City Pulse: The Only Guide To Berkeley, California You Need

by Gabe Zaldivar
Last updated: 6:00 AM ET, Wed April 8, 2015

We Say:

Different is good. Different is interesting. Different is, well, comfortable.

Whether here to scout the school or to enjoy a football game, you are undoubtedly coming with a preconceived notion of Berkeley, which might sit somewhere between hippie heydays and liberal activism.

We suggest you leave those rigid sentiments at the city limits, because you may just miss out on some exciting events and a thoroughly enjoyable culinary scene.

The students and locals pepper the streets surrounding the picturesque campus, garnering an infectious vitality that's hard not to enjoy.

From the famed Sather Tower to the iconic Memorial Stadium to one of the myriad shops, you will find this is more than a city easily defined. It's a multicultural destination that throws so much at you that you can't help but let it wash over you and invigorate your way of thinking.

It sounds like an exhausting vacation, but it unexpectedly leads to one of the most wonderfully refreshing experiences you can have in the Bay Area. It can, for so many who walk its streets, easily become home.

They Say:

Set between Pacific foothills and the San Francisco Bay, Berkeley is a vibrant and spirited city that will surprise those who still see it as the counter-culture center of the Sixties. Free Speech and flower power are forever in the city's "DNA," but Berkeley has evolved into a culinary and cultural destination with a "green" soul.

Across Berkeley's 18 square miles, a visitor can hear a symphony, rock concert or jazz quartet, take in a Broadway-bound play or first-run film, stroll through a redwood forest or a rose garden, shop for handmade jewelry or organic sportswear, play a round of golf or take a yoga class, embark on a sport fishing excursion or listen to a poetry reading. And that's just for starters.

Consummately Californian in its setting but international in its cultural landscape, Berkeley is home to the University of California, Berkeley, which lends a youthful note to the entire city. With its wealth of cultural and social diversity, culinary and shopping opportunities, and recreational pursuits, Berkeley is a small city with a world-class range of visitor options.

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