Silicon Valley on Private California Tour

Google statues in Silicon Valley

Not everyone wants to hike through the wilderness of Yosemite or see the sights in San Francisco.

The nerds among us—and we mean that in the nicest way—just might be thrilled to spend hours or days visiting the mother lode of innovation: Silicon Valley. Actually named Santa Clara Valley, the famous brainiac mecca got its nickname in an article in Electronics Magazine in 1971 because semiconductor chips in production there used such huge amounts of silicon.

The valley as a site for inventive thinking dates back at least to the 19th century, when the Federal Telegraph Company first produced the vacuum-tube amplifier in Palo Alto. The technology enabled long-distance telephone calls. Now add in thousands of brilliant thinkers, local academic institutions Santa Clara University and Stanford University, government support, venture capitalism and other assistance and voilà! Silicon Valley.

The approximately 2,000 companies in the tech valley today include Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Google, eBay, Facebook, Adobe, Broadcom, Fanatics and numerous venture capital firms and startups. Visitors can tour Google headquarters, browse the Intel Museum, stop by the Oracle Corporation and even fill out job applications at various companies to their hearts’ content.

Just think of the brain power and cooperation that developed some of the most far-reaching devices and capabilities in history. Picture videotape and video games, laser technology, the disc drive and the microprocessor. And, of course, don’t forget the personal computer. Or the ink-jet printer, not to mention the x-ray microscope and genetic engineering.

California Coast Tunnel Tree

There is more to the Bay Area than only San Francisco.

Naturally, nerds also can enjoy hiking and city cruising, so don’t limit yourself to just a tour of Silicon Valley if you have additional interests. We can combine and/or customize tours to fit your needs. A couple days in Yosemite, followed by a fun tour in San Francisco, topped off with an unforgettable visit to Silicon Valley, for instance. Or two out of three of those adventures. Or a fourth one added—a road trip down the spectacular California coast. Your dream tour is a phone call away.