This may be the most expensive public parking garage in downtown San Jose. $1 for each 15 minutes, up to $30 max per day. Parking on Almaden blvd across the street is $7 flat fee per day. Many downtown San Jose public parking garages like the San Pedro parking garage have the first 90 minutes free. Cityview parking garage 3 blocks away charges a flat fee of $12 after 5pm and on weekends. The Convention Center garage has no discount for the first 90 minutes of parking nor parking after 5pm, nor parking on weekends. $15 flat fee for event parking during the Center for Performing Arts events, one hour before event through one hour after event, 630pm-1130pm weekdays. The only people who park here are convention attendees who can write off the $30 daily fee as a business expense, or people visiting the Tech museum, who are charged $5. Hence the place was empty at 6pm Wednesday. read more

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I agree with other yelpers that this parking garage does not have enough exit signs. I had trouble finding the exit after parking my car, so I had to walk down the ramp. There should be more stairs available to the sidewalk. The spaces are very tight in this parking garage, too. read more

DO NOT PARK HERE. This garage is a fire trap and a lawsuit waiting to happen. This is hands-down the most unsafe public parking garage I've ever experienced. Nearly every stairwell and elevator is locked, except for one hidden elevator connected to the Marriott hotel. I had to walk to every single elevator before finally discovering the only working one--no signage, no warnings, nothing. In an emergency like a fire or gas leak, you would be completely trapped unless you happened to know about that one exit. The stairwells are sealed shut, the elevators pretend to work (button lights turn on, then nothing happens), and there are exit signs that lead you straight to locked doors. There are no alternative exit directions posted. If someone has a disability or is unfamiliar with the layout, they're just out of luck. This is not just inconvenient--it's a public safety hazard, and frankly, I'm shocked the City of San José hasn't shut this place down or been sued yet. I paid for parking and then had to walk across multiple levels just to find a way out. Not even the car ramp is safe--it's marked "no pedestrian access," but it's the only way out if you're desperate. Absolutely unacceptable. Avoid this garage at all costs. read more

CSJ - Convention Center Parking - Parking Near Me - San Jose, California

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I don't understand the low ratings for this garage. I have parked here three consecutive days while attending a biotech conference at the San Jose Convention Center, and have had a great experience. The max public parking price is $25, which is not bad considering there are so many spots and it's safe and open 24 hours. Plus, both the garage and parking spots are easy to get in and out of, and there are clear directions to and from the garage. Caveat: this review applies to the public parking areas one level above where you enter. They have the lower (entrance) floor dedicated to parking for the two hotels - Marriott and Hilton - that are connected to the Convention Center. Parking price may be different for that level. Will certainly park here again when I'm in the area. read more

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No signage, No working Elevators, No open Stairwells, had a Weird Odor. The price is fair for being near so many event halls, but for what it is? Overpriced. read more

This parking is a scam. We went into the parking lot to park for an event at the convention center only to drive for 10 minutes and never find any parking whatsoever. There was no sign saying the parking was full but we were still forced to pay $2 just to be able to leave the lot. When we protested the parking attendant said it's only $2 dollars. We parked across the street and as we walked to the the event we noticed they still kept letting people into the lot for the entire day even though people had to pay to drive out only a few minutes later because the lot was full. Someone should file a class action suit against them. They're major crooks just like everything that involves San Jose City government. read more

I was in SJC for a New Year party and parking at the smaller open-air parking was $40 and up and this garage which is covered was only $10. It's huge, well lit and the person at the front was friendly for bonus points. The one con was the spots were all super tight. read more

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I've never been to a worse parking facility! There's no way to get in and out on foot. No signs. No information. There are some vague maps on the walls but all the doors are locked after a certain time. The is not a safe parking garage! The spots aren't marked and the area destinations are so vague you can be on a different level and not know it. read more

Impossible to get elevator and stair access to get back to your car. Others and I had to walk on the car ramp. The place blows.

