Welcome to Walnut Creek
Swanky family-friendly community with great shopping.
Walnut Creek is a swanky community nestled across the San Ramon and Ygnacio Valleys beneath Mount Diablo. Known as the Jewel of the East Bay, Walnut Creek is conveniently located at the intersection of Interstate 680 between Sacramento and San Francisco and State Route 24 between San Francisco and Oakland. Walnut Creek has a safe, small-town atmosphere with lots of high-end shopping and dining surrounded by pristine natural scenery.
Walnut Creek was first settled in 1849, and the upscale downtown area is lined with many historic buildings. The community’s diverse housing options include peaceful neighborhoods with cozy bungalows and single-family homes, plus spacious hillside properties with stunning mountain views.
What to Love
- Peaceful family neighborhoods
- Beautiful mountain views
- Broadway Plaza shopping center
- Parks and gardens
People & Lifestyle
Walnut Creek offers excellent public schools and is home to many young families. Downtown Walnut Creek and the upscale Broadway Plaza shopping center offer a wide variety of places to shop and dine. The community also offers numerous large parks and lots of outdoor space. With excellent transportation links to San Francisco and Silicon Valley via BART and highways, Walnut Creek is an idyllic retreat for commuters to call home.
Dining, Entertainment & Shopping
Broadway Plaza in the heart of Downtown Walnut Creek is a major hub of high-end shopping and dining. This stylish open-air shopping center is anchored by Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, and Nordstrom department stores. More than 80 different businesses are located at Broadway Plaza including big-name brands such as Apple, Amazon Books, Banana Republic, Gap, H&M, Kiehl’s, L’Occitane, Lululemon, Lush, Old Navy, Sephora, Sur La Table, Tesla, Tommy Bahamas, Victoria’s Secret, and Zara. Other businesses along Walnut Creek’s Main Street and the streets surrounding it include Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods Market, and a Century 14-screen movie theater.
Things to Do
Walnut Creek’s
Semi-Annual Pacific Fine Arts Sidewalk Festival typically takes place in April and September each year. This cultural celebration sees scores of artists from many diverse mediums set up stalls along the streets of downtown Walnut Creek with art available for sale.
The pretty 2.5-acre
Ruth Bancroft Garden & Nursery features thousands of cacti, succulents, and other dry-weather plants from around the globe. Other outdoor recreation spots include
Larkey Park, a 13-acre, dog-friendly green space with children’s playgrounds, horseshoe pits, picnic areas, a swim center, a wildlife museum, and courts for basketball, tennis, and volleyball. The sprawling 102-acre
Heather Farm Park has a swimming complex, many sports courts and fields, an off-leash dog area, a skate park, and an equestrian center. Heather Farm’s trails for walkers, bikers, and horseback riders connect to
the Iron Horse Regional Trail which runs for 32 miles to
the Shadow Cliffs Regional Recreation Area. Heather Farm Park also hosts September’s
Walnut Festival, a three-day celebration with two stages of live music.
Schools
Public schools within Walnut Creek belong to Walnut Creek Elementary, Mount Diablo Unified, and Acalanes Union High School Districts. Highlights include:
- Walnut Heights Elementary School, Public, K-5
- Tice Creek School, Public, K-8
- Foothill Middle School, Public, 6-8
- Northgate High School, Public, 9-12
- Las Lomas High School, Public, 9-12
