What to do in Berkeley while child is in camp?
My daughter is attending the German Summer Camp in Berkeley (every week-day for 4 weeks, 9am-3pm). During this time I'd like to explore Berkeley rather than drive back to our home in Hercules. Please give me some ideas as to what I can do in Berkeley essentially all day. I'm up for cafes, bookstores (especially used books), fitness classes like yoga, zumba, martial arts. Given how popular coding is these days, maybe even a coding class? Please help!
Jun 5, 2017
Parent Replies
I love Half-Price Books in downtown Berkeley - great selection of cheap used books and records. Fantastic historical fiction section.
Enjoy!
There are still a number of lovely bookstores in Berkeley; Moe's on Telegraph, Pegasus and Half Price Books downtown, Mrs. Dalloway's on College, University Press Books on Bancroft. If I'm looking to camp out in a cafe for a while, I favor Au Coquelet on University and Milvia; there's also Caffe Milano and Caffe Strada on Bancroft (the former will be full of grad students, the latter full of undergrads, but both have good pastries and a nice atmosphere ;)), and The Beanery on College. Telegraph, University, and College also have a number of general hole-in-the-wall type stores. You might also consider the university libraries; the main library is not open to the public, but anthropology, music, education and a number of others are there to be browsed. :)
Don't limit yourself to Berkeley! You can explore Oakland, San Francisco ( just take bart)
take a class at city college
go to the Berkeley museum
go to a matinee at landmark theatres
go for walks at the Berkeley Marina or around Lake Merritt in Oakland
go for walks at the Regional parks
have great lunches everyday
bring your laptop to any of the public libraries
take yoga at yoga for the people ( donation base)
go swimming at Temescal pool ( or even Mills College in Oakland) ( I'm not familiar with the Berkeley ones)
go window shopping on College Ave
have a lavender cafe at the Elmwood Cafe
so great to have all that free time all for yourself!!!!!!!!
It's not that far back to Hercules at off-commute hours, maybe 20 minutes. The problem with "exploring" Berkeley is parking. Either not available, or expensive. If you can somehow solve the parking problem, check out the Berkeley YWCA, which offers a lot of low-cost classes.
The Berkeley Art Museum has a nice cafe, and is worth the time. There's also the Magnes downtown and the Anthropology museum on campus.
Here's the page for UC collections. http://www.berkeley.edu/research/museumscollections
Bookstores -- I would second Mrs. Dalloway's because of the large number of cafes nearby, and there are also some little parks and green spaces in that area. You could also get a Berkeley library card and use the Claremont branch of the library. Further down College Avenue there is Diesel Books which is in Oakland, but is the best literary bookstore we have left. Also on College is the Rockridge branch of the Oakland library. Between that section of College and campus there are many cafes and stores.
On North Shattuck there is a branch of Printer's Ink, which has a parklet right in front. A block away is Cheeseboard/Cheeseboard Pizza which is a good place for coffee, pastries and after 11:30, pizza. There also several cafes between Hearst and Cedar.
There are large areas and pockets where you can park all day. Here is a residential parking map to help you find places where you don't have to move your car all day.
http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/uploadedFiles/Public_Works/Level_3_-_Trans…
You can hike in Tilden Park. The UC Botanical Garden is beautiful, but you have to pay to go in. The botanical garden in Tilden is free and beautiful. Berkeley has many hidden staircases and paths that are great to explore.
https://patch.com/california/berkeley/cheap-thrills-climbing-the-secret…
If you bring a bike you can bike the Ohlone Greenway or ride down to the Marina and ride along the bay.
Highwire Coffee on San Pablo is a nice place with great coffee to sit with your computer.