I prepaid $10 to enter the garage, I thought that's it. However it charged me another $30 to exit. Fee standard is very unclear. And when I was in the garage, a lot stairs and elevators were closed, got stuck inside for very long. No clear signs of which level you are at, which section is it, and no sign lead you to the closest exit. I would never park there again. read more

Zero stars if possible. Parked there for the San Jose half marathon. The spots are tiny, and I feel like over half of the spots were "compact". Also tons of giant poles to run into. The main problem was getting out of the garage. We prepaid right before going to our car. And it took us OVER an hour to get out of the garage. It was a huge event, so we expected delays getting out, but the first twenty minutes were stuck in the same spot in line! When we finally got to the exit(there's only one) an hour later, they made us pay extra for the time we spent in line trying to get out. Ridiculous. read more

Located dead center in downtown San Jose this parking garage is Definitely one of the nicest parking structures in San Jose, has plenty of parking and even charging stations for those of you who have those cars with massive carbon footprints. The inside is massive I mean Hollywood can film one of those race scenes in here. (Fast n furious 25? You think?) what's it cost? $4 is what I paid for 3 hours, a bargain if you ask me. read more

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Zero stars. Scammmm I don't recommend parking They are only trying to charge you as much as they can The prices change read more

Try fixing the elevators and unlocking the doors in the parking garage. Every time I come here all the signs that direct you to the exit are always dead ends because the doors to the halls are all locked..and how are two elevators out of order on the same floor?? read more

"Dating is like finding a parking space. The good ones are taken, and the rest are handicapped."―Unknown Current (Nov '16) Parking Rate: $1 for every 20min w/ a $20max I'll preface this review by saying I typically avoid parking garages because I know what a nightmare they can be. However, I was coming to an event at the Convention Center and it was raining and I had my mom with me. So, I relented and took the easy route. What a mistake. I'll break this place down with another scintillating rendition of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: The Good -Convenient location if you're attending an event at the McEnery Convention Center. -The prices are actually fairly reasonable if you compare it to SF parking prices. -The ticket machine was fast and efficient. The Bad -Like everywhere else it's all about the drivers. Soooooo many bad drivers in here it was ridiculous. I know that's not the garage's fault, per se, but it kinda is. See my next item. -Awfully designed drive lanes with really tight turns and oodles of blind spots. You put people with already questionable driving skillz in a slalom designed by Lucifer himself you're asking for trouble. -The reserved spots aren't clearly marked until you pull in and see the tiny 12"x18" sign pinned to the wall. -Ridiculous amount of "compact" spots that idiots with massive-phallus-compensating SUVs keep trying to squeeze into. -Zero buffer space between parking spots. So, if your neighbor parks a little askew you're SOL. They tried way too hard to squeeze five tons of shit into a three ton hole... The Ugly -Two words: Bollards and Columns. It seems like every set of parking spots was encompassed by structural columns and/or bollards. I saw two shiny luxury SUVs get nice new "racing stripes" courtesy of these wonderments of building structural engineering. This is not my preferred method for getting to McEnery CC; I normally take the VTA Light Rail which conveniently drops you off right in front. If public transportation isn't your cup o' tea, there's usually lots of street parking around if you're early enough. Remember kids, street parking is free in DTSJ on weekends, so walk a little and save a lot―including your sanity! read more

Sign at entrance said $10 flat rate or maximum $20, I was confused but still parked since it's cheaper than the Hilton's $30. Had to pay $25 after 5 hours of parking. Very deceptive.... read more

I had a good experience with this parking lot. $5 validated parking for the SJ Tech museum, 1 block away. http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-tech-museum-of-innovation-san-jose Enter on the Market side, drove to the second floor, parked in the S13 section near the entrance to the SJ Convention Center. Take your ticket with you for the SJ Tech museum to validate at their information desk. Go through the yellow doors to SJ convention Center, make a right and enter the Marriot Hotel, exit the Marriot Hotel Lobby on the Market Street side, cross San Carlos street, pass the Montgomery theater and you are at the SJ Tech museum. When you get back to the parking lot, insert your validated tix and pay your $5 either cash or credit card. Take your tix stub, drive to the exit and insert it into the machine to let you exit. There is a attendant at the exit if you need help. Regular rate is $3 an hour, $3 after 6pm. read more

