No. 1 hotel to stay in is the Claremont resort but it's pricy and probably gets booked well in advance of game day.

Tennis courts, large pool and fitness center with a great view.

Right next to the hotel is a good restaurant (Rick & Ann's), bakery and coffee shop. Can walk to the stadium from hotel but it's pretty far (1.4 miles, 30 minute walk)

BGolden said:

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I looked up the 2024 Syracuse schedule. That's a pretty nice road schedule and the home schedule is very favorable.

If you're looking to pull off the freeway into a sea of asphalt and tailgating with 10,000 other vehicles, sadly,
Cal does not offer that experience. However, the stadium, bars and restaurants are all near campus for a good game day experience. As mentioned by others, Maxwell Field and Faculty glade are both near the stadium.

A nice option is a gathering on campus, there are plenty of great spots to sit and enjoy the atmosphere (it is a beautiful campus).

In regards to views, if you get a chance, go up in The Campanile (the clock tower) on campus. Decide for yourself whether it's a decent view.

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Usually, people who take in the view from the top of the Campanile only yearn for the magnificent vistas of Montana.

One piece of advice for East Coast visitors: the weather in the Bay Area varies wildly based on location and time of day, especially earlier in the season. It can be 100 in Walnut Creek, 75 in Berkeley, 65 in San Francisco Embarcadero and 55 at the ocean. Same with day and night. And while a visitor from Syracuse, NY might not think 55 is very cold, think foggy, windy and damp, cold if you are in shorts and a T-shirt. The takeaway being, dress in layers, bring a light jacket or sweatshirt with you even if it is currently warm and sunny. For November, it coukd very well be gray and raining.

Update

The article is expected to come out in a week or so. I'll post a link in the thread when it does.

Thanks to everyone for your comments.

Cal finished a respectable 4th place. All 5 away games (from a Cuse perspective) were tightly bunched together in scoring. UNLV came in first and Boston College was last.

Well, this is embarrassing. I hangout on the Bears Insider forum, and hadn't visited Football Growls for years. Recently, I did basically the same thing you did - putting together an intro sheet for the ACCers. I was just trying to figure out how to get it online, when I spotted this series of postings. So let me put in what I came up with, assisted by others from the BearsInsider: I also plan on sending this out to the message boards of the ACCers, expecially Miami, NC State and Syracuse, since they will be visiting this season.

Visiting Memorial Stadium? Helpful suggestions
By Cal football fans

This page is for folks attending football games at Memorial Stadium (on Gayley Road, just east of the campus), in Berkeley for the first time. Answers come from the collective knowledge/insight/experiences of Cal fans from BearInsider.com, and do not reflect the official authority of the University of California (so don't bother trying to sue anyone). Berkeley is in Alameda County, part of the "east Bay" in the San Francisco Bay Area. Academically, we are known as the University of California, Berkeley (or U.C. Berkeley), but for the sporting world we are properly called either "California" or "Cal" (but NOT "Cal Berkeley"). Our colors are Blue and Gold (remarkably similar to those of West Virginia). Previously, our two greatest football rivalries were against the only two private schools in the PAC-12: USC (aka: U$C, University of Spoiled Children) and Stanford (aka: Stanfurd, Stanfraud), both of whom sported red colors, so that color is anathema to us.

I. Flying In
Oakland International is the airport closest to Berkeley, and without traffic jams, it is about a 30 minute drive from campus. But give yourself 45 minutes to be on the safe side, or even longer if it is commute time. There is also a shuttle from the airport to the Coliseum/Airport BART Station (see below for a link to the BART website).
San Francisco International is actually 5 miles south of San Francisco, and has a greater number of airlines serving it, but driving time to Berkeley is an hour, MINIMUM, (unless you are coming in on a red-eye at 3am, in which case you can probably make it in 40 minutes), but at commute time figure 2 hours (but BART service extends to the airport!). If you are staying overnight in San Francisco, this is the most convenient airport, and there are lots of options available for traveling from the airport to downtown SF. San Francisco is separated from Berkeley by the San Francisco Bay, which can be crossed by auto (Bay Bridge toll is $7.00 going west into SF, free going east towards Berkeley, and cars are charged using FasTrak: (San Francisco Oakland Bridge - FasTrak (bayareafastrak.org). To avoid the worry about traffic or parking, BART is a good alternative (see below) there is also ferry service between the City and East Bay, but it is set up to handle commuters, and unlikely to provide decent service on a Saturday.
Your third alternative is San Jose International. San Jose is served by a wide variety of airlines, but is 50 miles south of Berkeley a good hour usually, or 1.5-2 hours during commute times. However, Santa Clara Valley's VTA (Valley Transportation Authority) provides a connection to the BART station at Berryessa Station (on the green and orange lines Routes | VTA).
A fourth alternative is to fly into Sacramento Airport (about 60-70 miles northeast of Berkeley). You'll definitely need a car to get to Berkeley, and driving time will be 1.5-2 hours.

