San Jose itinerary: 1 to 2 days
Plans for one and two days in San Jose, day by day: the Winchester Mystery House, the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph and Kelley Park first, then Alum Rock Park, the Rose Garden, the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, The Tech Interactive, the downtown art and quilt museums, Japantown and Santana Row as you add a day. Every stop has a typical visit length.
How long do you have?
Map: 2 days
San Jose in 1 day
Day 1
Winchester Mystery House
Sarah Winchester's sprawling Victorian mansion with stairs to nowhere and doors into walls, seen on guided tours.
Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph
Domed Renaissance Revival cathedral of 1877 in downtown San Jose, with stained glass and painted interiors.
Kelley Park
Large city park on Coyote Creek with the Japanese Friendship Garden, History Park and the Happy Hollow park and zoo.
San Jose in 2 days
Day 1
Alum Rock Park
California's oldest municipal park, a wooded canyon in the eastern foothills with creekside trails and the remains of old mineral springs.
Kelley Park
Large city park on Coyote Creek with the Japanese Friendship Garden, History Park and the Happy Hollow park and zoo.
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
The first museum in the country devoted to quilts and textiles, with changing exhibitions in SoFA district.
San Jose Museum of Art
Modern and contemporary art museum in downtown San Jose, partly housed in an 1892 former post office.
San Jose Municipal Rose Garden
Free city rose garden of 1927 in the Rose Garden district, with thousands of rose bushes in formal beds and a fountain.
Day 2
The Tech Interactive
Hands-on science and technology museum downtown, with exhibits on engineering, biology and innovation and a domed theater.
Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph
Domed Renaissance Revival cathedral of 1877 in downtown San Jose, with stained glass and painted interiors.
Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum
Museum of ancient Egypt in Rosicrucian Park, with mummies, a replica tomb and the largest such collection in western North America.
Santana Row
Open-air shopping, dining and residential district in west San Jose, lively in the evening.
Japantown
One of the last three historic Japantowns in the country, with family-run shops, restaurants, a museum and a Sunday farmers' market.
Watch: San Jose
A one-minute look at the plan: every stop, day by day, with the map.
When to go to San Jose
San Jose is mild and sunny most of the year. Spring and autumn, from April to May and September to October, are the most comfortable, while summer is dry and warm to hot. Winter, from November to March, brings most of the rain, and Christmas in the Park fills downtown in December.
Plan the rest of your trip
- Where to stay: hotels in San Jose on Booking.com or Trip.com
- Skip-the-line tickets: museums and sights in San Jose on Tiqets
- Tours and day trips: things to do in San Jose on GetYourGuide
- Data on arrival: an eSIM for United States from Airalo
- Last day: leave your bags in San Jose with Radical Storage and keep sightseeing
Some of these are affiliate links: we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Tips for San Jose
- Tours of the Winchester Mystery House are timed and can sell out at weekends and around Halloween; book ahead.
- The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum opens only on some days of the week; check before planning a visit.
- Downtown San Jose is compact: the Museum of Art, the cathedral and The Tech Interactive are a few minutes' walk apart, and VTA light rail runs through it.
- Kelley Park holds the Japanese Friendship Garden, History Park and Happy Hollow, so one visit covers several stops.
- Days are often warm and dry, but evenings cool down; bring a layer, and sun protection for the parks and hills.
Make it your own
Open the guide in Andiamo Places to see every stop on a map with walking directions, move places between days, check opening hours for your dates, and add your own finds. After the trip, your photos become a journal and, if you like, a printed photo book.
Guides are made with the help of AI and public sources such as Wikipedia, and may contain errors. Opening hours and prices change, so check before you go. Spotted a wrong photo, a pin in the wrong place, a missing stop or a better one? Write to andiamotravelapp@gmail.com: the e-mail opens with this guide filled in.
Photo credits
- Alum Rock Park: Elf ( talk ) ( Uploads ), CC BY-SA 3.0
- Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph: David Leigh Ellis, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Japantown: Eugene Zelenko, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Kelley Park: Niteowlneils, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum: No machine-readable author provided. Zarathustra~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY 2.5
- San Jose Municipal Rose Garden: Oleg Alexandrov, CC BY-SA 3.0
- San Jose Museum of Art: JaGa, CC BY-SA 4.0
- San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles: Daderot, CC0
- Santana Row: Allie Caulfield, CC BY 2.0
- The Tech Interactive: The Tech Museum of Innovation, CC BY 2.0
- Winchester Mystery House: Kai Schreiber from Jersey City, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
Opening hours change; check before you go. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