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This garage is a winner...of the most traumatic parking experience of all time. Let's play a game of never have I ever. Never have I ever had such a traumatic parking experience as at this lot. I attended the SJ Fit Expo two years in a row, having already had a memorably difficult time parking the first year. Never have I ever seen a garage like this with compact spaces, obnoxious parkers, and unworking ticket machines so memorable that we actually could give a minute by minute replay of parking events. And, we thought we couldn't top last year. Oh boy, were we wrong. The debacle: -Add in way too many "compact" spots, tiny parking spaces, awkward angles, spots next to poles, and obnoxious drivers, and you have the perfect recipe for a parking disaster -Huge trucks that take up two spots or decide to park in compact spots anyway -Unworking ticket machines so you can never pay All of this leads to - desperation which propelled me to try to fit into a spot between two huge SUVs which I would never usually choose to attempt. The next thing to happen is a long (literally 30 minute) process of trying to back out of a spot I half parked in. Never have I ever been so close to hitting another car that one of us had to get out of the car and put our hand in between to make sure my mirror didn't fall off. I'll still have PTSD if I attempt this garage again next year. Not to mention by the time we got to the expo, I felt like I had done a workout. So never will I ever park here again. The end. *drops the mic* read more

We decided not to park in the garage and immediately exited after entering. We were in there for a total of 2 minutes and 8 seconds. Our time would have been less if the parking lot wasn't such a maze and the pay machines weren't so darn hard to find. We were charged $0.50! For TWO minutes! Really! Where can you go in 2 minutes? It'd take at least that long just to walk out of the parking lot! And the machine wouldn't take cash! Now, I know $0.50 isn't a lot of money, but it's the principle that matters and if that happens to me 20 times, I'd be out $10 bucks. The website says that parking is $2.00 after 6PM on weekends. I have to admit this is cheaper than other lots, but you can park for free at the meters after 6PM. read more

We accidentally parked here trying to go the the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. Long story short, we were told the Tech museum WAS the Children's discovery museum. So when reading that parking is a flat $5 when validated at the Tech museum, of course we parked here. Unfortunately the same isn't true about the Children's discovery museum. They do not validate parking here. So instead we paid $4/hr for 2 hours of parking. Since I'm from SF these rates don't seem bad to me at all. But there are a lot of lots in this area, so depending on where you're going, do your research before deciding to park here. read more

My experience parking in this garage wasn't so bad because I was lucky enough to find a side space with enough room on the driver side that I purposely parked a bit onto the line to give my passenger enough space to get out. So might as well a 2-start. But in my experience, be well prepared to find the "well hidden" parking payment machine that was broken. Fortunately, a smaller machine that takes credit cards only somehow only accepts Master Card but not Visa. So weird. read more

Parked here for an event across the street. 10.00 flat rate! Loved this! Found some major big spaces which is great since I am a car but and don't like damage of any sort. The drawbacks? How the heck do you get out? All exit doors to the convention center locked except for one! Elevators not in service. You literally have to walk out to the street after parking way in in the guest parking area. Seems like a fire hazard?!?! Good exercise, but poor accessibility. Good prices and big spaces available. I'd park here again for sure now knowing how to navigate through this place. read more

This place is scary if you are by yourself. There is an endless maze where everything looks the same and there is no real clear signage for how to get around. At the bottom level (LL) there is no indication of having to go to the second level to pay..... The directory is not very clear.... UGH. I paid five bucks for 2 hours which was meh........ Deb N's review should be posted because her directions of how to get to your destinations are a million times clearer than the parking lot. ARGH. read more

