Discover 11 hidden attractions, cool sights, and unusual things to do in Santa Clara (United States). Don't miss out on these must-see attractions: Intel Museum, Columbia Carousel, and Gold Striker. Also, be sure to include Levi's Stadium in your itinerary.
Below, you can find the list of the most amazing places you should visit in Santa Clara (California).
Table of Contents
Intel Museum
Museum in Santa Clara, California. The Intel Museum located at Intel's headquarters in Santa Clara, California, United States, has exhibits of Intel's products and history as well as semiconductor technology in general. The museum is open weekdays and Saturdays except holidays. It is open to the public with free admission. The museum was started in the early 1980s as an internal project at Intel to record its history. It opened to the public in 1992, later being expanded in 1999 to triple its size and add a store. It has exhibits about how semiconductor chip technology works, both as self-paced exhibits and by reservation as grade-school educational programs.
A fully functional 130x scale replica of the Intel 4004 CPU was built using discrete transistors and put on display in 2006.[1]
Address: 2200 Mission College Blvd, 95054 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)
Columbia Carousel
Amusement park ride in Santa Clara, California. Columbia Carousel is a pair of double-decked carousels at Six Flags Great America and California's Great America. Both parks were originally built by the Marriott hotel chain as sister properties but they were later sold off and are presently owned by Six Flags and Cedar Fair, respectively. To this date, Carousel Columbia is the world's tallest carousel.[2]
Address: California's Great America, 95054 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)
Gold Striker
Roller coaster in Santa Clara, California. Gold Striker is a wooden roller coaster located at California's Great America amusement park. Built by Great Coasters International and designed by Jeff Pike, Gold Striker was the park's eighth roller coaster which opened to the public on May 31, 2013. Its 174-foot-long tunnel is the longest in the world to be featured on the first drop, and it was marketed as the "tallest and fastest wooden coaster in Northern California". The roller coaster takes on the theme of the Old West and references the California Gold Rush of the 19th century.[3]
Address: California's Great America, 95054 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)
Levi's Stadium
Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Levi's Stadium is an American football stadium located in Santa Clara, California, just outside San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has served as the home venue for the National Football League 's San Francisco 49ers since 2014. The stadium is located approximately 40 miles south of San Francisco. It is named after Levi Strauss & Co. which purchased naming rights in 2013.
In 2006, the 49ers proposed constructing a new stadium at Candlestick Point in San Francisco, the site of their erstwhile home, Candlestick Park. The project, which included plans for retail space and housing improvements, was claimed to be of great potential benefit to the nearby historically blighted neighborhood of Hunters Point. After negotiations with the city of San Francisco fell through, the 49ers focused their attention on a site adjacent to their administrative offices and training facility in Santa Clara.
In June 2010, Santa Clara voters approved a measure authorizing the creation of the tax-exempt Santa Clara Stadium Authority to build and own the new football stadium and for the city to lease land to the authority. A construction loan raised from private investors was secured in December 2011, allowing construction to start in April 2012. Levi's Stadium opened on July 17, 2014.
Levi's Stadium was the site of the Pac-12 Football Championship Game from 2014 through 2019 before moving to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. Previously, that game was played on the home field of the division winner possessing the better record. Levi's Stadium hosted Super Bowl 50 on February 7, 2016. It also hosted the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship.[4]
Flight Deck
Flight Deck is a steel inverted roller coaster located at California's Great America in Northern California. Built by Bolliger & Mabillard, Flight Deck made its debut March 20, 1993 as Top Gun. This was Bolliger & Mabillard's second inverted coaster behind Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Great America. The third inverted coaster from Bolliger & Mabillard opened a little under two months later at Six Flags Great Adventure. Flight Deck at California's Great America isn't quite as tall, nor as fast or long as its partner, Afterburn at Carowinds.
Flight Deck was also featured in a commercial for Excedrin in 2007.[5]
Address: California's Great America, 95054 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)
The Grizzly
Roller coaster in Santa Clara, California. The Grizzly is a wooden roller coaster located at California's Great America in Santa Clara, California. The ride was designed by Curtis D. Summers and manufactured by Kings Island Construction. It uses traditional tracks with steel wheels on the cars, and, therefore, is designed to maintain positive-g loading on the cars and riders throughout its course.[6]
Address: 4701 Great America Pkwy, 95054 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)
Mission Santa Clara de Asís
Catholic church on university grounds. Mission Santa Clara de Asís is a Spanish mission in the city of Santa Clara, California. The mission, which was the eighth in California, was founded on January 12, 1777 by the Franciscan order. Named for Saint Clare of Assisi, who founded the order of the Poor Clares and was an early companion of St. Francis of Assisi, this was the first California mission to be named in honor of a woman.
It is the namesake of both the city and county of Santa Clara, as well as of Santa Clara University, which was built around the mission. This is the only mission located on the grounds of a university campus. Although ruined and rebuilt six times, the settlement was never abandoned, and today it functions as the university chapel for Santa Clara University.[7]
Address: The Alameda, 95050 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)
Buck Shaw Stadium
Stadium in Santa Clara, California. Stevens Stadium is a 7,000-seat soccer stadium at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. The stadium is the current home of the Santa Clara Broncos soccer teams and was the former home of the now defunct Santa Clara football team as well as the Santa Clara baseball team. The baseball team moved to their new home at Stephen Schott Stadium in 2005. The stadium is the former home of the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer. The stadium's capacity was increased in the winter of 2007 from a capacity of 6,800 to 10,300. The stadium was named Buck Shaw Stadium before a renovation in 2015.[8]
Address: Santa Clara, 500 El Camino Real
Rancho San Antonio Preserve
Rancho San Antonio County Park and Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve are a conjoined public recreational area in the Santa Cruz Mountains, in the northwest quadrant of Santa Clara County, California. The County Park is bordered by Los Altos with some parts of the eastern part of the County Park in western Cupertino. The Open Space Preserve is on the west side of the County Park, also bordered by Los Altos Hills, Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, and the Permanente Quarry.
The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District manages both the 3988 acre Open Space Preserve and the 289 acre County Park.
This article covers both Rancho San Antonio County Park and Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve.[9]
Triton Museum of Art
Museum. The Triton Museum of Art is a contemporary art museum located at 1505 Warburton Avenue in Santa Clara, California.[10]
Address: 1505 Warburton Ave, 95050-3712 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)
De Saisset Museum
Museum in Santa Clara, California. The de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University opened in 1955, after Isabel de Saisset, the last member of a California pioneer family bequeathed her estate to the University of Santa Clara. The museum owns nearly 10,000 art pieces and historical artifacts, including the work of early Californian artist and university alumnus Ernest de Saisset and a considerable collection of California mission artifacts. The de Saisset recently completed a major renovation of its storage facilities and is open to the public free of charge.[11]
Address: 500 El Camino Real, 95053-0001 Santa Clara (Santa Clara)