| Top 10 Reasons Why We Love It Here (& Why You Will Too): | |
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Easy Access Everything is quick and easy to get to here, which is important for multi-tasking San Joseans who do just about everything with an iPhone or Blackberry in one hand while getting around. The airport is just five minutes from downtown, and since everything downtown is within walking distance – from hotels and meeting facilities to hip culture, restaurants and nightclubs, you can get to your destination fast and text or email to your heart’s content. Or if you like to go off the grid on vacay, you’ll be able to stop and smell the roses and other flowers that grow all about downtown in our parks and streets. |
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Culture San Jose’s art scene is one part passion and two parts innovation. Our biannual ZeroOne festival is causing a stir in art circles, with its unique convergence of art and technology. Downtown is laid out like a cultural campus, with performing arts and edgy museums within a short stroll. And who needs SoHo when you’ve got SoFA? San Jose’s South of First Avenue is packed with cutting edge galleries and nightclubs. |
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User-Friendly Wine Country We know, we know. Napa this and Napa that. But honestly, are you a slave to branding? We’re not that far from Napa, but just minutes from downtown San Jose is the Santa Cruz Mountain wine country, recently noted by Wine Spectator as “the most underappreciated appellation in the world.” If you love overpriced tastings, mind-numbing traffic and pretentious growers, by all means, go to Napa. But if you want great wines, knowledgeable vintners, friendly and accessible tasting rooms, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara wineries are the way to go. |
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Sports & Recreation If you like to go a little tribal, San Jose is a fierce sports town with plenty of recreational and spectator sports to root for. Perhaps our most passionate fans are the Sharks, who paint themselves teal and blue and intimidate the heck out of teams who dare challenge them in the HP Pavilion’s Shark Tank. San Jose is made for outdoor action, including 150 parks and gardens for strolling or running, cool mountain roads perfect for biking and 15 local and championship golf courses great for relaxing or closing the deal. |
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Shopping – a Competitive Sport Here! Shopping is another competitive sport in San Jose, and no place in the Bay area has more diverse offerings. Whether you want the trendiest gear from Santana Row, fresh finds at urban farmer’s markets or amazing steals at our nearby outlets and flea markets, you can do as much or as little damage to your card as you like. |
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Dining Out – Calling all Foodies! San Joseans work hard, but they enjoy the California lifestyle, which includes great food and wine, much of it locally sourced. From great ethnic joints to celebrity chefs, San Jose offers many surprises for the palate. |
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Attractions – Weird & Wonderful! You won’t find the usual suspects of syrupy sweet theme parks which treat you like an ATM machine here. But we do have lots of fun, action and value-packed parks nearby such as Great Adventure, Raging Waters and Gilroy Gardens. And we’ve got other family friendly gems such as the Tech Museum of Innovation. And no one else has the seriously weird and cool Winchester Mystery House or the unusual Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum & Planetarium do they? So if you want to get down with your inner child, we’ve got you covered; in fact, San Jose was ranked as one of the top three places to grow up in America (U.S. News & World Report – August 2009) |
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We’re Safe and Clean Okay we’re gonna go there. Unlike most big cities, we’re safe and clean. Yep, walking after dark won’t feel like a paramilitary operation. And you won’t need a facial from dirt and grit – although we have plenty of spas if you want a facial anyway. You also don’t need to schlep a car downtown, since everything from the convention center, to hotels, restaurants, clubs, museums and galleries are within walking distance. |
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Gateway to Monterey and San Francisco Bay Areas – We’re at the Center of it All! If you must see San Francisco and Monterey, don’t worry. We’re smack in the middle, so we’re a great starting point to the best of the Bay areas. If you’re dying to see the beach, we’re only a half hour’s drive from Santa Cruz. Yeah, the beaches are pretty, and the surfing is awesome, but have you tried swimming in the Pacific? Not for the faint of heart, but we know you have to see it while you’re here. |