We have a bit of a corporate crush on Cupertino, California. The urban tech hub, located in Silicon Valley near the Santa Cruz Mountains, is home to the headquarters of Apple, Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, Seagate and a slew of other business titans. Can you imagine the number of power handshakes that happen there each day?
While we’d love to be a fly on the boardroom wall, we happily discovered that the area’s most exhilarating sights and sounds are outside the office. If you’re traveling to Cupertino for business, stay at Kimpton’s Cypress Hotel and tack on a weekend to explore the shops, wineries and natural wonders within easy reach.
Santana Row
Santana Row
Come to San Jose’s leisure strip ready to shop. And then shop some more. Sure, you can find its 70 stores in other parts of the country (there’s Gucci, Burberry, Salvatore Ferragamo, Anthropologie, Anne Fontaine, and Cole Haan). But why go the distance when they are all here, tidily housed on just 10 blocks? Restaurants (everything from coffee and tea hangouts to Mediterranean dens), spas and an art-house movie theater will lure you to make an entire day of it.
Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve
Jogging and hiking trails jag through the lush 3,800-acre nature preserve. For the best perspective, take the three-mile Wildcat Loop Trail, which snakes along a creek into a cool, fern-walled canyon. You’ll wind up in Deer Hollow Farm, a working homestead and educational center where kids love getting close to a cow, pigs, chicken, sheep and goats. In the adjoining Rancho County Park, model airplane enthusiasts motor remote-controlled vessels over a sprawling meadow.
Flight Wine & Food
Santa Cruz Hills Wineries
Wine Spectator magazine once called Santa Cruz Mountains “the most underappreciated appellation in the world.” While the word is getting out on how good its wines are, you can still winery-hop without having to fight crowds. Get the lay of the land with the list of area wineries on Cypress Hotel’s website. Then jump right in at Downhill Cellars, a small-batch maker known for its luscious cabernet sauvignon. You can sample Downhill Cellar’s wines across the street at Flight Wine & Food. Or, circle back to Cypress Hotel, where some of its pours are featured during the complimentary evening wine hour.
Now you know what that whole business/pleasure thing feels like.
Work and play at Cypress Hotel, 10050 S. De Anza Blvd. (408-253-8900 or thecypresshotel.com).
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Photos: Santana Row courtesy of santanarow.com, Flight Wine & Food courtesy of flightwineandfood.com
