San Jose is a city in California that is the seat of the county
government of Santa Clara County. The city had 1,013,240
inhabitants according to the last census in 2020. It sits at the
southern end of San Francisco Bay within the informal confines
of Silicon Valley.
The name San José corresponds to the
Spanish spelling from the time the city was founded. Names with
national characters are not commonly used in the United States,
so the spelling San Jose is commonly used there. However, the
city's official website uses the Spanish name.
The city
is the seat of San Jose State University and the seat of the
Diocese of San Jose, California.
By plane
San Jose is home to one of the three airports in the Bay
Area, San Jose International Airport (IATA: SJC). Due to its proximity
to Silicon Valley, it has become much more important, but from Europe it
is only served by British Airways from London Heathrow. When traveling
from D/A/CH, a change is necessary there or in one of the North American
hubs.
The airport is just a few kilometers north of the center
and is easily accessible by public transport, taxi, shuttle or rental
car. Bus line 60 connects the airport to the Santa Clara station
(switching to Caltrain, ACE commuter rail, Amtrak and other bus lines;
the Metro/Airport Light Rail station on the VTA light rail trains and
the Milpitas station on the BART. Buses run in the 20- Every minute and
costs USD 2.50 (transfer authorization to VTA Light Rail. Taxi costs at
least USD 15, which includes the first three miles and airport tax,
after that the taximeter is used to calculate the costs.
Also in
the region are Oakland International Airport (IATA: OAK); 55 km north)
and San Francisco International Airport (IATA: SFO); 60 km northwest).
From both it takes about 2 hours by public transport to San José. SFO
offers by far the most intercontinental connections.
By train
The long-distance rail company Amtrak serves San José-Diridon station
once a day in each direction with the Coast Starlight line from Los
Angeles (10 hours), Santa Barbara (7½ hours), Oakland (just over an
hour), Sacramento (3:20 hours ), Eugene (4:45 hrs) and Seattle (24 hrs).
From Sacramento and the East Bay Area (Oakland) there is also the
Capitol Corridor line, which runs seven times a day (once a day also
continuously from Auburn), which forms a link between long-distance and
regional traffic.
For regional and commuter service, San Jose is
connected to the Caltrain, which runs on the "Peninsula" between the San
Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco through Silicon
Valley to San Jose. It runs at least once an hour during the day, and
even more frequently during peak periods. Some trains stop everywhere
along the way, some only at the larger stations. From San Francisco it
takes between 1:05 (“Baby Bullet”, which skips many stations) and 1:35
(“Local”, which stops everywhere), from Palo Alto 25-35 minutes. A
one-way ticket is $9.75 from San Francisco and $5.75 from Palo Alto.
There are also three trains from Gilroy in the morning (return in the
evening), the journey takes 55 minutes. (as of May 2017)
There is
also the Altamont Commuter Express, which runs four times in the morning
from Stockton (2:10 hrs), Livermore and Pleasanton (about 1 hr) to San
Jose and the Santa Clara Valley and returns in the opposite direction in
the afternoon.
By bus
Greyhound, the largest long-distance bus
operator in the USA, offers direct bus connections from Los Angeles via
Avenal to San José several times a day. The journey takes around seven
hours and costs just $22 on a good day. Alternatively, you can also take
the coastal route via Santa Barbara and Salinas. Then the drive from Los
Angeles takes 10 hours, from Santa Barbara 7 hours, from Salinas 2
hours. There is a daily bus from Fresno, travel time 3:20 hours. Coming
from the north (e.g. Sacramento, Eureka) , you have to change trains in
Oakland. The San Jose bus stop is on Cahil Street, in front of the
Diridon train station.
An alternative on the route from Los
Angeles to San Jose is Boltbus. This runs three times a day and takes
between 6½ and 7 hours for the route. Tickets start at $22 if booked in
advance.
In the street
San Jose is connected to San Francisco
by Highways US-101 and Interstate 280. From Los Angeles, take I-5 north,
CA-152 west, then US-101 north. From the East Bay Area, take either
I-880 or I-680, both southbound.
By bicycle
In addition to the usual bicycle rental options, Bay
Area Bike Share in San José (California) is a rental system with fixed
locations that can be used by everyone (similar to the Call-a-Bike
system in Germany). Here you need a credit card with which you can make
the booking at the machines, you pay USD 9 for 24 hours or USD 22 for 72
hours and can then use a bike anywhere within this time for a maximum of
30 minutes and at any time return the station. Surcharges apply for
longer use in one go. Rentals lasting several hours (i.e. for bicycle
tours outside the station area) are therefore unattractively expensive.
The next bike can be borrowed from 2 minutes after a successful return.
