Santa Clara Hotels

Close to the center of Santa Clara along El Camino Real (Hwy 82), the Holiday Inn Express hotel has 47 nice clean rooms, in a new two floor building situated in a mixed residential/commercial area - there are several restaurants close by and a shopping center 2 blocks west. Places within 2 miles include Santa Clara University, Central Park and Pruneridge Golf Club. The inn has rather limited amenities of free continental breakfast, a fitness room and guest laundry.

The Candlewood Suites hotel in Santa Clara, CA, is located along one of the main roads through Silicon Valley - El Camino Real, which reaches downtown San Jose 3 miles to the east. It is right next to Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University, and a 3 mile drive from San Jose International Airport. The all-suite hotel has 122 spacious rooms all equipped with a full kitchen including a dishwasher. Snacks & breakfast items are available for purchase at the hotel's convenience store, while for meals off-site there are several restaurants adjacent.

One of the largest and best hotels in Silicon Valley, the Santa Clara Marriott provides guests with 759 large, modern rooms and a full range of amenities - principally a restaurant, sports bar, gift shop, fitness center, courtyard garden, sizeable outdoor pool, hot tub, and 23,500 sq ft of recently renovated meeting/event space. Although aimed mostly at business travelers, the Marriott is also popular for those visiting the Great America amusement park, entrance to which is just 0.4 miles north; the hotel has a spacious site along the Great America Parkway, one block north of US 101 and 4 miles from San Jose International Airport. One amenity not included is free parking, however.

The Best Western Avatar Hotel is one of several properties along the Great America Parkway, on the north side of Santa Clara between Highway 237 & US 101 - near the center of Silicon Valley and walking distance (0.5 miles) from California's Great America theme park. Despite the good range of amenities (IHOP restaurant, 24 hour fitness center, outdoor pool, whirlpool, business center, airport shuttle), rates are relatively low, as the hotel is an older, exterior corridor building. Some of the rooms have views over a nice enclosed garden area and the pool.

There are countless motels along El Camino Real through the towns of Silicon Valley, all providing a largely similar standard of accommodation. About half way between Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, the Best Western Inn Santa Clara offers 52 rooms, a heated outdoor pool and basic free continental breakfast. The hotel is next to a group of shops & restaurants around the junction with the Lawrence Expressway, and about a mile south of the edge of the main Sunnyvale-Lawrence business area.

Quality Inn & Suites Silicon Valley receives some of the better reviews for motels in the Santa Clara area, because of the clean, recently upgraded rooms, comfortable beds, good (free) continental breakfast and the efficient staff. The location is 2930 El Camino Real, a mile or so west of the center of Santa Clara in the middle of a never-ending line of restaurants & shops along the main road, all surrounded by an extensive residential district. The inn has 70 rooms on 2 floors, linked by exterior corridors and arranged around 4 sides of a central courtyard/parking area.

The Econo Lodge in Santa Clara is another of the small, 2 floor motels along the main road through the area (El Camino Real), a block east of the junction with the Lawrence Expressway which links with US 101 and I-280. Lodging is on the basic side but the 43 rooms are clean & quite comfortable (all containing a microwave & refrigerator), and free continental breakfast is available. Shopping and dining are a short walk away around the highway intersection.