"When in San Jose, this is your best choice! The obvious difference is the parking staff because who really goes to a parking garage and expect to be greeted by a Butler? This cashier offered me driving directions and addressed me by name after I paid with my credit card! Was I in a hotel?" read more

CSJ - Convention Center Parking - Parking Near Me - San Jose, California

DO NOT PARK HERE!!! I wish I could leave less than a star. I parked here for less than 90 minutes and was charged the full day maximum of 20$. All the signs say 1$ for 20 mins so that had to be wrong. I tried calling. I tried emailing. Everyone even remotely related to this garage has heard from me and I have heard nothing back. FRAUD! Stay away. read more

The parking garage itself while nothing to write home about is not too bad (other than being overpriced - but what isn't downtown?) No, my review is for the very rude man who works in the Cashier Stand near the Market Street exit. After a very relaxing yoga class at Downtown Yoga Shala I returned to the parking garage with my two hour time validation sticker. I went to the booth to have the validation applied to my ticket and was met with a moron who I had to spend ten minutes arguing with on whether or not the sticker was real - and if real, if it was valid, and if valid, if it really applied for the time stated and if it applied for the time stated if I had really only been in the parking garage for less than two hours (hello, check the ticket!) and if I had actually gotten the validation today! What is the point of getting validation at the Local Businesses down town if the parking attendants do not want to honor it? Seriously, FOR SHAME! Overall, the parking lot may be convenient but it is SO not worth the hassle of dealing with the attendant on a power trip. read more

Like most convention center parking, it's convenient to the venue but since they mostly have a captive audience, they also put on the big time price gouge. Plenty of decent parking around the area if you dont mind walking read more

Cousin and I went to fanime and parked at this garage on the last day. 1 - Parking is tight!! especially next to the gigantic poles!! My cousin has a small honda and It was hard for her to get out of the driver's seat. On the right side there was literally a 2 inch space from her car and the cement pole... 2 - Payment machines can be jacked up!!! This was so frustrating. When we were going to pay for our parking ticket, someone was at the the payment machine near the exit on the 2nd floor and it apparently ate their credit card!! Horrible!!! Since that payment machine was messed up, I asked an attendant who was standing at the exit where I could pay for my parking. She told us to go the machine at S4. So we went and paid for our ticket with cash. I got my change but the machine didn't spit out my parking ticket.. I went back to the attendant and she told us to drive down to the lower level so that they can look up our license plate to confirm our payment. So we drove down to the office and told the guy there that the machine didn't give back our ticket. He told us that he can reprint it for us but we would have to go back to the exact machine we paid at and speak to him through the intercom. So we drove back up to the second floor and went to the machine. I pressed the assistance button to speak with the attendant and he told me that the machine I was currently at wasn't the one I used to pay. I told him no, this is definitely the one we paid at. But he told me to go to another machine that was a few rows back. So I ran back to that machine and it turned out that the machine he said I supposedly paid at was not in operation!!.. There was a red screen and I couldn't even contact him through the intercom. So I ran back and called him and told him that the machine he thinks I paid at is broken! So then he told me to drive back down to the lower level.. He finally allowed us to exit after confirming the amount I paid for parking and if I paid with cash. Honestly why couldn't he just have done this at first. The guy was nice though, so I'm thankful for that. I just really hated how we had to go back and forth. I was even willing to pay for another parking ticket because we just wanted to get out of the garage. Overall, this was such a headache. Why can't parking garages have their attendants accept the payments for parking at the exits like before?? Yet they have an attendant guarding the exits? Because these machines can be messed up!! Anyway, we're never parking here ever again. read more

After reading all the reviews I was concerned about parking here, the reviews helped educate me and it wasn't that bad, here's what you should know. 1. The compact spots can be tight, but if you arrive early or it's not a major event day you'll be just fine. 2. The signage is bad, both for a) exits - they've placed guidance signs around the stair/elevator doors. Look up after you pay for parking to figure out in which direction you need to drive to exit. And, b) where you've parked. I parked in blue, but there are two levels of blue and multiple doors to get back to blue. 3. The payment machine worked fine for me, it was $20 for the day, the event I was attending didn't offer a discount. read more