Attention: With use, a security deposit of 101 USD will be blocked on
the credit card per bike! The station density is relatively low and the
area served includes a few downtown stations. A road map with cycle
paths and all stations is available at each station, so that you can
also plan longer tours through the city, including changing bikes.
A maximum of two bicycles can be rented with one credit card. Groups
should therefore have several credit cards with them.
Attention:
when returning the bike to the station, make sure that the bike clicks
into place correctly (first yellow, then green light and confirmation
tone), otherwise the bike is considered not returned and it can get
really expensive. Sometimes it helps to lift the bike up at the back.
1 History Park at Kelley Park, 1650 Senter Road, San Jose, CA 95112.
Tel: +1 408-287-2290 . The entrance to the park is at 635 Phelan Avenue.
A few meters further is the paid parking lot. This 14-acre museum
celebrates life in the Santa Clara Valley during the Victorian period.
Twenty-seven original and replica buildings from various parts of San
Jose were moved to the museum grounds and rebuilt. The complex contains
a stable, doctor's office, blacksmith, piazza area, Victorian houses
from the period 1860-1870, a fire station, a replica Bank of Italy and a
working tram. Open: Monday to Friday from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.,
Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Price: Admission is
free, additional program at the weekend partly with admission.
2
Winchester Mystery House, 525 South Winchester Boulevard, San Jose, CA
95128. Tel: +1 408-247-2000, email: info@winchestermysteryhouse.com. The
property was once owned by Sarah Winchester, widow of gun manufacturer
William Winchester. The property has 160 rooms and these can be visited
in a guided tour on themed tours of various lengths. There are some
special features in the building. There are doors that have a wall
behind them or that lead into a room, but the floor of the next room is
several feet below you. There are stairs that go up to the ceiling
without going any further and stairs that simply end in the middle of
the room. At the end of the tours you can still have fun at Sarah's
Attic Shooting Gallery, this is an electronic shooting range, or spend
time in the museum shop or in the cafe. Open: Daily from 09:00 to 17:00.
Price: The building can only be visited on a guided tour. Admission from
US$20.
San Jose Flea Market, 1590 Berryessa Road, San Jose, CA 95133-1096. The San Jose Flea Market was founded in 1960. At 120 acres, it's California's largest designer market. There are over 2,000 vendors in eight miles of aisles selling comics, art, crafts and jewelry. There are 25 restaurants. Open: Mon + Tue closed, Wed - Sun 5.00 a.m. - 5.00 p.m. Price: Admission free. Parking fee is $3.00 on weekends and $1.00 Wednesday through Friday. wheelchair rental.
Originally known as El Pueblo de San José de Guadalupe, this city was
founded on November 29, 1777 by Felipe de Nevé and became the first
Spanish town in California. The city served as a farming community to
supply the region's military settlements. When California became a US
state in 1850, San Jose was its first capital.
In the 1950s and
1960s the city began to expand and in the 1970s, San José became the
commuter town for Silicon Valley, at the same time that it began to
attract different companies, consolidating its position as one of the
most important in the valley.
On April 3, 1979, the municipal
council adopted San José, in Spanish, as the correct spelling of the
city's name, both on the city's coat of arms and on official documents.
However, the name of the city is usually written without an accent. The
official name is The City of San José.
San José is located at the coordinates 37°20′N 121°53′W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 466 km² of which 457 km² correspond to land and 8.9 km² (1.91%) are water.
San José, like most of the Bay Area, has a Mediterranean climate,
tempered by the presence of the San Francisco Bay Area. The city has
300+ sunny days per year and an average temperature of 23°C. Unlike San
Francisco, which is exposed to the ocean or bay on five sides—so its
temperature varies little throughout the year or during the day—San José
lies inland, protected on four sides by hills and mountains. This
protects the city from the storm, and makes the climate drier and more
pleasant.
The average maximum temperature is 16 °C in January and
29 °C in July. The average minimum temperature is 6 °C in January and 14
°C in July.
Snow levels reach 2,000 feet, sometimes less,
occasionally in winters, covering nearby Mount Hamilton, California, and
less frequently the Santa Cruz Mountains, with light snow that only
occasionally lasts for the day. This sometimes delays traffic on State
Route 17 to Santa Cruz. Hail or snowflakes occasionally fall in San
José, although in the period 1976 to 2006 the most recent snowfall was
in February 1976. As recently as March 2006, 1.25 cm of snow was
reported in the center of the city, barely about 60ms. no. m..
Like most of the Bay Area, San José has dozens of microclimates, with
the center of the city experiencing the lightest precipitation in the
city, and the south of the city, just 10 miles away, receiving more rain
and slightly cooler temperatures. stronger.