II. Ground transportation
Parking and traffic in Berkeley is usually pretty bad, and a ***** on game days, so we recommend taking BART (http://www.bart.gov). There are two good stations to use to get to the stadium: on the Richmond (red or orange) line, exit at the Main Berkeley Station (on Shattuck between Center & Allston), and walk east (towards the hills). You can walk through the campus to the stadium a good landmark is the Campanile, Cal's bell tower, situated almost in the middle of the campus. But if you want to ride, you can pick up a free shuttle to the stadium 1.5 blocks east of the BART station, on West Crescent (just east of Oxford Street), which goes through the campus. Other shuttles travel around the perimeter of the campus. The other BART stop is Rockridge Station on College Avenue, on the Concord/Pittsburg (yellow) line. The Stadium is about a 25 minute (mostly level) walk from here, but you can take a bus as well: AC transit (http://www.actransit.org/) adds extra buses (not free) on game day between the Rockridge Station and the corner of Bancroft Avenue. If you are in Contra Costa County, check out the County Connection (http://countyconnection.com/) for shuttles that run from the Lafayette and Concord BART stations.
If you absolutely must drive, UC Berkeley has a website with driving instructions (http://visit.berkeley.edu/map-directions/directions-parking/), and there are several parking lots in downtown Berkeley (http://berkeleyca.gov/city-services/parking/parking-garages-and-lots/). If you are really frugal (that's the nicer word), you may be able to park for free in residential areas which are a good 25-30 minute walk from the stadium (south of Ashby Avenue, west of Martin Luther Junior King, Jr. Way, or north of Cedar Street). By all means try to avoid driving on College Avenue and Ashby Avenue, before and after games. Some residents (typically frats/sororities) offer game day parking on their premises, but having to battle the pedestrians and traffic may make this a poor alternative; a few years back they'd charge $20, but we imagine the prices have increased since then.

III. Game day details
There is a map of campus available through the UC Berkeley site at: (http://www.berkeley.edu/map/).
Berkeley is blessed with a rather clement climate it rarely rains from August through November. But during the summer and fall, it is not unusual to have a morning fog cover that doesn't burn off until 10am-noon, only to come back about 4 pm (or doesn't burn off at all). So be prepared for weather that ranges from quite warm to chilly (ie. wear layers). You may wish to check out the website (http://lawrencehallofscience.org/play/view/), which shows the current weather at the Lawrence Hall of Science (the view you see is looking down the hill towards the stadium). BUT, what you see at 9 am isn't necessarily what you'll get at noon. The visitor's section at Memorial Stadium gets little shade, so consider bringing a hat or sunglasses for afternoon games.
Info about tickets can be found here: http://calbears.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/EVExecMacro?linkID=cal&evm=cont/. When walking to the stadium you might encounter a few pre-game tailgate parties, but there is no single area so designated for visitors you'll need to find your own. The one exception is for the Big Game (against Stanford), when the campus becomes literally overrun with tailgaters. Just don't expect to be able to drive in and park at the last moment (in this case, "last moment" may be defined as 4 hours pre-kickoff).
The Fun Zone opens to the public 2.5 hours before game time on Maxwell Family Field, just north of Memorial Stadium. It is free and caters to kids and adults alike. There is a March to Victory 2 hours and 20 minutes before kickoff time, when the fans have a chance to greet the home team as they enter through the north entrance of the Stadium.
There is a rally featuring the Marching Band at Sproul Plaza, 1.5 hours prior to kickoff, and one can follow the band afterward as it marches up to the stadium.
Restrictions into the stadium include: bags are allowed, but no larger than 12"x12"x6", and must be CLEAR. You can check non-allowed bags in a booth outside Gates 6/7 (south of the Stadium). The Will Call booth is at the north entrance to the stadium. Reentry to the stadium is not allowed.
We think Memorial Stadium is located in one of the more scenic venues around (Strawberry Canyon in the Berkeley foothills). Built in 1923, it was recently renovated, but please note that on the east side of the stadium, the restroom facilities are a series of port-a-potties along the road outside the uppermost level of seats. If you are attending a "major game" (Stanford or a highly ranked school), it may take you AT LEAST 20 minutes to get to your seat once you hand in your ticket. Plan your arrival time accordingly.
And if you get to the game without a ticket in hand, don't despair you can watch it from a point just to the east off Stadium Rim Way: "Tightwad Hill". It's rather a steep climb, but offers a free view of most of the playing field, as well as a nice vista of San Francisco Bay.
Radio game coverage is provided by two local stations: U.C. Berkeley's own KALX, 90.7 FM, and KGO 810 AM, as well as on Sirius XM radio, and via TuneIn on CalBears.com.
The area just to the south of Memorial Stadium (bounded by the stadium, College Avenue, Dwight Way and Warring Street), is the heart of Berkeley's Greek community. On game day, this area tends to get rather, er "boisterous", especially around those who wear red. If you visibly support the visiting team and wish to enjoy a serene walk before and after the game, we gently suggest you instead approach the stadium from the west, via the campus or Bancroft Avenue.

