San Jose City Map Poster

About San Jose

San Jose lies in the southeast corner of Santa Clara Valley, which is also known as Silicon Valley. San Francisco Bay lies to the south and southwest, and Downtown San Jose has historically been situated about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the Pacific Ocean on a land area approximately 7 miles (11 km) long by 3 miles (4.8 km). The Guadalupe River runs along its western edge; it empties into the San Francisco Bay at Alviso. To its east lies a series of low ridges running roughly north-south; between them lie agricultural areas and urbanized valleys . The northern extreme of these are Mount Hamilton , part of which was protected within Morgan Territory Regional Preserve ; Coyote Hills Park , an unincorporated community adjacent to Fremont; Yerba Buena Gardens ; Mission Peak Regional Preserve with nearby Lick Observatory atop Black Mountain overlooking downtown; Saratoga Gap between Redwood Estates and Los Gatos .