Santa Clara County - 84 Attractions You Must Visit

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About Santa Clara County

Home to Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County is an economic center for high technology and has the third highest GDP per capita in the world. The county's concentration of wealth, primarily due to the tech industry, has made it the most affluent county on the West Coast of the United States and one of the most affluent places in America.

Types of Attractions in Santa Clara County

Activities Around

List of Attractions in Santa Clara County

Flight Deck

Flight Deck

Man-made Structures- Other

This is a steel inverted roller coaster located at California's Great America in Northern California. The ride begins with a small right-hand turn followed by the 102-foot lift hill. The drop at the top of the hill begins with a sharp left turn. After the initial drop of 91 feet (27 meters), the train reaches its maximum speed of 50 miles per hour.

Foothills Nature Preserve

Foothills Nature Preserve

Outdoors- Other

1 Day Treks

This is a 1,400-acre park and nature preserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. The park contains nearly one tenth of all land in Palo Alto. About 90 acres of the park are developed with amenities including a large grassy field, picnic sites, a walk-in, tent-only campground, and a nature interpretive center. Boronda lake is used for fishing, rowing, and canoeing. The park also has 15 miles of trails.

Fremont Older Open Space Preserve

Fremont Older Open Space Preserve

Outdoors- Other

1 Day Treks

This is an attractive preserve on some low hills just outside Saratoga. Its grassy hills interspersed with stands of eucalyptus trees gives it a unique ranch-like appearance. The preserve contains 14.7 miles of hiking trails, nearly all open to equestrians and bicycles. The preserve contains many miles of trails and connects with other nearby locations, such as Stevens Creek County Park and Montebello Open Space Preserve.

Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park

This is a horticulture themed amusement park located in Gilroy. The 536-acre theme park is owned by the city of Gilroy and operated by Cedar Fair; it features over 40 rides and attractions and is known for its Circus Trees, created by Axel Erlandson. It is one of the iconic attraction in this area.

Gold Striker

Gold Striker

Man-made Structures- Other

Gold Striker is a wooden roller coaster located at California's Great America theme park. The coaster opened in 2013 and is one of the tallest and fastest wooden coasters in the world. It features a 50-degree drop and reaches speeds of up to 87 km/h. Gold Striker is an adrenaline-pumping experience that any thrill seeker will love.

Googleplex

Googleplex

Iconic Buildings

Man-made Structures- Other

The Googleplex is the corporate headquarters complex of Google and its parent company, Alphabet Inc. It is located at 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway in Mountain View, California.The original complex, with 2 million square feet of office space, is the company's second largest square footage assemblage of Google buildings, after Google's 111 Eighth Avenue building in New York City, which the company bought in 2010.

Guadalupe River Park

Guadalupe River Park

Outdoors- Other

1 Day Treks

This is an open space with Beautiful scenery and colorful history await.The Guadalupe River takes center stage at the park. Step away from the river to find the more peaceful areas. Explore 13 miles of hike and bike trails. Trails range from the 2.86-mile Painted Bunting Trail to the 0.3 Mile River Overlook Trail, which leads you to a scenic overlook of the river.

Guadalupe River Trail

Guadalupe River Trail

Lake/ River/ Ponds

1 Day Treks

The Guadalupe River Trail is a core trail system within San José's trail network. Once fully developed, it will extend about 20 miles and link the San Francisco Bay to south San José.The path runs along the banks of the Guadalupe River. The trail is currently composed of two discontinuous segments: a short segment along the Upper Guadalupe River and a longer segment along the Lower Guadalupe River. This trail is heavily used for both recreation and commuting.

Hakone Estate and Gardens

18-acre (7.3 ha) traditional Japanese garden recognized as one of the oldest Japanese-style residential garden in the Western Hemisphere. Notable features include a bamboo garden, a Zen garden, a strolling garden (the Hill and Pond Garden), tea houses, and the Cultural Exchange Center.