IV. Food and drink
(* indicates within 30 minute walk of the stadium)
Berkeley (and the Bay area in general) has a TON of good restaurants, too many to list here … except for Top Dog (several locations, including 2534 Durant Avenue*, and 2160 Center Street*), Fat Apple's (1346 Martin Luther King Jr. Way), and Fenton's Creamery (4226 Piedmont Avenue, Oakland [not Berkeley]), which are all local classic spots (as opposed to classy spots). You can get pizza by the slice at several places on Telegraph Avenue*, but many folks swear by Zachary's Pizza, with locations at 1853 Solano Avenue and 5801 College Avenue, Oakland. At the other end of the spectrum, Chez Panisse (1517 Shattuck Avenue) is one of the outstanding eateries in the area dining in the restaurant requires reservations made weeks in advance (and they have a fixed menu which changes every day), but you may be able to get in the caf on shorter notice. For additional restaurants, check out this webpage: https://sf.eater.com/maps/best-restaurants-berkeley.

Some local bars and pubs include:

On campus:

- Faculty Club (east of Faculty Glade)*

South of campus:
- Henry's Publick House & Grille (in Durant Hotel, 2600 Durant Avenue)*
- Raleigh's (2438 Telegraph Avenue)*
- Cali's Sports Bar & Kitchen (2367 Telegraph Avenue)*
- Caffe Strada (2300 College really a coffee house … that has good beer)*

West of campus:
- Cornerstone (2367 Shattuck Avenue)*
- Jupiter (2181 Shattuck Avenue)*
- Triple Rock (1920 Shattuck Avenue)*

North of campus:
- LaVal's Pizza (1834 Euclid Avenue)*

V. Hotels
The Durant Hotel is only a few minutes' walk from the Stadium, while three other nice hotels are in downtown Berkeley: the Shattuck Hotel, Residence Inn Berkeley, and the Berkeley City Club (the latter designed by Julia Morgan). On campus, the Faculty club is a picturesque place to stay, but you'll probably need to make reservations WELL in advance. There are several moderately-priced motels and hotels along University Avenue (which runs from Highway 80 east towards campus), and some pricier places on the Berkeley Marina (go west along University Avenue instead of east). Some folks recommend staying in San Francisco, a virtual tourist's mecca (travel from downtown SF to downtown Berkeley only takes about 25 minutes on BART). Emeryville may be a nice compromise location to stay this city has little to offer by itself (except a couple of large shopping malls), but there are several hotels right off Highway 80 at the Powell Street exit these have relatively easy access from airports, and are only a 10-20 minute drive to Berkeley (not BART accessible, but AC Transit should be able to get you to campus) these include Hyatt House, Hyatt Place, Four Points by Sheraton, and Sonesta Emeryville. Relatively cheaper motels are found in north Berkeley (on San Pablo Avenue), and further north (El Cerrito) or to the south (Oakland).

