The Silicon Valley capital, San Jose, is now the closest gateway to the beauty spots, vineyards and cultural treasures of central California. But San Jose is also a great jumping-off point for the national parks of the west and south-west in a year when New Mexico, just two super-scenic states away, is attracting art aficioadoes to the landscape made famous by artist Georgia O’Keeffe.
"You can really breathe in San Jose...they've got a lot of space," sang Dionne Warwick in Burt Bacharach's song, and inded there are some miles between the city's pretty downtown, with its early 20th-century buildings, and plush Santana Row, a clone of LA's Rodeo Drive where attractive restaurants punctuate the designer boutiques.
Village Bistro is a great place to sample the fresh but sophisticated taste of modern California cuisine, and some of the state's thousands of fine wines.
San Jose's most famous attraction is the Winchester Mystery House, opposite Santana Row. This 1880's farmhouse was expanded into a 160-room gingerbread mansion by the heiress to the eponymous rifle fortune, and is haunted by the ghosts of those shot dead by her husband's invention. Highlights include conundrums such as staircases leading to nowhere as well as stunning Tiffany stained glass.
A stay at the art deco Fairmont hotel downtown might be followed by a visit to San Jose's Tech Museum and the huge campuses of Apple, Google and Facebook. Then you could head for the Monterey Peninsula, with its great beaches, world-class aquarium, Steinbeck Museum, Cannery Row and twee but elegant seaside resort of Carmel.
Getting there
Fly: BA serves San Jose, from £573 return. Alamo offers car hire in the south-west from £126 per week.
More information on California, New Mexico and Arizona at VisitTheUSA.co.uk.
Route 1 south from here is America's most scenic coastal route. But the fabulous Broad, named for the Jewish billionaires who built this new contemporary art gallery, now makes LA a must for art lovers, even those headed for New Mexico, inspired by the Tate's great Georgia O'Keeffe retrospective.
The gateway to this most beautiful and exotic of US states, rich in colonial Spanish and Native American influences, is Albuquerque, once a Route 66 stopover for tourists en route to the Grand Canyon, and today better known as the location for hit TV show Breaking Bad. Fans can take a "Bad" tour by trolley or bike, but the best attraction is the Albuquerque Museum, which shows off New Mexico's folk as well as fine art, and also documents the history and romance of Route 66. The best place to stay is downtown at the Andaluz, one of Conrad Hilton's first hotels and now an independentlyowned triumph of art deco design.
Santa Fe, the picturesque state capital, abounds with adobe architecture. Life centres on the Plaza, around which are dotted the atmospheric and well-priced Inn at Loretto, the fine restaurant of the Inn of the Anasazi, Santacafe, which serves the town's best margaritas, and the new Eloisa, a must-visit to experience the Georgia O'Keeffe Table based on chef John Sedlar's personal recollections of the artist and her tastes; his great-aunt Gerry was Georgia's cook and chauffeur for 15 years, and he grew up pinching apricots from her orchards. Eloisa is equally great for tacos, enchiladas and other earthy, affordable New Mexico favourites.
Santa Fe is home to the O'Keeffe Museum, but an hour's drive takes you to Ghost Ranch to visit her stunning painting locations of 40 years on an excellent tour or take an art class yourself. Nearby, the artist's studio at Abiquiu can be visited on a guided tour, and the hot springs resort of Ojo Caliente is a great place to soak up the mountain air while basking in a private soothing mineral pool.
Arizona's red rock country makes a compelling stop between New Mexico and California, thanks to its excellent spa resorts. Sedona and Scottsdale are awash in lovely country inns, but the latter also has a sophisticated downtown distinguished by fine examples of mid-century modern architecture. It's all thanks to Frank Lloyd Wright, whose desert home and school, Taliesin West, is one of Scottsdale's most spectacular attractions. The city even has fine downtown restaurants like the acclaimed FnB close to hip Valley Ho hotel built by one of Lloyd Wright's disciples, all within 20 minutes of Sky Harbour Airport, which also offers direct BA flights from Phoenix to London.
San Jose, Santa Fe, Sedona and Scottsdale are now all helping visitors to enjoy a nice walk or bike ride - and breathe deeply. Dionne Warwick would undoubtedly have approved.
