South Bay (San Francisco Bay Area)

San Jose is the major city of the South Bay

The South Bay is a subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States and is roughly synonymous with Silicon Valley, the Santa Clara Valley, and Santa Clara County (in general). The South Bay is one of several Subregions in the Bay Area including: San Francisco, the North Bay including parts of the Wine Country, the Peninsula, and the East Bay, among others.

San Jose is the largest city in the South Bay and the Bay Area.

The incorporated cities in the South Bay are:

• Campbell
• Cupertino
• Gilroy
• Los Altos
• Los Altos Hills
• Los Gatos
• Milpitas
• Monte Sereno
• Morgan Hill
• Mountain View
• Palo Alto
• San Jose
• Santa Clara
• Saratoga
• Sunnyvale

Additionally, the following incorporated cities are sometimes considered part of the South Bay:

• Capitola
• Hollister
• San Juan Bautista
• Santa Cruz
• Scotts Valley
• Watsonville

Some cities in the East Bay or especially on the Peninsula sometimes are referred to as part of the South Bay. Many of these cities including Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, Newark, and Fremont are considered part of the Silicon Valley (and therefore the South Bay) because of their location, history, or concentration of high-tech companies. The conception of the South Bay as a region is relatively new compared to that of the Peninsula and coastal East Bay, and the cities of northwestern Santa Clara County (Palo Alto, Mountain View, and sometimes as far as Cupertino and Sunnyvale) maintain an identity more strongly connected to the Peninsula and the Stanford campus than the City of San Jose. Additionally, the counties of Santa Cruz and San Benito are considered part of the South Bay by the Bay Area media although the two counties are often considered as their own subregion centered on the city of Santa Cruz.

Notable structures

Palm trees are common throughout the city of San Jose and Silicon Valley

There are a number of well known structures and sites of interest in the South Bay:

• HP Pavilion at San José, San Jose
• Hayes Mansion, South San Jose
• Plaza de César Chávez, downtown San Jose
• Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph, downtown San Jose
• Winchester Mystery House, West San Jose
• Santana Row, West San Jose
• Lick Observatory, San Jose
• Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, West San Jose
• Mexican Heritage Plaza, East San Jose
• Raging Waters, East San Jose
• History Park at Kelley Park, Central San Jose
• Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose, Downtown San Jose
• San Jose International Airport, San Jose
• San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose
• San Jose State University, San Jose
• California's Great America, Santa Clara
• Apple Campus, Cupertino
• The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose
• Moffett Federal Airfield, Sunnyvale/Mountain View

Further information: List of attractions in Silicon Valley

See also

• South Bay, Los Angeles