I would say it's not worth the trip unless you've got a plan, and already know a few people in the Valley who you can meetup with, and who can introduce you to the local scene. SV isn't particularly worth seeing as a tourist (it is basically a cultural wasteland, although Stanford is a nice campus and of course SF is a great city). The great work that is done inside the buildings isn't really apparent from the outside.

So if you decide to come, definitely plan ahead.

I like the Computer History Museum in Mountain View: http://www.computerhistory.org/

They do a very nice 2 hour tour, and have a lot of cool artifacts from the early days of computing. Anything from a panel of ENIAC to PDP's to one of the first Space Wars arcade games to CRAY 1, 2 + 3's. It's inspiring to see the fruits of all the startups that have come and gone before. Really, if you're a geek, and you're in the area, you need to go.

Yeah, there's a lot of office buildings and office parks, but you'll come across cool names that you recognize pretty frequently.

Also, perhaps check in to going to meetups. Chances are, there's a meetup for the language/technology of your choice going on. Also, there's things like Bay Piggies, which is a Python user group meeting that occurs the 2nd Thursday of every month at GOOG.

And, if you're coming in to town, post a note on Hacker news, and see if anyone wants to get together for coffee or something. You might be surprised at who takes you up.

Oh, if you do visit, get GPS. It helps a lot.

Tichy: Since 3boobs.de is too funny and you read my blog. If you get the chance to come over I can introduce you to some YC companies and go out for dinner/drinks. Give me an email...

Also I would follow the advice from the other people here, and try to arrange as many events and people to see as possible so that you maximize your time here.

Thanks for the offer! It might take me a while to do the trip (unless YC accepts my application, if I submit one), because it is a long way to go. But the answers to my question here have been very inspiring, so I hope I can make it eventually.

I actually grew up in silicon valley. I'm not really great at making contacts either. For some companies (especially startups) you might be able to make a call and stop by their offices, or have lunch with some of the people who work there.

My advice is to call ahead and go with a friend. Even if you can't meet any new faces you can always explore the area (SF, stanford + cal ..) and go to hacker events (user group meetings, maybe even a conf)

We facilitate two "Bootstrapper Breakfasts" a month see http://www.bootstrappersbreakfast.com/ You buy your own breakfast and take part in a serious conversation with other bootstrapping entrepreneurs from 7:30am to 9:00am. Sign up in advance to let us know you are coming and drop by when you are in town.

I first visited SF as a Yahoo! intern (my first time in CA) and it was quite an experience. I didn't know anyone except for an online friend or two at the time but just driving down the 101 and seeing the HQ of big companies was inspiring. I say just go! Follow all the techie SF-based hackers on Twitter and you'll find some event to go to during your stay.

Good idea about Twitter - I am not a user yet, but for SV it really makes sense.

I agree, twitter is a great idea. I've found a few parties that way.

Would a group of out-of-towners be interested in going to SV? Might be easier to arrange tours and meet-ups with the locals if a bunch of us organized into a geek horde.

That's actually a very good idea. If there are enough people who are interested in moving here, it makes sense to 'tour' the bay area and get a feel for it.

Who's in? If we reach a critical mass, maybe pg would agree to meet with us if his schedule permits.

The valley is huge, and many campuses while impressive in size are dull in aesthetics. That said, I think it's worth going to San Jose and driving up to San Francisco.

Paul Stamatiou made a trip to the valley last summer and shared his experience. It's worth reading each of his three posts, the last is full of pictures of headquarters for startups.

http://paulstamatiou.com/2006/06/25/california

http://paulstamatiou.com/2006/07/29/more-reasons-why-i-love-...

http://paulstamatiou.com/2007/07/21/california-hq-pics

I agree. San Jose is pretty boring by the way, but while you're in the area and if you get hungry I have some recommendations here (scroll to the San Jose part):

http://lolrus.org/archives/55

oh and the SJC airport sucks! It's rather small. I had to fly back to Atlanta from there and past security there is only one bathroom for several gates so there is often a line. Needless to say I barely made it on my plane waiting to use the restroom first.

:-)

Go to as many events with open atmospheres as possible.

For example, http://ruby.meetup.com/99/?gj=sj2 (Ruby meetup)

http://superhappydevhouse.org/ (Hacker Party, not sure when we're having our next one)

If you have a blog, ask a hacker you like if you can buy them lunch and cover him or her in an interview, or just talk. Worst they can say is no.

Also there are a lot of coworking spaces opening up in SV, so if you get stuck with nothing to do for a day, you can try one of those.

Seconded DevHouse. Really, even if there were no other reason to be in SV, DevHouse would still beckon...

Ask for tours. I believe Google gives a tour of their campus, and I'm not sure about CNet (it's further south of San Fran), but I'm sure other companies aren't adverse to tours.

"hackers with their MacBooks at Starbucks"

I was in SF late last year and went to a lot of starbucks and boy is there a lot of em and I didn't see anyone with a macbook. Maybe down in the valley you might find this but in San Fran city I didn't see any and nore in berkley either.

I wanted to go down to the valley to do the tour but the wife wouldn't have been impressed :p

have a look at upcoming.org

Duh.... 1. You most likeley were checking out toursity areas. The starbucks will have mostly toursit (I imagine, union sq. metreon area). 2. True hackers don't like starbucks. They prefer local shops, that have better coffee, and free wi-fi.

The closest starbucks near my home, is open 24hrs, and at midnight is hard to find open seating (lots of students with their laptops, and books). It is so refreshing when at the midle of the night there are so many people around doing stuff. I moved in here from the Boston area (Cambridge), where at midnight everything was closed, and everybody was home.

And I see quite often people doing coding in their laptops. Actually, I am going to my favorite coffe place (cafe Cubano), and do some coding there (they have free wi-fi also).

You just have to go away form the touristy areas.

You need to book appointments before you go.

Use Linkedin, Facebook, friends-of-friends, help-me posts on wherever... get meetings.

Say "I'm an entrepreneur from xxx and I'll be visiting the bay area on xxx. I'd like to meet with interesting valley technologists and businesspeople. If you could spare a few minutes of your time, I'd love to chat, get coffee, or have lunch. Thanks!"

[alter as necessary for audience, indirection, etc.]

Looking at one-story office parks is boring. Go inside and talk to the right people.

Another comment here suggests an idea..

The YC folks here in the sfbay are supposedly all together in a building in Sunnyvale. They commune there daily and share wisdom. Can you ask, here, if one of those companies will host your visit and invite you in to chat?

This is just 1-2 hours of everyone's time, but will make all the difference. Besides, maybe one of them wants to hire you. :)

Plan your trip and have a go. There's not much to look at in the south bay, but you can have your fill of tech company logos.

Email a few of your favorite companies and tell them your story. Most would be happy to show you around.

The web is social now, right? Use it to your advantage. Facebook, Twitter, Upcoming, and even Valleywag is full of local event schedules.

Try going to a BarCamp or some other event. Do a presentation or something too perhaps.

There are plenty of couches to stay on if that helps a bit.

"becoming depressed by endless roads and "Office Space" sterile IT buildings (you can see I have no idea what SV is like)"

It's a lot like you're imagining. Better background scenery, and some of the buildings are nicer, but ... like, Apple, for one, has surprisingly sterile buildings. You'd think that One Infinite Loop would be an amazing art deco building or something. It's not, sadly.

Definitely have a plan. As Douglas Coupland once said, SV does not really have a user interface. But if you plan ahead -- parties, open houses, visits, and other stuff I'm sure we can come up with -- you can build your own interface.