San Jose Travel Guide

With a population of nearly one million, San Jose is the third largest city in the state and the largest in northern California, yet there's still a small town charm about this place.

About a 45-minute drive south of San Francisco and an hour northeast of Monterey, the capitol of Silicon Valley is edged by oak-dotted hills and set in a wide valley that was once blanketed with orchards. Basking in the sun (300 days of sunshine annually), it's both clean and safe—for six years in a row San Jose was crowned the nation's safest big city. And MostLivable.org ranked this town among the Top 10 Most Livable Large Cities in a recent survey. San Jose's amazing diversity (more than 40 languages are spoken here) is mirrored in the many flavors of its shops, restaurants, and festivals—from the San Jose Jazz Festival to Cinco de Mayo.

The town's roots go deep: founded in 1777, it's the oldest civil settlement in California and the site of the first state capitol. Now, San Jose is the nation's tenth largest city and its skyline is burgeoning, dotted with handsome hotels, one of America's premier city hall buildings (a gleaming Richard Meier design), a raft of new residential high-rises—with still more towers going up. The museums are nationally recognized and the strong economy supports everything from opera, symphony, and traveling Broadway shows, to championship sports teams.

And recently, CNN.com reported that San Jose was ranked as the 8th best fitness walking city in the nation. It's easy to see why: the weather's great (mean temperature, 70°), and the cityscape is made for walkers, dotted with colorful paseos and sheltered alleys. And the glories of nature are never far—you can walk for miles in the green corridors of the Coyote Creek or Los Gatos Creek trail systems or choose between urban and mountain parks of the 45,000-acre Santa Clara County Parks system.

Whether you're here for a weekend or a week, there's plenty to do, from The Tech Museum to Great America, plus shopping, dining, world-class golfing and festival hopping. Within a 15- to 45-minute drive, you can be hiking in redwoods or strolling the charming towns of Saratoga, Los Gatos, or Palo Alto. Or on a daytrip, you can be roaming gleaming beaches, wineries, or other fun attractions in Santa Cruz or Monterey.

Visit for a weekend or a week—you'll find today's San Jose is an exciting, young city, not set in its ways but still changing and growing.

Source : Sanjose.org