Things to Do in Burlingame, CA
Burlingame's recreation runs through its bayfront trail system, its walkable downtown, and a shared regional park -- a genuinely different mix than a beach-town activity list, built around a working shoreline rather than a recreational one.
The Bay Trail and Plane-Spotting at Bayside Park
Bayside Park, at 1103 Airport Boulevard, connects directly into the San Francisco Bay Trail and is a documented, specifically named plane-spotting location -- close enough to SFO that the mudflats reportedly expose toward the runways at low tide, making it a genuinely distinctive local activity that no beach-town page on this site can offer. The Trail continues south through Anza Lagoon and Fisherman's Park into the Coyote Point Recreation Area, and north toward Millbrae, offering a flat, easy, multi-mile walking or cycling route with wide Bay views along the way.
CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point
The 670-acre Coyote Point Recreation Area, straddling the Burlingame/San Mateo boundary, includes CuriOdyssey, a junior museum, alongside a sandy bathing beach, hiking trails, picnic areas, and the 580-boat Coyote Point Marina. As a county-operated park shared between both cities, it's a real, substantial regional recreational resource rather than an exclusively Burlingame amenity.
Downtown Burlingame Avenue
Beyond dining (covered on the Dining page), Burlingame Avenue itself functions as a genuine destination for walking and browsing -- a tree-lined, pedestrian-friendly shopping corridor with independent boutiques and national retailers alike, backed by the city's own tree-protection ordinances dating to 1908 and 1930 that give the corridor its distinctive shaded character.
Hillsborough: Estate-Viewing From the Road, Not a Visitor Destination
Hillsborough is not built as a visitor destination -- its zero-commercial-zoning policy, half-acre-minimum lots, and emphasis on privacy mean there's no downtown, museum, or public attraction inside town limits to visit. What exists instead is a real, documented architectural history -- the Carolands chateau, Uplands, La Dolphine, and other estates commissioned between 1910 and 1920 -- viewable only from public roads, since these remain private residences. This page does not encourage or provide directions for approaching private estate property, and recommends respecting posted private-property boundaries when driving through.
Washington Park and Everyday Public Recreation
Washington Park, at the corner of Carolan and Burlingame Avenues directly across from the Caltrain station, functions as Burlingame's central public green space beyond its role hosting Art in the Park each year -- picnic areas, sports fields, and walking paths that see year-round, everyday use by residents rather than only during the festival weekend. Its location, directly adjacent to both the Caltrain station and the top of Burlingame Avenue, makes it a genuinely convenient stop for a visitor combining a downtown walk with a Caltrain arrival, without needing a car.
The Howard-Ralston Eucalyptus Rows as a Destination in Themselves
The Howard-Ralston Eucalyptus Tree Rows -- the 2.2-mile stretch along El Camino Real between Peninsula Avenue and Ray Drive, listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- are worth treating as a genuine destination rather than incidental scenery. Walking or driving this corridor connects directly to the origin story of Burlingame's City of Trees identity, covered in full on this site's hub page, and the trees themselves (planted by wealthy landowners William Howard and William Ralston in the 19th century to dress a grand estate entrance) remain protected under ordinances dating to 1908 and 1930.
Kohl Mansion and Other Historic Sites Nearby
The broader Burlingame/Hillsborough area holds several historic estate properties beyond Hillsborough's own private grand chateaus, including the Kohl Mansion (also known as Chapel of Our Lady, part of Mercy High School's campus on the Burlingame side), a Tudor Revival estate occasionally open for tours and events. This page did not find confirmed current public-access hours or tour availability for the Kohl Mansion specifically and recommends checking directly before planning a visit, since access to a functioning school campus is generally restricted outside scheduled public events.
Day Trips From a Genuinely Central Peninsula Location
Burlingame's position -- roughly equidistant along the Peninsula corridor between San Francisco to the north and the South Bay/Silicon Valley to the south, with direct Caltrain and freeway access to both -- makes it a genuinely convenient home base for day trips beyond the immediate area, whether into San Francisco itself, south toward Stanford and the South Bay, or west toward the coastal Highway 1 communities over the hills. This page does not attempt to catalog those broader regional attractions, since they fall outside Burlingame's own market scope, but the practical access point is worth noting directly here for anyone evaluating Burlingame specifically as a base for wider Bay Area exploration.
The Peninsula Museum Corridor
Beyond CuriOdyssey at Coyote Point, Burlingame's central Peninsula location puts several other regional museums and cultural attractions within a short drive -- part of the broader San Mateo County museum and cultural corridor that spans from the Peninsula down toward the South Bay. This page does not catalog every regional attraction outside Burlingame's own market scope, and recommends checking current listings for the San Francisco Peninsula's broader visitor attractions directly for a fuller regional picture beyond what's covered here.
What This Page Does Not Know
This page does not have confirmed current hours, admission pricing, or seasonal schedule details for CuriOdyssey or Coyote Point Recreation Area's facilities beyond the general descriptions cited. Check current hours and pricing directly with San Mateo County Parks and CuriOdyssey before planning a visit.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Data sourced from: AllTrails and San Francisco Bay Trail sourcing for Bayside Park's plane-spotting documentation and the Anza Lagoon-to-Coyote Point Bay Trail routing; San Mateo County's own Coyote Point Recreation Area materials (smcgov.org) for CuriOdyssey, the beach, marina, and general park facilities; the City of Burlingame's own materials for downtown Burlingame Avenue's tree-protection ordinances; and general Hillsborough estate-history sourcing (Hillsborough Blog) for Carolands, Uplands, and La Dolphine. Facts not independently confirmed and not invented here include: current hours, admission pricing, and seasonal schedules for CuriOdyssey and Coyote Point's facilities. Confirm current hours and pricing directly with San Mateo County Parks and CuriOdyssey before visiting. Nothing on this page is travel-planning advice.