Travel
Flight
SFO or SJC
San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and San Jose Norman Mineta Airport (SJC) are both about 30 minutes from the venue. Alina enjoys flying through SJC because it is often more convenient and less crowded getting in/out of the airport. Southwest, Alaska and Hawaiian have good service here. Robert often flies through SFO because there are more flights per day on the major airlines, especially on United and other Star Alliance carriers.
Travel Note
Hotels
Menlo Park is situated halfway between San Francisco and San Jose, so if you've never visited the Bay Area before we would recommend staying at a hotel near the venue. Hotel Nia and citizenM are both about 15 minutes away by Uber or rental car. If you've been to the Bay Area before, it may be more affordable and convenient to stay closer to our home in San Jose. The Courtyard Marriott San Jose Campbell or DoubleTree Pruneyard are great choices in our neighborhood and are about 30 minutes away from our wedding venue.
Travel Note
Alina's Remarks
Alina highly recommends visiting the redwoods at Muir Woods or Henry Cowell state park, or experiencing the incredible cliffside hikes and beaches in Monterey/Santa Cruz/Carmel. If you can take a ferry trip with a view of the SF bay and Golden Gate bridge on a sunny day, do it! Consider exploring Yosemite if you have a couple of days and a car. Favorite eats/drinks include drinks at TP tea in Cupertino or Molly Tea in Sunnyvale, and Duc Huong Sandwiches and Fernando and Gloria's Churros in San Jose (just double check those hours!)
Travel Note
Robert's Remarks
Robert enjoys visiting San Jose's historic Japantown for a coffee at Roy's Station and poke from Santo Market. The South Bay has many lesser known parks and hiking trails with fewer crowds, such as Alviso Marina Park in north San Jose and Rancho San Antonio in Palo Alto. To plan a trip to San Francisco, Robert recommends taking BART early in the morning to start with a breakfast sandwich at Devil's Teeth near the Embarcadero. After walking through the Ferry Building, the MUNI streetcar can take you to Fisherman's Wharf - or you could take a Waymo self-driving car straight to the Golden Gate Bridge instead. Heading south afterwards, there's plenty of shopping and restaurants in the Fillmore / Japantown area - check out the stationery at post.script, housewares at SF76, and Hokkaido milk ice cream at Maruwu Seicha. Alternatively, head down to the Mission and get a burrito at El Metate, coffee at Sightglass or mentaiko pasta at Bon Nene.