Amelia’s Guidebook

Oakland is rich in cultural diversity, here is a great website to get familiar with the surrounding neighborhoods https://www.visitoakland.com/things-to-do/neighborhoods/

Oakland is a big city, but it’s super easy to get around the town, and you have your pick of options. Here’s what we recommend: * Public Transit:  You can get all over Oakland using transit. BART trains will take you almost everywhere you want to go in Oakland, and AC Transit buses will get you everywhere else. For planning your public transit trip use https://511.org/ * Ride-Share App: Ride-sharing was invented in the Bay Area, and we all use it so much it’s become a primary method of transit. You can take shared LYFT lines to anywhere in Oakland, and your ride will be pleasantly inexpensive. Here is $5 towards your first LYFT ride in the Bay area--->https://www.lyft.com/invite/KAREEM401514?p=ei * Bike: Oakland is hella bikeable. We’ve got plenty of bike lanes and places to park your bike. Most conveniently of all, there are  Ford Go Bike bike share stations EVERYWHERE. Biking is a fantastic way to explore Oakland’s many neighborhoods (at least, the ones that aren’t up in the hills). * Electric Scooter: The scooter craze is alive and well here in Oakland. Download the Bird and Lime apps to find a scooter to whizz around town on.

Did you know there are stunning, towering redwood groves just a few minutes away from downtown Oakland? Avoid the crowds and go hiking in one of Oakland’s beautiful redwood parks. Yes, I said one of: there are 2, and the redwoods you’ll find in the are some of the oldest in the Bay Area, dating back to the 1880’s. Oakland Redwood Regional Park and Joaquin Miller Park are technically two separate parks, but they actually connect, providing a sprawling network of hiking trails criss-crossing through redwood-covered valleys and hills overlooking stunning views of the Bay Area. Despite being only a few minutes away from Downtown Oakland and quite close to civilization, the parks are peaceful and quiet: you’ll feel like you left Oakland, stepped through a wardrobe, and emerged into redwood Narnia. Head to a staging area and pick a trail (or several) from the helpfully provided park maps to explore these stunning parks. The Scenic Redwood Loop is a 4-mile hike that offers everything from valley floor streams and ferns to scenic overlooks (and plenty of redwoods, of course). If you’re looking for an all-day-long redwood extravaganza, pack a snack and try the French Loop Trail.

With so many great food options in the Bay Area you will never run out of great restaurants to try! Here are a few of our favorites that are not to far from the Treehouse