Almaden

 

Almaden is a picturesque neighborhood with rolling hills and 4,000 acres of open space on San Jose’s southwestern boundary. Hills, parks, and trails cover Almaden’s beautiful countryside and there’s also water-based recreation on the nearby Calero Reservoir. The community is a thriving Silicon Valley tech hub with major local employers such as the IBM Almaden Research Center. Residents include tech executives, athletes, and professionals. Almaden boasts some of the best schools in San Jose and the community is popular with young families. Housing options include single-family homes close to restaurants and amenities, luxury golf course properties, and large homes with exceptional views and privacy in the rural mountainsides.

 

Almaden has lots of stores and restaurants clustered close to the Almaden Expressway’s intersections of Blossom Hill Road and the West Valley Freeway. There’s a Whole Foods Market for organic groceries along with a Costco, Best Buy, and Walmart Supercenter. Boudin Bakery offers delicious soups and chilis served in sourdough bread bowls as well as sandwiches, salads, baguette burgers, sourdough pizzas, sweet treats, and breakfast plates. Blaze Pizza serves tasty thin-crust pies with creative toppings. Other eateries along Blossom Hill Road include Chick-fil-A. Erawan Thai on the Almaden Expressway serves authentic traditional Thai fare. La Foret offers romantic French-style farm-to-table fine dining in the rustic country setting of a Creekside boarding house that once housed quicksilver miners. .

 

The area’s old quicksilver mines can be found in the 4,163-acre Almaden Quicksilver County Park. The park has over 37 miles of dog-friendly trails for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. The gorgeous scenery is particularly striking in spring when the county park is decorated with one of the region’s most vibrant wildflower displays. Nearby Calero Park covers 4,471 acres with many scenic trails and opportunities for boating, jet-skiing, and water-skiing on the Calero Reservoir.

 

Almaden is covered by the Campbell Union High School District, Los Gatos Saratoga Union High School District, and San Jose Unified School District.