San Jose is beautiful city with a dynamic industry, an enjoyable climate and a culturally diverse population. Most neighborhoods in San Jose are expensive but offer the best in terms of schooling, colleges and industry opportunities. Some of the best neighborhoods in San Jose are listed below.
Downtown San Jose has cosmopolitan population and many big software and IT giants of Silicon Valley. It has many luxury hotels, galleries, opera and cinema theaters, plenty of bars, restaurants, street side eating, coffee shops and shopping. San Jose State University is nearby and adds a vibrant and lively student population to the area. Guadalupe River Park and Gardens is a local nature park and recreational center. Downtown San Jose has recently undergone a face-lift – now it has plenty of new housing and has become an attractive place for retirees. It is quite expensive to buy or rent a place on Downtown San Jose. Traffic is also often a problem but public transport, biking and walking are great alternatives.
Willow Glen is a attractive residential community by the Guadalupe river. It has some of the most beautiful homes in San Jose. It is in the southwest of Downtown San Jose but has its own downtown area along Lincoln Avenue dotted with a variety of salons, boutiques, antique-stores and restaurants. It is one of the best neighborhoods in San Jose for families and retirees alike. But real-estate is very expensive in this area.
West San Jose includes places like Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos which are largely residential areas. All these places have a population with diverse ethnicity. Cupertino has one of the best schooling systems in the country. There are many big companies including Apple Inc. in Cupertino. These features make it one of the best neighborhoods in San Jose.
North San Jose includes areas like Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Santa Clara and Palo Alto. Sunnyvale is the second largest city in Silicon Valley. It houses many high-tech industries while offering housing for a large Silicon Valley work-force. This region is more affordable than the other neighbors in the north of San Jose. There is plenty of shopping, strip malls, restaurants in this region. The area has a huge Asian-American population.
Mountain View houses the offices of big businesses like Google, HP, Netscape, etc. It offers a lively nightlife and some of the best restaurants in all of Silicon Valley. Mountain View also boasts of the huge open-space Shoreline Preserve Park for recreation.
Palo Alto houses Stanford University. It has a sprawling campus, large research institutes and plenty of student housing. Its proximity to the big companies and a live young college crowd has made Palo Alto an upscale area with expensive housing and excellent restaurants and shopping.
Santa Clara is one of the best neighborhoods in San Jose in terms of affordability. Much of the city is residential and houses middle-class families. Its proximity to companies like Intel and Yahoo has made it a favorite amongst the working class in Silicon Valley. The city has many strip malls, eateries and shopping. It is also home to the amusement park, Great America and to University of Santa Clara and Mission College. It has many good public and private schools.
Almaden Valley and Cambrian Park are the southern part of Downtown San Jose. They offer a scenic view of the Santa Cruz mountains and Santa Teresa hills. They are home to many big Silicon Valley companies like IBM’s research center. Largely, residents are highly educated and upper-class and homes are upscale. There are many recreational sites in the area like Lake Almaden, Quicksilver County Park, etc. The schools in Almaden have a good reputation.
