Reflecting on my visit to the Apple Park Visitor Center in Cupertino, California.
The Apple Park Visitor Center is located across the street from Apple Park. It hosts a massive AR demo of Apple Park, rooftop patio, coffee shop, and large Apple Store.
Note: I wrote this story over a year ago, on June 03, 2022. I got sick shortly afterwards, and as a result, this entry got lost in the annals of time. But now, on the 6th anniversary of the Visitor Center opening to the public (November 17, 2017), it is as good a time as any to publish this entry from my trip to San Francisco in May of 2022. Enjoy.
Located 2.3 miles from the Infinite Loop Campus is Apple Park. Completed in 2017, Apple Park rests on a sprawling 360 acres in the middle of Cupertino, California. A massive 4-story building nearly a mile in circumference, Apple Park is the new main HQ for Apple Inc.
Although Apple Park is not open to the public, The Apple Park Visitors Center directly adjacent to the campus is, and that's precisely where I went following my visit to Apple Infinite Loop.
Apple Park Visitors Center
The perimeter of the Apple Park Visitor Center is flanked with trees and tons of outdoor tables and seating areas.
Completed in late 2017, the Apple Park Visitors Center is Apple's public gathering space for Apple fans. The Visitors Center is a massive 10,000-square-foot facility featuring a fully equipped Apple store, Caffè Macs coffee shop, a rooftop deck with views of Apple Park, and a gigantic AR model of Apple Park (unfortunately closed during my visit). The entire building is surrounded by glass, with no visible supports breaking the glass exterior. At first glance, it gives the impression that panes of glass entirely suspend the roof and 2nd-floor patio.
Apple Store
The majority of the ground floor of the Visitor Center is dedicated to the Apple Store, with all of Apple's product lines prominently on display.
The rectangular ground level of the Visitor Center is divided into three sections; the Apple Park AR model, an Apple Store, and Caffè Macs. The middle third comprises a full-featured Apple Store complete with Apple's entire product lineup on display, including a massive video wall for hosting Today at Apple sessions. There have often been unique displays featured at Apple Park, including at the time of my visit, a beautiful Hermès scene created in 2020 & featuring leather foliage and two hand-crafted owls.
According to 9to5Mac, this display was a collaboration between Apple and the Brooklyn design firm Heavy Eyes. More information and photos of the display are available on the Heavy Eyes website.
On one of the two side walls of the Visitor Center was merch exclusive to Apple Park. A reminder that Apple Park and Infinite Loop are the only two locations with Apple-branded merchandise, with each store carrying a unique collection of items.
The very mangled wall of tees at the Apple Park Visitor Center.
The first display featured four different shirt styles: the Apple Logo, Garamond Apple text, Apple logo with trailing stripes, and the Apple Park ring, all coming either on a black or white tee. All retailed for $40 and were printed to be the same Pima cotton as the shirts at Infinite Loop.
Other merchandise available at Apple Park included totes, hats, and onesies. Memory Cards & the 'Designed by Apple in California' product postcards were unavailable during my late-May visit.
The second display featured another unique collection of Apple merchandise, including Apple Park totes ($25), onesies featuring Apple's six-colour logo ($20), & hats ($40). Decks of memory cards and packs of 'Designed by Apple in California' postcards were unavailable to purchase during my visit. And hats, which come in white, gray, and black, were only available in black. All the packaging for all available merch was identical to that found in Infinite Loop (which is to say, minimal, white, and very Apple-like).
Apple Product Memory Cards - $10. Unfortunately these were sold out during my visit to Apple Park.
The two stores are a $10 Uber ride away from each other, so I vote to visit both if you're in the area. The merch edge definitely goes to Infinite Loop, which also gets points for nostalgia. But if you're looking for more of an experience and wow factor, that edge goes to Apple Park.
Caffè Macs
The counter at Caffè Macs at the Visitor Center.
To the right of the Apple Store, you enter Caffè Macs, a coffee shop offering a range of teas, espresso-based beverages, nitro-brewed coffee, and assorted snacks. The coffee cake I picked up was very 'airplane-food-like,' but I will give credit where credit is due; the cafe served a velvety smooth & flavorful nitro-brewed coffee.
In front of the barista bar were about a dozen wooden tables where some people were sitting to take a beat, while others seemed to be deep in work on their laptops. The place seemed far more chill than I was expecting, with the vibe of a place being one where I could comfortably visit and settle in for a couple of hours to do some work. The lighting was exquisite, the all-glass walls allowing in abundant natural light while the rooftop overhang blocked any of California's direct blinding sunlight.
Patio
A sizeable open-air patio with views of Apple Park is available on the second floor of The Apple Park Visitor Center.
Up a beautiful limestone staircase located on either side of the Apple store is access to the second-floor patio space. Up here, you'll find another dozen tables and a view of Apple Park across the street.
The limestone stairwell. Up: The second floor patio & views of Apple Park. Down: The most Apple-like restrooms you can imagine (because of course they are).
I had conceptually understood that Apple Park was huge, but seeing it in person was awe-striking. The campus is massive! Like turn your head from side to side because you can't fit it all into your periphery massive! And from the location of the Visitors Center, you are only seeing the bottom SE quarter of Apple Park.
Just the upper floor of the SE section of Apple Park pokes above the shrubbery surrounding the campus. The iPhone's 3x optical zoom wasn't powerful enough for me to glimpse all the secrets they were storing up in that corner office.
I will say that I was slightly disappointed by the views of Apple Park, which is rather shrouded (intentionally, I'm sure) from view, with only sections of the top floor peeking above the foliage from the Visitors Center. It's entirely reasonable, Apple Park was made as a workplace and not for some basic fanboy to gawk at, but it's such a lavish-looking structure that I wish I had the opportunity to see it more fully. In the past, there was a separate third of the Visitors Center dedicated to a massive model of Apple Park that you could explore as an AR demo. However, that section was unfortunately cordoned off during my visit there in May.
In Sum
This trip down to San Francisco and visiting Apple Park was initially planned for mid-2020, and I bet you can guess what might have gone on in the world to postpone it. It was incredible to connect to the places that brought to life the technologies that I have been enjoying for decades, preview some of the fantastic architecture that exists inside Apple Park, and score some sweet swag to take back with me to Canada.