VI. Other attractions

Campus sites include:

- Click on (http://www.berkeley.edu/visitors/) for more information about physical and virtual tours.
- Cal has many rustic corners on campus, including Faculty Glade (a nice place to have a pre-game picnic), the Eucalyptus Grove and several sites along Strawberry Creek.
- If you are on campus Monday-Friday, you can ride to the top of the Campanile from 10am to 4pm ($2 general admission) and get a great view of the area (http://visit.berkeley.edu/campus-attractions/campanile).
- Architecturally, some of the more interesting sites include the lobby of the Hearst Mining Building (in the NE quadrant of the campus), the passageway through Stephens Hall (west of Faculty Glade), the Greek Theater (east of Gayley Road), Hearst Gym, and the Doe and Biosciences Libraries.
- The Free Speech movement got its start in (Upper) Sproul Plaza, and now you can get a latte in the FSM caf, located in the Moffit Library.
- Campus museums open to the public include the Berkeley Art Museum (http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu), and several Natural History Museums (http://bnhm.berkeley.edu/about).
- There are upwards of 40 separate libraries on campus (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/AboutLibrary/libraries_collections.html), but the biggest are the Doe, Moffit and Biosciences Libraries.

Within walking distance of the Stadium:

- Telegraph Avenue, between Dwight Way and Bancroft Way: a never-ending street fair. However, it would behoove you to have a modicum of care when on the street. Panhandlers abound, and non-violent crime seems to be on the rise. And if you are the adventurous sort …
- Just east of Telegraph is the "semi-historic" People's Park, in the quadrangle formed by Telegraph, Dwight Way, Bowditch Street & Haste Street. After years of conflict, the University is getting serious about turning it into student residences. Currently, the area is cordoned off by double stacked shipping containers, and construction is supposed to start soon. The chances of student protest over this is possible, but unlikely on Saturdays. And if you've gone that far, check out the interesting architecture of the First Church of Christ Scientist (across the street from People's Park at the corner of Dwight at Bowditch) designed by Bernard Maybeck.

If you have a car, a drive up the Berkeley hills will offer you a great view of the Bay. From the east side of Memorial Stadium, drive east up the canyon on Centennial Drive (but note this road is closed to traffic on or near game time). About 0.5 mile up on the right is the University's Botanical Gardens (http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/).
A little further on is the Lawrence Hall of Science (http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org) a great place to take kids, or just enjoy the vista. Drive a little further still, and you hit Grizzly Peak Blvd. Crossing Grizzly Peak, you'll enter Tilden Park, the crown jewel of the East Bay Regional Park District (http://www.ebparks.org), and if you turn right and go south along Grizzly Park Blvd, you'll get some more great vistas, and come across several more EBRPD parks: Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, Huckleberry Botanic Regional Reserve, Redwood Regional Park and Anthony Chabot Regional Park.
Many Bear fans recommend staying a couple of extra days in order to take advantage of the many other popular spots that are all within a day's ride of Berkeley. San Francisco can easily provide several days of amusement by itself, but other recommendations include the Wine Country (Napa & Sonoma Counties, about 1-2 hours north of Berkeley), Lake Tahoe & Yosemite (each about 3-4 hours drive to the east in the Sierra Nevada), and Monterey/Big Sur (2-3 hour drive to the south).

If you want to catch professional sporting events, there used to be several teams in Oakland unfortunately, except for the Oakland As, they'll all now have moved away. But there are three San Francisco teams in the area: the Golden State Warriors (basketball) play at the Chase Center, the Giants (baseball) play at AT&T Park downtown (accessible via any of BART's downtown San Francisco stations with a transfer to San Francisco Muni's N train), while the 49ers (football) play at Levi's Stadium (about an hour car ride south of San Francisco in Santa Clara).

Some of the more popular local shopping districts are:

South Berkeley
- Elmwood District (College Avenue near Ashby Avenue)
- Rockridge area (actually in Oakland: College Avenue between Alcatraz Avenue and Broadway)

Central Berkeley
- Downtown Berkeley, around Shattuck Avenue and University Avenue

West Berkeley
- 4th Street (between University Avenue and Cedar Street)

North Berkeley
- Shattuck Avenue (from Hearst Avenue north to Rose Street) aka "Gourmet Ghetto", includes Walnut Square (Walnut Street at Rose Street)
- Solano Avenue (running from Berkeley west through Albany)

We hope you enjoy your stay (except for the part about your team losing to the Bears!)

To my fellow ACC fans, by all means make the trip to Berkeley.

A group of us made the trip over the Labor Day weekend for the UNC game a few year ago.

Stayed in the City on Nob Hill - wow the weather was great giving us Southerners a welcome break from the smoldering heat.
Friday night had a great chill dinner
Saturday Ubered to and from the game. Lot's of restaurants and bars on the main street.
Take time to walk the campus on the way to the stadium. As you approach the stadium you'll pass the Greek houses throwing parties on the yard - making it almost feel like your campus.
After the game, enjoyed a post game party at the Graduate Hotel.
Sunday - visited Napa
Monday - toured the City

Wives love this trip!