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Oakland
City in California, United States

Oakland

Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S.

Plan a trip to Oakland→From San Jose

state of California. It is the county seat of and the most populous city in Alameda County, California, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the most populous city in the East Bay, the third most populous city in the Bay Area, and the eighth most populous city in California. It serves as the Bay Area's trade center: the Port of Oakland is the busiest port in Northern California, and the fifth- or sixth-busiest in the United States. A charter city, Oakland was incorporated on May 4, 1852, in the wake of the state's increasing population due to the California gold rush.

Get in

Getting to Oakland

  1. 01
    Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport
  2. 02
    Oakland Coliseum/Airport Amtrak
See

Worth seeing

Oakland has many attractions to the eye and for the mind. Where some believe that it is a city of run-down Victorian houses or endless stretches of urban blight, this is very far from accurate. Oakland is a city with roots as far back as the earliest years of the admission of the State of California, and as such, it has architecture extant from many different eras.

  1. 01
    African American Museum and Library at Oakland

    This is a beautiful building, one of the libraries donated by Andrew Carnegie, and its exterior merits a look before or after you visit the interior.

  2. 02
    Chabot Space and Science Center

    10000 Skyline Blvd (AC Transit bus 31), fax: +1 510 336-7491, VisitorInfo@ChabotSpace.org.

  3. 03
    The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment
  4. 04
    Oakland Aviation Museum

    8252 Earhart Rd, Bldg 621 (inside Oakland Airport; use Cooke St., parking is on Boeing St.), oamdirector@oaklandaviationmuseum.org.

  5. 05
    Oakland Museum of California

    1000 Oak St (at 10th; Lake Merritt BART station),.

  6. 06
    Oakland Public Library

    125 4th St (corner of 14th St and Oak St, near Lake Merritt), toll-free: +1-888-625-6873.

Do

Things to do

Oakland is a city of passionate interests - among the strongest of them are the love of the performing arts. Theater, live DJs, nightclubs, concerts, dance and even more unusual avant-garde activities are common sights and experiences in the city. Not just the obvious locations like the convention center or the Oracle Arena are home to the passion of performance.

  1. 01
    Fox Theater

    1807 Telegraph Ave (near Telegraph and 19th, Uptown), contact@anotherplanetent.com.

  2. 02
    The New Parish

    1743 San Pablo Ave (at 18th St), info@thenewparish.com.

  3. 03
    The Oakland Symphony

    BART; above Oaklandish), fax: +1 510 444-0863.

  4. 04
    Oakland Symphony Chorus

    BART; above Oaklandish), fax: +1 510 444-0863, info@oaklandsymphonychorus.org.

  5. 05
    Pan Theater

    120 Frank Ogawa Plaza (across the Plaza from City Hall, behind Laurel Books).

  6. 06
    Paramount Theater

    This gorgeous Depression-era theater, completed in 1931, has been completely restored and is maintained in almost mint condition.

Eat

Where to eat

The third great passion after art and music that is shared by residents and visitors to Oakland alike is food. Oakland is foodie country. No matter what your budget is - if you want to find something to eat from classic burgers to elaborate, innovative cuisine, you're going to find both and just about everything in between.

  1. 01
    Ahn's Quarter Pound Burger

    439 Grand Ave (corner of Bellevue and Grand),.

  2. 02
    Enssaro

    357A Grand Ave (between Elita and Perkins), info@enssaro.com.

  3. 03
    Jong Ga House

    372 Grand Ave (north of junction with Elita Ave), fax: +1 510 444-5274, jonggahouse@gmail.com.

  4. 04
    Golden Lotus Vegan Restaurant
  5. 05
    New Gold Medal

    389 8th St (between Webster St & Franklin St),.

How locals move

Getting around Oakland the local way

  • Get inThe San Francisco Bay Ferry has departures from both Pier 41 and the Ferry Building in San Francisco.
  • Go nextTake BART, or the ferry for some great views.

From Wikivoyage: Oakland, CC BY-SA. Not yet checked by us. Last edited 2026-09.

Text adapted from Wikipedia and Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons (see file page), Wikimedia Commons.