massive malls in the area. If you are into shopping, Valley Fair is the slightly upscale one compared to Great Mall which is huge and is filled with outlet stores so you can get some good deals there. So choose your poison.

Theres Shoreline park in Mountain view, which is a nice relaxing lake and park with some birds and animals hanging out with the people. Its very nice for a calm relaxed evening walk, it may appear crowded when u enter, but its easy to get away from the crowds since there are trails all over the place.

If you are like me and like Nature, and love the coast, I highly recommend Point Lobos State Park over Monterrey or 17 Mile drive. It is heaven on earth as someone once said, absolutely gorgeous place you can spend all day walking around. But do check the weather and visibility before going there, if its completely foggy, not much u can see or do.

EDIT: Oh yeah how could I forget the Mountain view art n wine festival, I'll most likely be there tomorrow as well.

There's really not much to do in this area. You guys could go check out Santana Row, it's a really nice date spot.

Also, there's a Blink 182/Weezer/Taking Back Sunday/etc concert at Shoreline in Mountain View this Sunday.

Other than that... maybe the Tech Museum in downtown San Jose?


Or if you guys are really bored, go drive up to SF (~45min), there's plenty of tourist attractions there.

Thanks for the replies guys. I really appreciate it.