Worked fine for me. The first level seemed to be valet-only, but there was plenty of space on the second level. The price was $1 / 20 minutes. It sounds like there's no grace period, so if you enter, you pay a minimum fee. But honestly, if you can't afford the 50 cents or a dollar... And don't even talk to me about parking prices in SF. The garage itself is HUGE; maybe that's why other reviewers have gotten lost in it? You can enter from either Almaden or Market and drive straight through to the other side. It's not exactly a maze, rather just a concrete football field with posts every 20 feet. read more

I have heard stories of people cheating around the system to avoid parking lot fees, just that this time, the system cheated me here, for which I had to pay 21 times MORE the parking fee. So, I enter the parking lot and planned to leave in almost 7-8 mins, we all know the deal that we have to pay for the parking at the pay station with the ticket you receive. This time, the pay station took my ticket, my credit card, charged it $1 for my total spent time, gave me a receipt and then DID NOT throw out the parking ticket! One cannot leave a parking lot without a parking ticket. After getting some technical assistance and talking to the manager, the only solution they left me with was to say you lost ticket and pay $20 for it. Insane! I had the receipt but that does not help. Not sure how may times people have experienced this, but the next time I go in, I might make big fuss out of it, if it does not give me the ticket. read more

This parking garage offers few spaces for mid to large cars. They have mostly compact spaces that appear to be too narrow for even the smallest cars and the parking slots are difficult to maneuver because of the large poles everywhere. We were attending the Harvest Festival the day after Thanksgiving. When we were leaving, the parking pay station was not working. There were three machines. Two of the machines had out of order signs on them. The third was not functioning properly. We searched the garage and could not find any machine that worked. Upon returning to the original set of pay machines, a worker pulled up in a cart and told us all, by which time had amounted to a large line, to just drive to the exit. So, there was a mass of cars who did just that. The rude woman working at that exit began yelling at us all that we were suppose to pay before arriving at the exit. When told that we were were directed there, her response was "easy for her to say!" I had to leave my car in line to use the pay machine at the exit. I will never again park there. This is not the first bad experience that I have had there. San Jose should step up their customer service and make sure their equipment is in good working order. Our experience was a big negative! read more

Check-out machine didn't work (took card but did not return card or issue ticket to get out of the garage. Reset manually by the office to eject the card). Paid manually. Was charged twice. Impossible to get hold of anybody to fix the problem and will take months to get a refund through the credit-card company. read more

Have you ever had one of those nightmares where you're stuck in a maze and you simply cannot get out no matter which turn you take? Imagine that and then multiply it by about 50 and you get this parking garage. Narrow spaces galore. Huge poles everywhere. Tight corners at...every turn. Add to the mix confusing signage, broken payment stations and general sense of panic and your nightmare parking experience will be complete in this garage. Two years in a row, my friend and I have utilized this garage while attending the Fit Expo and while neither one of us thought last year could be topped, it somehow happened this year. Stuck between two oversized SUVs parked in compact car spaces! We thought we were fine until the "whoops" moment hit us and panic set in. Thankfully with a little team work, we were able maneuver our way out of that spot unscathed though not un-traumatized. The search continued with more disappointment as we encountered countless trucks hogging up 1.5 spaces, spaces so tiny even a squirrel riding in a wagon couldn't fit into them and more of those huge round poles that would have even The Stig feeling a little nervous. By the time we finally did secure a space (a mere 30 minutes later) it was another team effort and a lingering thought of "hmmm, I wonder if the car next to us can even open their door now?" My words of advice? To the person in charge: add more spaces labeled "big giant truck" and ditch the thousands of "compact car" spaces. FIX YOUR BROKEN PAYMENT STATIONS and have them more visibly labeled. To the general public considering parking here: avoid if possible as there are plenty of other garages and open lots nearby. It's not worth the mental fatigue, stress, anger and general frustration of trying to park here. I doubt that my friend and I will be back for round 3 next year. read more

