Map and guide for Guadalupe River Trail in San Jose, CA
The Guadalupe River Trail runs for over 9 miles along the river and through the heart of San Jose. Near the river, you may see great blue herons, egrets, cattails, and willows. You pass parks and playgrounds, restaurants, San Jose International Airport, the Performing Arts Center, Children’s Discovery Museum, Municipal Rose Garden, and the SAP Center. Along the way are office towers, homeless people sleeping under overpasses, shiny new apartment towers, trailer parks, and tech office parks. The trail crosses under most of the South Bay’s major freeways: 237, 101, 87, 880, and 280, and across the river three times. It’s an amazing panorama of the city of San Jose.
Yet strangely, I found only two incomplete and not very usable maps available online. The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy offers two downloadable PDFs. Together, these include only the section from Alviso to 880 (about 6.75 miles), and are awkward on a phone. Another online map is hidden by an overlay demanding an email address (easily removed via DevTools with #registerModal, .reveal-overlay { display: none !important }). After all that, the map is just several disconnected lines, with no context information. Although much of the trail runs along a levee 10 feet above street level or is fenced, neither map includes access points.
Over three weekend trips with my family, I made a map which includes everything I wanted to know before planning a weekend walk or ride: access points, bathrooms and drinking fountains, nearby parks and picnic tables, restaurants, and other points of interest. Since it’s an overlay on Google Maps, it’s easy to see how the trail relates to the surrounding community.
Add it to Google Maps on your mobile device to see where you are on the trail, and navigate to nearby points of interest. Now you can answer that all important question: “how much longer till we get to a bathroom/coffee/lunch/the playground/…?”
Trail guide
Mile 0–1: Alviso
Guadalipe Trail begins near where the Guadalupe River meets the Bay. There’s parking and shaded picnic tables at the Alviso Classroom on Gold St. The trail runs along a the top of a levee. On one side is the river, lined by cattails. On the other side is a towing yard inhabited by a rooster, rolls of fencing, junk VW Bugs, barbed wire topped fences and a trailer park.
Access: Gold St., 237 bikeway, Merriweather Ln, W. Tasman Dr.
Good for: wide open views
Mile 1–4: North San Jose
Just south of the 1 mile marker are shiny new apartments, mixed with are a string of generic tech office parks. Along the river are willows, and (if you’re lucky) great blue herons and egrets. River View Park and Thamien Park (across the River Oaks bridge) have playgrounds and restrooms.
Access: W. Tasman Dr., Rio Robles (Cisco parking lot), River Oaks Pkwy, Montague Expy, W. Trimble Rd.
Good for: wildlife, parks
Mile 4–6.75: SJC
Just south of 101 are acres of parked cars in the airport’s long term lot. Cross to the west side of the river on the Airport Green Lot parking access bridge. Get a close view of taxiing planes. The trail runs at ground level right next to busy Airport Blvd. The river is hidden behind thick trees and brush.
Access: W. Trimble Rd., Airport Blvd., Airport Pkwy, Skyport Dr.
Good for: plane watching
Mile 6.75–9: downtown San Jose
South of 880, the trail runs through several parks and the center of downtown San Jose. Cross to the east side of the river at Coleman Ave; the west side of the trail dead ends at Julian St. Cross back to the west side of the river at Park Ave. Open space along the trail includes the Heritage Rose Garden, Arena Green, and Discovery Meadow. The Rotary Play Garden, Municipal Rose Garden, Little Italy, SAP Center, San Jose Center for Performing Arts, and Children’s Discovery Museum are directly on the trail. Downtown restaurants are a few blocks away. The river is confined to a grim concrete channel, often strewn with empty bottles and other trash.
Access: Taylor St., Coleman Ave., N. Pleasant St., Arena Green between W. St. John St. and W. Santa Clara St., W. San Fernando St., Park Ave., W. San Carlos St.
Good for: city stuff (good and bad)
Mile 9+: the end
The trail crosses under 280 and a maze of concrete overpasses. The river is no longer visible behind thick trees and bushes. Cars speed by on 87 just west of the trail, and mounds of trash litter the side trail. Shortly thereafter, the trail ends suddenly at W. Virginia St. In June, the river has been reduced to a series of disconnected puddles.
Access: W. San Carlos St., Woz Way, W. Virginia St.
Good for: making it to the end