Nobu Hotel Palo Alto

Worth getting out of bed for

Palo Alto means ‘tall tree’ in Spanish, and the tree in question – a 1,080-year-old redwood – still stands to the north of the city, albeit a little diminished. But, the city’s distractions have grown more cutting edge over the years as it became the birthplace of Silicon Valley and largely works as its central processor, churning out future tech geniuses from Stanford University, and hosting big names, such as Hewlett Packard and VMWare. Get a good grounding in its rise by taking one of several tech tours on offer, these will show you the garage where Hewlett-Packard was founded, Shockley’s Laboratory where the first transistors were made (arguably where it all began), and the Nikola Tesla Statue (also a free WiFi point and time capsule). And, most go further afield, out to Meta’s (or Facebook’s) Menlo Park campus to take a selfie by the big ‘like’ sign, the Googleplex in Mountain View to explore the quirky statues in the grounds, the Apple Campus in Cupertino and Steve Jobs’ and Steve Wozniak’s humble starter garage in Los Altos, the Computer History Museum and the Intel Museum. Take note that unless you know an employee, most campuses can only be seen from outside, so this is more for hardcore fans. However, there’s much more to see and do on the sprawling Stanford Campus, just a few blocks from the hotel. Look out to the Santa Cruz Mountains (and San Fran on a clear day) from the top of the Hoover Tower; see Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hanna House; admire art both modern and ancient at the Anderson Collection, Cantor Arts Center, Papua New Guinea Sculpture Walk and in the Rodin Sculpture Garden, and see who’s playing at the Frost Amphitheater or Bing Concert Hall. The community-serving multipurpose Palo Alto Arts Center, and the Stanford Shopping Center are close by too. The Downtown Shopping District has indie and brand stores, small galleries and cafés, and gets very lively after-dark, and the Stanford Theater is a 1925 cinema that’s been revived to show classic films, including those from the Twenties with a live wurlitzer score. But, you can’t stare at a screen the whole time – to the east, Palo Alto gets lush, with a multitude of redwood parks and open-space preserves, and many many trails running through: say, two epic legs of the Coast Trail, the Wunderlich Loop, Bald Knob trail, or Crazy Pete’s Trail in Coal Creek Open Space Preserve – Pete bought and named the road, but no-one knows where the nickname comes from. Head up into the Santa Cruz Mountains, or take the gentle Stanford Dish hike closer to the city; and to the east, is the Baylands Nature Preserve, with routes through fauna-roamed marshland.

Local restaurants

Nobu isn’t the only place for wining and dining (or sake-ing and supping?). It’s a city where both premium-paying HNWs and into-their-overdraft students all have to eat, so you’ll find a good range of restaurants and cuisines. Try Tamarine for Vietnamese eats with a-lot-going-on flavours, such as tea-leaf beef; spicy salmon and crispy noodles with togarashi, sweet soy, jalapeños and aioli; and harissa seabass with honey and lime. Chef Robbie Wilson’s Bird Dog gives comfort food an upgrade: sticky-with-maple waffles are topped with crème fraîche and caviar, togarishi challah is spread with yuzu-kosho butter, and beef short rib and nashi pear come atop crispy rice. Evvia serves elevated Grecian favourites, most fired in their open hearth, in their charcoal grill or wood oven, and Ramen Nagi does reasonably priced warming bowls – the tonkotsu pork broth is a hug of a dish in its original form, but you can spice it up with cayenne and chilli oil, or add an aromatic squirt of calamari ink.

Local cafés

Coupa Café is a friendly family-owned joint of the sort who list the local farms they work with. It’s housed in a 1930s building, and its coffee beans hail from all over the world. You’ll also want to try the Spicy Maya Hot Chocolate and chai tea, and tuck into t acos and arepas while you’re at it. And, if you want to start your day with a bacon-and-egg artisan roll followed by a buttery croissant and sugar-laminated kouign-amann, make a stop at Manresa Bread. And, cult ice-creamery Salt & Straw tops cones with seasonal flavours such as rhubarb crumble with star-anise, saffron with crystallized flower petals, and pistachio-rose with strawberry-mochi chunks.

Local bars

Nola is as raucously fun as the city it’s named after. Housed in a faux French Quarter building, you’ll find its courtyard packed with revellers doused in rum and sipping boozy slushies. The Hurricane is the potent signature drink with lashings of rum, brown sugar and tropical fruit, but there are other sweet thangs to try: the Apple Pie Toddy with bourbon, watermelon margaritas, sangria with applejack brandy and Lambrusco… The Wine Room is a little more sedate – a ranch-style space with leather armchairs, a fireplace, and charcuterie and cheeses to pair with some very fine Cali-and-beyond wines.