Looking for Hotel info? You can see the options here.

Can’t wait to get back to San Jose…

Hal David wrote it, Dionne Warwick sang it, and we embrace it, even if we’re still not sure why Do You Know the Way to San Jose? featured so prominently in Helix. But San Jose isn’t the quiet, temperate suburban city it was when Hal David was writing about us.

San Jose is northern California’s largest city, and just climbed past Detroit to become the 10th largest city in the US We’re home to industry, high-tech companies, and great educational institutions.

Is getting there half the fun?

Travel has become a pain, but getting to San Jose is easy.

Nothing can beat the convenience of flying into Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC -- just north of downtown), but if the price is right San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Oakland International Airport (OAK) are both reasonable options. If you’re flying a major north american or international airline, we probably have a nearby airport that it services.

How to get from the airport to downtown?

• Car services and taxis are, of course, available, but not terribly cheap. Door‐to‐door shuttle services are available too. Rideshare (Uber and Lyft) are available from San Jose Mineta International.
• SJC has a free bus connector to VTA light rail. Both the Santa Teresa and Winchester light rail trains stop directly in front of the convention center.
• SFO is served by a BART connector to Millbrae Caltrain station. From there, the Caltrain will take you to San Jose Diridon Train Station, where you can catch a Mountain View light rail train to the convention center.

We also have train service from select cities. The Coast Starlight provides service from San Diego to Seattle, with a stop at San Jose Diridon Station. That means you can take the California Zephyr from Chicago to Emeryville or the Sunset Limited from New Orleans to Los Angeles, and catch a connection to San Jose. It’s a leisurely ride, to be sure, but if you’ve got the time it’s a nice way to get here.

There’s always driving too. The I-680 loop off of Interstate 80 will take you right to downtown San Jose, but if you’re willing to brave San Francisco traffic, you might want to take I-280 instead, possibly the most beautiful freeway in the continental US. If you’re coming from the north or the south, I-5 will get you here, but US-101 is a lot more fun and interesting.

You want to know about our weather

Many other things may have changed, but the weather is still temperate. San Jose has a “Mediterranean” climate. We’re warm and dry in the summer. You can expect highs in the low 80’s (high 20’s C) and lows in the high 50’s (mid teens C). Most nights, around sunset the “marine layer,” a mass of colder air, comes in over the mountains from the coast and results in a 20-30 degree temperature drop.

San Jose was a great city for the 2002 Worldcon, and it’s even better now!