The opinions stated here are my own, not necessarily those of Google.
I attended I/O a few years ago (prior to joining Google) and really enjoyed the Moscone Center. Mainly because there was lots of hotels and restaurants in the area. Lodgings around the Google campus are pretty sparse, this feels like a mistake to me. Being able to walk to your hotel after a long day of focusing/listening was definitely nice.
That said, being able to visit the Google Campus if you've never been there is really nice. As well, I'm betting this will greatly reduce the costs of hosting the event and those funds can be used in a different way. And with Google's fleet of buses, it looks like they will pickup and drop people off at the hotels they have rooms blocked off at.
EDIT: as drl42 points out, the mascone center is undergoing renovation and probably wasn't available.
I lived in Mountain View down the street from Google the last few years but here's where people will/should be going:
Hotels: If you want something nice, you're going to go to Palo Alto or Downtown San Jose. If you're fine with budget basics, hit all the hotels along El Camino between Sunnyvale and Palo Alto. Personally, I would choose the Hampton Inn on Moffett Blvd. between the 101 and Central. It's clean, pretty cheap, and two blocks from Castro St. with all the restaurants and stuff.
Restaurants: Castro St. and Downtown Palo Alto are your best bets. There are a lot of options on Castro St. so expect it to get crowded but the food is actually pretty damn good. This is not Michelin rated new American food like in SF, so stick to the Asian options if you don't want to go wrong. Get Hot Pot at Little Sheep or Sushi at Sushi Tomi or any of the other 5 ramen places within walking distance. In Palo Alto, you can get finer dining options.
Touristy Things: The museums and cultural options are more limited so take a short CalTrain ride directly to SF if you want that. If you have the weekend to spend, Mountain View is about an hour closer to Santa Cruz than SF is so head over there to get your tan and enjoy the beach.
> Touristy Things: The museums and cultural options are more limited …
CHM is ten minutes walk down Shoreline. If you don't think that's worth the trip to the otherwise insipid sf bay area, then I don't want to be your friend.
CHM is great and the docents there are fantastic. The Cantor Center at Stanford has a great little collection of art. There's also a TeamLab exhibition at PACE in Menlo Park that I hear is wonderful.
Last time I was in the area, I stayed at the Domain Hotel in Sunnyvale. About a 15 minute drive to Google and nice enough. And for touristy things: the Computer History Museum just down the road from the Google campus is definitely worth a visit.
"If you're fine with budget basics, hit all the hotels along El Camino "
Unfortunately the budget basics are not so budget during Google IO. Prepare to spend big bucks if you want to stay close to Mountain View: I booked Best Western Inn in Mountain View (El Camino) for 300$ (!) per night (taxes included). Not to say that all hotels suggested by the Google IO page were quickly full booked.
For the week-end I'm moving to SF where there was much better hotels deals.
Also lived down the street from them (right near Shoreline and Central.
The traffic will be horrible on Shoreline and 101. Thank god I don't live there anymore.
But yes, plenty of good options in the area and surrounding areas.
Also, for touristy things, people should consider going up to some wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains. Pichetti, Ridge, and some others are great options and fairly close.
Agreed, there are tons of hotels and restaurants and things to do in the area, just not necessarily in walking distance (which is easily ameliorated by taking a fraction of the money saved from cheaper hotels and renting a car).
It may be related to the fact this year is a special edition: the 10th Google IO edition.
From the website:
"To celebrate a decade of working closely with the developer community, we’ll be hosting I/O in our backyard at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, CA, a venue that has played host to some of the world’s biggest entertainers and events."
