Berkeley, California Weekend Getaway
How to Spend a Day or a Weekend in Berkeley
By Betsy Malloy, About.com Guide
Town and "gown" grew up together in Berkeley, California, the famous university and town being founded in the same year. Today, Berkeley is home to an interesting mix of academia, '60s hippies and ethnic enclaves. In a single day, you can buy a lava lamp, a snake's skeleton or a live snake; attend award-winning theater and symphony performances or a tribal music concert, and dine on anything from authentic Indian curries to the highest of cuisines.
Why Should You Go? Will You Like Berkeley?
- Get a Preview: Take a look at our Berkeley Pictures
- Berkeley is popular with arts lovers, shoppers and foodies.
Best Time to Go to Berkeley
Berkeley weather is about the same as in San Francisco, but it may be somewhat less foggy in summer. The area around the university is livelier during the school year, and Telegraph Avenue is best on weekends. The Berkeley area will be busy, and hotels full, during homecoming and graduation weekends. Parking places get quite scarce when the football or basketball teams are playing at home.
5 Great Things to Do in Berkeley
Normally, we single out one thing that you shouldn't miss during a day trip or weekend getaway, but there's too much to do in Berkeley and the don't-miss attraction depends on what your interests are.- University of California at Berkeley: Visitor services offers guided campus tours, or explore on your own. You can even download an podcast tour and listen to it on your MP3 player. Highlights include Sather Tower (The Campanile) which has sweeping views of the surroundings, campus museums and the Pacific Film Archives. Cross Bancroft Avenue on Telegraph Avenue for a lively weekend street market scene, populated with the full range of Berkeley shoppers: local characters, students and gawking tourists.
- Food-Lovers' Mecca: Besides the dining spots mentioned below, try Takara Sake for a new twist on wine-tasting: theirs is sake (rice wine). Cooks shouldn't miss Berkeley Bowl, with a produce department the size of a parking lot, offering up to 20 kinds of apples and a dozen varieties of eggplant..
- Family Fun: Everyone seems to love the full-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton on display at the Valley Life Sciences Building on the university campus and over on 5th street, reptile-loving kids will like the East Bay Vivarium, one of the largest reptile specialty stores in the country. For more hands-on type science fun, we found bunches of kids having a great time at the Lawrence Hall of Science, which also boasts great views from its hillside location. And while you're up there, how about a stop in Tilden Park to ride the carousel?
- Performing Arts: This theatre-loving writer discovered Berkeley Rep about the same time the Tony Awards folks did. It won their award for regional theatre in 1997 and has exported 7 of its productions to New York in the past 7 years. Cal Performances hosts a wide range of performers in all the arts.
- Shopping: City government resists the incursion of chain stores so successfully that local residents may have to go out of town just to buy pillowcases. Their inconvenience is a shopper's bonanza: interesting local boutiques cluster along exciting shopping streets all over town. Some of the best include Fourth Street (best for outlet shopping), Solano Avenue and Elmwood (don't miss Ici Ice Cream here).
- Golden Gate Fields: November through April, you can watch the horses run at the track just north of town.
- Where to Stay:
- Only 15 minutes away from the center of Berkeley, CA is the Embassy Suites Walnut Creek . The perfect location to enjoy our Broadway Plaza Shopping Package that includes:
- $25 Visa gift card
- Free Parking
- California Shoppers survival kit - discount coupons to area stores
- Free cooked to order breakfast
- Evening Reception with complimentary drinks and snacks
- Two Room Suite
- Free hotel shuttle in 3 mile radius of the hotel
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