Attractions

Main article: List of attractions in Silicon Valley Aerial view of San Jose. The intersection of I-280 and Guadalupe Parkway is shown at bottom. View is to the south. View of Circle of Palms Plaza Front of the San Jose Museum of Art, the remaining façade of San Jose's first post office The Market in Downtown San Jose as seen with uplit palms The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum at Rosicrucian Park Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph Church of the Five Wounds on East Santa Clara St. Palm trees on Almaden Boulevard Parks, gardens, and other outdoor recreational sites

San Jose possesses about 15,950 acres of parkland in its city limits, including a part of the expansive Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The city's oldest park is Alum Rock Park, established in 1872. In its 2013 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization, reported that San Jose was tied with Albuquerque and Omaha for having the 11th best park system among the 50 most populous U.S. cities.

Almaden Quicksilver County Park, 4,147 acres (16.78 km2) of former mercury mines in South San Jose (operated and maintained by the County of Santa Clara, Parks and Recreation Department). Alum Rock Park, 718 acres (2.91 km2) in East San Jose, the oldest municipal park in California and one of the largest municipal parks in the United States. Emma Prusch Farm Park, 43.5 acres (176,000 m²) in East San Jose. Donated by Emma Prusch to demonstrate the valley's agricultural past, it includes a 4-H barn (the largest in San Jose), community gardens, a rare-fruit orchard, demonstration gardens, picnic areas, and expanses of lawn. Circle of Palms Plaza, a ring of palm trees surrounding a California state seal and historical landmark at the site of the first state capitol Kelley Park, including diverse facilities such as Happy Hollow Park & Zoo (a child-centric amusement park), the Japanese Friendship Garden (Kelley Park), History Park at Kelley Park, and the Portuguese Historical Museum within the history park Overfelt Gardens, including the Chinese Cultural Garden Plaza de César Chávez, a small park in Downtown, hosts outdoor concerts and the Christmas in the Park display Raging Waters, water park with water slides and other water attractions. This sits within Lake Cunningham Park Rosicrucian Park, nearly an entire city block in the Rose Garden neighborhood; the Park offers a setting of Egyptian and Moorish architecture set among lawns, rose gardens, statuary, and fountains, and includes the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, Planetarium, Research Library, Peace Garden and Visitors Center San Jose Flea Market San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, 5½ acre (22,000 m²) park in the Rose Garden neighborhood, featuring over 4,000 rose bushes Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. Habitat and Wildlife

Early written documents record the local presence of migrating salmon in the Rio Guadalupe dating as far back as the 18th century. Both steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and King salmon are extant in the Guadalupe River, making San Jose the southernmost major U. S. city with known salmon spawning runs, the other cities being Anchorage, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon and Sacramento, California. Runs of up to 1,000 Chinook or King Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) swam up the Guadalupe River each fall in the 1990s, but have all but vanished in the current decade apparently blocked from access to breeding grounds by impassable culverts, weirs and wide, exposed and flat concrete paved channels installed by the Santa Clara Valley Water District. In 2011 a small number of Chinook salmon were filmed spawning under the Julian Street bridge.

Trails

San Jose's trail network offers over 53 miles (90 km) of recreational and commute trails throughout the City. The major trails in the network include:

Coyote Creek Trail Guadalupe River Trail Los Gatos Creek Trail Los Alamitos Creek Trail Penitencia Creek Trail Silver Creek Valley Trail

This large urban trail network, recognized by Prevention Magazine as the nation's largest, is linked to trails in surrounding jurisdictions and many rural trails in surrounding open space and foothills.

Museums, libraries, and other cultural collections Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose History Park at Kelley Park Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies, home of the largest Beethoven collection outside Europe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, the largest U.S. public library west of Mississippi River Mexican Heritage Plaza, a museum and cultural center for Mexican Americans in the area Portuguese Historical Museum Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, the largest collection of Egyptian artifacts on display in the western United States, located at Rosicrucian Park San Jose Museum of Art The Tech Museum of Innovation San Jose Steam Railroad Museum, proposed, artifacts and rolling stock are kept at the fairgrounds and Kelley Park History San José Old Bank of America Building a historic landmark Sports and event venues HP Pavilion at San Jose—home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, and the AFL's San Jose SaberCats San Jose Municipal Stadium, home of the minor league San Jose Giants. Spartan Stadium, home of San Jose State University football, MLL's San Francisco Dragons, and the previous home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes. San Jose Convention Center—home of the CBA's San Jose Sky Rockets until the team's departure in 2006 to North Dakota. San Jose Jazz Festival, held annually in downtown San Jose San Jose Improv, San Jose's oldest theater, home for the San Jose Improv Comedy Club. Other structures Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph, the oldest parish in California Lick Observatory, home of what was once the largest telescope in the world Sikh Gurdwara - San Jose, the largest Gurdwara (a Sikh temple) in the United States Peralta Adobe, a restored adobe home showing the lifestyle of Spanish and Mexican California Winchester Mystery House, a sprawling, 160-room Victorian mansion built by Sarah Winchester Raging Waters, the largest water park in Northern California with 23 acres (93,000 m2) and millions of gallons of water See also: Santa Clara County, California#Cities.2C towns.2C and neighborhoods