This garage is kind of a nightmare. I was able to park here for free since I was getting validated by a nearby business. I picked an entrance to the garage that was the closest to where I needed to be and proceeded to follow the directions to the public parking, staying out of the hotel parking. The spots were pretty spacious on the level and location I parked at and I even had to double check if I was parking in a handicapped reserved space since it was that wide. The real issue was how to get out of the parking garage as a pedestrian. Perhaps they want to slow you down to squeeze some extra time out of you because ALL of the staircases that I tried to enter were locked. The only elevator I saw was out of service. I was also underground so there was no reception. This is a little terrifying as there was no one around and I have been trapped in a structure's staircase before. I digress. I decided to run up a ramp to another floor since it's too huge to check every corner of that floor and eventually found a sketchy looking staircase up into the convention center. I popped up at the exact opposite end of the convention center that was closest to my destination which sucked. Luckily I didn't have to pay for this disaster but it was still awful. read more

Normally I park in the lot above the Camera 3. If I had gone there it would have been free since it was Sunday afternoon. But I have a new Nissan Leaf (100% electric, 0% gas), and wanted to try out the charging stations (they have two). But both spots were occupied by regular gas cars that could not get any benefit from the chargers, and keeping me from using them. The signs do not prohibit non-EVs from parking there so far as I could tell, so the car owners were not technically doing anything wrong. But the garage owners should change that. Unless I hear it has changed, I won't go back. I didn't have time to change lots once I had gotten there, so they got $4.50 from me. When I left one of the spots was open, and the other was blocked by a different car than was there earlier. read more

I accidentally drove into this parking lot during graduation season, Parking spots are absolutely horrible. EVERY SINGLE spot is compact. It's even worse than regular "compact" parking spots. My Prius could barely fit in the lines. After finally finding a parking spot, some jerk parked extremely close to my car so I had to climb in through the passenger side... Parking is more than the other parking lots in DTSJ. Avoid if you can. FYI SJMA does not validate. read more

It's parking garages like this one that used to fuel my hatred towards most parking garages 15-20 years ago. But times have changed, and most parking garages have changed. But this one still fueled my hatred, and it was my first time there. I have a compact car and had to pass up about, oh, 8 spaces because I wouldn't have been able to fit it into the "compact" spaces without incurring damage to my car. Why is this? Because there are giant pillars taking up important real estate in those spaces. Also, will it kill them to post some damn "exit" signs? Didn't have to worry about any broken pay machines, because the attendant took my cash when I entered. Having said that, I didn't even see any pay machines. Also, doors to staircases were all locked, which induced an extra creepy vibe in this place. With a name like "Convention Center Parking Garage", I was expecting a much better, modern experience. read more

Do not park in the south hall lot run by standard parking. It is outside and was really upset. The pay station had a long line. When I got up to it, it powered down as it was solar- after waiting 20 min to pay ! We're in the heart of Silicon Valley come on. Really crappy read more

I was around the Convention Center checking out the Tech, parked at the garage and after the museum I quickly ran into Stabucks to pick some warm milk for the baby. Of course the 5 minute errand turns into a escape from Alcatraz situation. There was a convention in town and the lines long and as busy as workers bees during honey production. While walking back to the car in the garage I accidentally spilled some milk on myself and the parking ticket which was now wet and wouldn't read in the machine as I was trying to pay. The parking Manager came to my rescue like a night in shining armor (on golf car lol). He not only assisted me with the bad ticket but also walked me to the car to help put the stroller into the trunk. In a never ending stream of cars he made it possible for me to exit fast. Although it was a minor incident I truly appreciated the extra hand specially when all you want to do is have the baby calm and drive without distractions. We've all been there flustered, exasperated running around all day and hoping for extra set or two of hands and he was just God sent. They will always have my business when I'm in the area. All the parking attendants in fact had a smile and were very understanding with all the chaos that was ensuing around them. read more

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