Hanna House

Hanna House

Iconic Buildings

Also known as simply the Hanna House, located on the Stanford University campus. It was Frank Lloyd Wright's first work in the Bay Area and his first work with non-rectangular structures. The house was chosen by the American Institute of Architects as one of seventeen buildings by the architect to be retained as an example of his contribution to American culture. The house is one-story high with a central clerestory (an outside wall of a room

Happy Hollow Park & Zoo

Happy Hollow Park and Zoo is a family-friendly amusement park and accredited zoo. Located on sixteen acres. It has many popular features like its carousel, roller coaster, petting zoo, and Puppet Castle Theater. It is home to over 140 species of animal, and a host of attractions and side shows. Though not massive, the park will keep the family entertained for a good portion of the day.

Hellyer County Park

Hellyer County Park

Outdoors- Other

Parks

This 354-acre urban park is located in the heart of Santa Clara County's regional park system with the Coyote Creek meandering through the center. It is home to Hellyer Park Velodrome and Cottonwood Lake. Other recreational opportunities at the park include picnicking, hiking, fishing, biking, and a playground.

Hewlett Packard Garage LLC

This is a private museum where the company Hewlett-Packard was founded. It is located at 367 Addison Avenue in Palo Alto, California. It is considered to be the "Birthplace of Silicon Valley". In the 1930s, Stanford University and its Dean of Engineering Frederick Terman began encouraging faculty and graduates to stay in the area instead of leaving California, and develop a high-tech region.

History San José

History San José

Parks

Old Ruins

Teh hisotory park in San Jose, California, USA is designed as an indoor/outdoor museum, arranged to appear as a small US town might have in the early 1900s. Since its inauguration in 1971, 32 historic buildings and other landmarks have either been moved from their original San Jose locations or are represented by replicas.

Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose

This is an energetic art space located in downtown San Jose dedicated to making contemporary art accessible and exciting to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. It supports contemporary artists working in painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, new media works and site-specific installations. ICA San José is member and community supported. The art center offers rotating art exhibitions with free admission, along with public programs, education programs, and community events.

Intel Museum

The Intel Museum introduces students to the world of micro-miniature computer chips, where millions of electronic components are packed onto quarter-inch squares of silicon, and time is measured in billionths of seconds. The museum is open weekdays and Saturdays except holidays. It is open to the public with free admission. The museum was started in the early 1980s as an internal project at Intel to record its history.

Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts

Art museum on the campus of Stanford University. The museum first opened in 1894 and now consists of over 130,000 square feet of exhibition space, including sculpture gardens. The museum is open to the public and charges no admission.

J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines

J. Lohr Vineyards & Wines grows, produces, and bottles a full line of internationally recognized wines from its more than 4,000 acres of Certified California Sustainable estate vineyards in Monterey County’s Arroyo Seco and Santa Lucia Highlands appellations. . The company operates wineries in San Jose, Paso Robles, and Greenfield, California. It ranks among the top 25 wine producers in the United States, with annual US sales exceeding 1.8 million cases.

Japanese American Museum of San José

The Japanese American Museum of San Jose showcases a unique collection of permanent and rotating exhibits chronicling more than a century of Japanese American history. The farming project collected family histories, historical photographs, private memoirs and other unpublished documents and led to the development of a curriculum package on Japanese American history, which was adopted for use by the San Jose Unified and East Side Union High School Districts.

Japanese Friendship Garden

This is a walled section of Kelley Park in San Jose, California, United States. Dedicated in October 1965, it is patterned after Japan's famous Korakuen Garden in Okayama. It is a living symbol of the “Sister City” relationship between Okayama, Japan and San Jose. It serves as a popular setting for the perfect place for weddings and celebrations, but it best serves San Jose residents as a place to sit and reflect on the beauty and power of nature.

Map of attractions in Santa Clara County

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For more information about Santa Clara County, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Clara_County,_California