If you are looking for a diverse and culturally interesting day trip from Danville, California, Oakland may be just the ticket! Oakland may be one of the more undervalued day trips. It’s not as glamorous as its neighbor San Francisco, but Oakland has many fine cultural amenities that may visitors appreciate.

You can reach Oakland using public transportation on the BART, or Bay Area Rapid Transit. There’s a BART stop in Walnut Creek, which is about eight miles from Danville.

The Oakland African American Museum is at 14th St and Martin Luther King Jr. Way. It features special programming, and you can even take a walking tour of Oakland with the museum.

If you want to see some of the famous old growth redwoods, check out Joaquin Miller Park off Joaquin Miller Road. The park entrance is about a mile from Highway 13. This is a great spot for biking and hiking.

A really good museum to check out is the Oakland Museum of California, which is at 1000 Oak Street - roughly Oak Street and 10th. You can reach the museum by getting off at the Lake Merritt BART station.

Oakland has many famous people who have called it home, including Jack London. Oakland’s main destination for tourists is Jack London Square, which is at the west end of Broadway. There’s lots of shopping and dining here. This used to be a wharf district, so it still has that essence about it.