San Carlos

 

Nestled between Redwood City and Belmont, the charming city of San Carlos boasts an abundance of open space, a vibrant downtown lined with quaint historic buildings, and a burgeoning reputation as a biotech hub.

With less than 30,000 residents, San Carlos maintains a welcoming small-town ambiance. It is recognized as one of California’s safest cities and has wonderful local schools which consistently rank among California’s best. These amenities and San Carlos’s stunning surrounding scenery make it easy to see why it’s known as “The City of Good Living.”

San Carlos boasts excellent transport links as it is served by the SamTrans bus system and Caltrain rail network. These facilities make it easy for residents to access other areas of San Mateo County, and San Francisco can be reached in just 35 minutes.

This welcoming community’s real estate primarily consists of single-family homes, with a few townhomes and condominiums clustered around downtown and scattered along the mountain ridge at Crestview Drive. San Carlos’s single family homes are typically spacious properties with well cared-for lawns lying secluded behind dense tree coverage.

Properties within San Carlos are in high demand, with the median sales price increasing by 13% over the past twelve months. The median sales price for the past year was $1,556,000, with an average price per square foot of $958.

The downtown district along Laurel Street is a thriving commercial district with a great range of shops and restaurants. Pranzi is an elegant Italian restaurant serving delicious and innovative dishes and The Refuge is a gastropub with an extensive Belgian beer selection and a magnificent range of gourmet sandwiches. Gherkins Sandwich Shop is another popular Laurel Street eatery offering great sandwiches. Visitors to The Cask can sample its extensive wine selection with a range of flights, served alongside delicious contemporary cuisine.

These and many other enticing bars and restaurants line a downtown district full of boutique fashion stores and charming interior design shops. Downtown hosts a range of festivals dedicated to food and culture throughout the year including a Farmers Market each Sunday all year round. In the summer months, the Farmers Market comes alive with the Hot Harvest Nights event which brings live music performances to this much-loved local institution.

Laurel Street Arts is a great local spot offering a range of low-priced arts and crafts classes and activity groups. This community hub has numerous special programs throughout the year, including its summer camp which is extremely popular with local families.

Other local attractions include two well-regarded museums. The recently-constructed San Carlos Museum exhibits Ohlone Indian and Spanish colonial artifacts that provide a fascinating insights into the city’s past. The Hiller Aviation Museum hosts an extensive selection of aircraft ranging from 19th Century airships to a replica of the cutting-edge SpaceShipOne commercial spacecraft.

Pulas Ridge rises high above the city and provides residents with extensive trails and commanding views across the San Francisco Bay Area. This 366-acre open space preserve also contains off-leash areas for dogs.