Mountain View

Understand

Mountain View is a mid-size city at the heart of Silicon Valley, hosting offices of a number of notable tech companies--Google, Microsoft, Intuit, LinkedIn, among others.

Shockley Semiconductor, the first high-tech company to establish itself in the region, began research and manufacturing operations in Mountain View in 1956. For this reason, Mountain View is often considered the 'Birthplace of Silicon Valley.'

Mountain View's history prior to the mid-20th century is dominated by agriculture; in fact, much of the city's infrastructure (roads, parks, etc.) bears the names of wealthy families who owned farms and orchards throughout the now-densely urbanized city.

Silicon Graphics, one of the early pioneers in the graphical processing hardware industry, was headquartered in Mountain View before it was sold and later relocated in the early 2000s.

Once a small startup with a nondescript office along Charleston Blvd., Google has since grown to dominate Mountain View's corporate ecosystem. Google tests many of its experimental technologies within the city limits, and self-driving cars maneuvering about on test drives are a common sight along city streets.

Get in

By train

Caltrain service connects Mountain View to San Francisco, San Jose, and Gilroy. Almost all Caltrains stop at the Downtown Mountain View Station on Castro Street, including all local and limited-stop trains, and most Baby Bullet trains. All local trains and some limited-stop trains also service the San Antonio Station, near the border of Mountain View and Palo Alto.

To get to Amtrak trains from Mountain View, connect at the San Jose Diridon or Santa Clara stations via Caltrain.

The VTA light rail service, also located in the downtown station, connects riders to several suburban locations within the South Bay as well as San Jose. There are three ways to get to Mountain View through the light rail:

• Take the orange line ("Mountain View - Alum Rock") straight to Mountain View. It's the final destination going westbound.
• Take the blue line ("Baypointe - Santa Teresa"), get off at Baypointe Station, and switch to the orange line.
• Take the green line ("Old Ironsides - Winchester"), get off at Old Ironsides Station, and switch to the orange line.

The light rail can also be used to connect to the Amtrak Capitol Corridor train (to Sacramento) in Santa Clara. The rates for fares vary by intention, but a standard single ride is $2.50 and can be paid with cash or Clipper card.

By air

Mountain View is reachable from all three Bay Area airports:

• San Francisco International Airport (SFO): The BART train has a stop directly at the airport, which you can ride to the Millbrae transit center. From Millbrae, leave BART and take Caltrain southbound service. If you are taking a taxi, note that San Francisco-based taxis may charge 150% of the normal fare when going more than 15 miles outside the city limit, and the fare is likely to be over $100. Uber/Lyft is usually under half the price.
• San Jose (SJC): Take a free shuttle to Caltrain's Santa Clara station and then take the northbound train service. Also, you can take a free shuttle to the VTA Metro/Airport station and take the VTA light rail. Taxi fare is likely to be in the $35-45 range.
• Oakland (OAK): Take a shuttle van service. This is the most distant of the three area airports. You can take BART from the new Oakland Airport BART extension, ride to Millbrae station, then connect at Millbrae to Caltrain southbound. Taxi fare from OAK is likely to be about $100.

Get around

For travel within Mountain View itself and the neighboring area, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) operates bus and light rail service. MVgo also provides limited free bus service. The Caltrain, which runs all the way from San Francisco to Gilroy stops in Mountain View as well. Caltrain also provides relatively easy access to both San Francisco and San Jose Airport, via BART or bus connections. There are also free shuttles operated by Mountain View Community Shuttle that operate during the daytime connecting residential areas to downtown. While major points of interest may be accessible by bus from downtown, coverage in other areas is limited and service is infrequent. It is recommended to travel around by car or by bike. Mountain View is good for cycling: many streets have bike lanes or are wide enough to comfortably support bike traffic.

The downtown area is walkable. The downtown blocks of Castro street nearest to the train station are closed off to vehicle traffic.