Touring Silicon Valley’s Tech HQs

If you’re a bit of a nerd and/or you are fascinated by the biggest names in technology like Google, Facebook, Apple and more – we’ve checked out all their Headquarters in Silicon Valley so you can do the same!

First and foremost this is not something I would recommend without a car – so grab a rental for an afternoon and give it a crack.

Overall we were on the road for around 5 hours, having left San Jose around 1pm getting back at 6.

The distance from San Francisco would be similar, but depending on traffic it would be worth budgeting an extra hour in the trip.

Here’s the entire map of Tech HQ’s in Silicon Valley on Google Maps – This also includes a few we didn’t visit such as GoPro, Twitter and Uber which were closer to San Francisco than San Jose for us.

These are the nine we visited in one afternoon:

eBay

eBay is the original online marketplace, such a huge deal for e-commerce online they’re now far more than an Auction site.

Their HQ is pretty simple, there’s limited street parking, but you’ll find one up the road, so you can stroll down and see the big eBay sign on the roadside!

Netflix

Netflix is bigger than you probably might imagine. Loads of buildings, all nested together and there’s visitors parking so you can jump out and grab a selfie.

Apple (Former)

1 Infinite Loop is the real-deal Apple HQ – it was their home for over 20 years and is iconic.

There’s an Apple Store on site if you want some merch, and a decent couple of signs to grab your photo with.

Apple Park

Only a 5 minute drive from 1 Infinite Loop, Apple Park is something special. The “space ship” took over a decade to complete after Steve Jobs first presented his plans to Cupertino City Council.

While you can’t get near the main building, a drive around really shows you the detail of the gardens, the trees the whole gutter to gutter approach to perfection.

Across the road is a visitors centre which is one of the most amazing Apple Stores you can visit. The details inside reflect the detail of the entire place and it’s well worth a look.

At one end of the Store is an Augmented Reality experience you can view though the supplied iPads.

Intel

It might just be some corporate offices, but Intel welcomes a photo next to their iconic logo.

Having been established 50 years ago, Intel is at the heart of everything Silicon Valley when it comes to Tech and Innovation – well worth a look.]

Netgear

They may not be as big as Apple or Intel, But Netgear are a big brand in Australia and global home networking. Their HQ is nothing amazing for sure, but worth a selfie nonetheless.

Google

Google has a wide space their campus covers. We grabbed parking nearby and walked through the entire place – it felt like I was trespassing, but there is security at every building and there’s even friendly Google Greeters to help you around – this is Peter the Greeter:

Facebook

Their HQ on Facebook Way is lame, no Facebook Logo, nothing really to see.

Across the road at the old home of Sun Microsystems there’s a much cooker LIKE Logo worth a selfie.

A new HQ is underway – so that’s still to come!

Tesla

This is not the Telsa Factory – this is their HQ and engineering base. Loads of Autonomous testing goes on here, but the real highlight is the sheer number of Tesla’s in the car park – crazy!