Sustainable City | San Jose California

When I told people I was heading to San Jose California they smiled and nodded dismissively. When polled about where to go in San Jose no one I asked had a any recommendations about the city. So my expectations weren’t high when we touched down in this Bay Area city FAR from the bay.

San Jose California feels like the golden girls met Better Call Saul. It’s a nostalgic tv throwback doing everything right. Palm tree fronds bow to meet oak leaves and provide shade for earth tone dwellings in the kind of color pallet my dreams are made of. It’s a city that feels like it lacks an underbelly. I like to imagine that everyone is too busy tending to their rose bushes and sharing lemons from their bountiful front yard trees. 

Four Points by Sheraton San Jose Airport

This hotel is in walking distance to Japantown and heaps of good eats, what I liked most about our stay here was their commitment to sustainability at every step. The hotel offered an added incentive for guest to do their part to save the environment. For every day a guest declined room service they gave you a $5 meal voucher or 250 Starwood rewards points per night. Full disclosure they don’t really keep track so it falls on the guest to request them, but a great sentiment none the less.

Sustainable sights San Jose California

The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum is absolutely breathtaking outside and in with souring architechture. The breathtaking building is building is also Net Zero Carbon. So a stroll around the gardens teaches you alot about the past but just as much about steps we can make for the future.

Another beautiful place to see is Guadalupe Gardens, a recycled water garden, conceived in an effort to address the Mayor of San Jose’s Green Vision goal to recycle or reuse 100% of the 100 million gallons of wastewater produced a day in San Jose.

Sustainable shopping San Jose California

I didn’t spend much time indoors while in San Jose because the outdoor sights were bountiful and varied but the one store I did stop into was the Salvation Army where I found heaps of goodies. You can tell the area has affluent citizens (hello silicon Valley) due to the sky high prices for furniture and the array of golf clubs on offer. Clothing, on the other hand, was well priced, everything I picked up was between $4 and $15. They even have 50% off clothing sale days pretty often.

I wish I had more time in San Jose to explore the city more in depth. On the plane ride home I thought to myself, that if I had to pick two international cities  San Jose California reminds me of most they’d be Hoi An, Vietnam, and Acapulco, Mexico. A testament to how the two cultures weave together to create the welcoming bygone magic that is San Jose California.

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