Burlingame

Burlingame Hills is an affluent, heavily forested residential oasis situated within a rolling hillscape on the far west side of Burlingame. Peaceful, private living with spread-out housing, Bay Area views and access to sprawling nature trails set Burlingame Hills apart from other city neighborhoods. “There are a lot of beautiful hiking trails that people enjoy close to Hillsborough, which borders Burlingame Hills and is near the bay, so it’s very popular,” says Castro. “People will work their long days in the city, and then come back to unwind and walk or bike along these trails.” The neighborhood attracts a mix of work-from-home types, tech employees and families, as Castro mentions when discussing the area’s residential allure. “There are many new tech buildings around, so people are often moving here from the south and east bays of San Francisco, and a lot of families will look into this area specifically for the school district.” Even with its more isolated setting, Burlingame Hills is only 20 minutes from San Francisco and 30 minutes from Silicon Valley. It offers an ideal setting for those seeking a quiet, residential escape from the sounds of city traffic and bustling streets while still having modern conveniences just down the hill. Most Burlingame Hills homes reside on a downward or upward slope, nestled along winding residential streets overflowing with lush flora and forested greenery. The neighborhood's vastly wooded hillside scenery showcases an abundance of redwood and eucalyptus trees, and homes are often fenced in by manicured boxwoods or native shrubs. Homes here are more spread out and larger than in most nearby neighborhoods, including Burlingame Gardens and Burlingame Village. Stately properties, with five or more bedrooms and luxury interior amenities, often sit higher up on hilltops with panoramic views of Mills Canyon and the Bay Area horizon. The most common architectural styles are Mediterranean homes, Tudor Revivals and elevated mid-century homes, with prices ranging from $1.2 million to $5.5 million. Burlingame Hills students are zoned for some of the most coveted schools in the Bay Area. Students can attend Hoover Elementary, which gets an A rating from Niche, followed by the A-minus-rated Burlingame Intermediate School. Ranked as one of the top 100 public high schools in California by Niche, the A-plus-rated Burlingame High School offers extensive AP classes and college prep programs. Residents in Burlingame Hills are surrounded by natural splendor with plenty of trails, parks and green spaces to explore. The Mills Canyon Park is the most prominent park, considered a hidden gem by locals with its wilderness and off-the-grid landscape. This small, deep canyon in the foothills features a 1.25-mile trail, isolated from traffic noise, with only the sounds of birds and rustling leaves to enjoy while hiking, biking or spotting native wildlife. Nearby, Cuernavaca Park is a hilltop park that overlooks the city of Burlingame. Children can run around the updated playground, and residents can practice their athletic skills at one of the many sports fields. The park also features numerous picnic tables for outdoor lunch breaks and is an ideal spot for watching planes land in the distance at the San Francisco International Airport. Skyline Park is another favorite park for pet owners, as its vast open lawn area is set up for dogs to roam around and play freely. Although Burlingame Hills is less walkable to main attractions, dining and shopping opportunities are only a few miles down the hill and into main hubs like Broadway Street. Favorite places here include Ristorante Rocca, serving Italian menu items such as ravioli Bolognese and gnocchi in a dimly lit, cozy space. Just down the street is Café Capuchino, a local staple for over 30 years. The cafe's longtime Burlingame resident owners serve patrons a delicious lineup of Ethiopian coffee and light bites in a warmly decorated space reminiscent of a European village cafe. Nearby, Burlingame Plaza features a few service shops and retail options, while downtown Burlingame has more trendy and local boutiques all along Burlingame Avenue. Lunardi’s Market, a beloved Bay Area grocery store, is right next to the “Ave,” as locals call it, with gourmet selections and organic food items. Residents can also find fresh produce and other artisanal goods at the weekly Downtown Burlingame Farmer’s Market. Residents can head downtown to join city neighbors for seasonal and annual events. One of the longest and most beloved community traditions is the Burlingame Pet Parade. Residents dress their pets up in creative costumes and walk along the downtown streets with themed floats and a local marching band, finishing the day off with a costume contest. In the summer, locals can head to Washington Park for Concerts in the Park and Movies in the Park, with live music performances and outdoor movie screenings set up on the park’s large open lawn. During the holiday season, residents get to shop at the two-day Winter Market at the Burlingame Community Center, with over 30 local small business vendors, food trucks and a Kids Zone. Burlingame Hills sits next to the Junipero Serra Freeway/Interstate 280, a convenient direct access road for traveling throughout the Peninsula. The neighborhood is of equal distance from two Caltrain stations, Broadway and Millbrae, just three miles out for rail commuting within the Bay Area. There are a few public bus stops around the neighborhood as well, and the San Francisco International Airport is eight miles from Burlingame Hills.

Just outside of the San Francisco Peninsula, Burlingame Park is one of the most coveted and affluent neighborhoods in the Burlingame and Bay Areas. Residents flock here for its exceptional public school system and storybook-like residential landscape, where historic Tudors and bungalows adorned with colorful garden-style exteriors give off a whimsical streetscape charm. “It’s very vibrant, and it’s where everyone wants to be,” says Denise Laugesen, a longtime Burlingame resident and local realtor at Laugesen Team, Luxury Specialists. “We have a cool vibe here, and one of the biggest draws is that it’s right next to downtown Burlingame, so you can walk to everything there.” With its walkability to the city’s best dining and shopping and its strong community nature, full of new families and longtime residents, Burlingame Park is an upscale, suburban meets urban dreamscape. “We have it all here,” Laugesen says. “It’s a magical, one-stop place.” Just blocks away, residents get to enjoy a diverse and thriving retail and dining scene. “What’s great about Burlingame Park is that you can walk to some amazing downtown restaurants, have some cocktails and then just walk back home,“ Laugesen says. “It’s the best area.” Downtown restaurants like SaltYard mix modern American cuisine with a touch of European flair. Infamous for having an entire wall lined with extensive wine selections, this eatery serves favorites like truffle fries and sea bass with garlic and herb potatoes. Nearby, the upscale Limon dishes out Peruvian and Latin cuisine. Locals enjoy notable items such as the open-flamed rotisserie chicken while sitting out on the restaurant’s downtown street-side patio. Breakfast and lunch specialties are the star of Copenhagen Bakery and Café, a popular European market-style spot known for Danish-style pastries and bottomless self-serve coffee. On Chapin Avenue, the family-owned Mollie Stone’s Market is the go-to gourmet grocery store with fresh produce and organic items, while the main retail mecca is located along Burlingame Avenue. Residents can walk or bike here to trendy shops, quaint boutiques and big retail chains like Lululemon and Madewell. The community joins together downtown for an array of social gatherings. One of the biggest summer events is Burlingame on the Avenue, a two-day annual festival where the downtown streets transform into a lively, block party-style haven. The event features a kids' play area, local food, beer and wine vendors and multiple stages for live music from some of the Bay Area’s best jazz and rock performers. Another similar community festival is ArtzFest, which takes place in August. Locals listen to award-winning musicians, sample gourmet local food and shop at home, garden and artisan vendors. Less than a mile away, the nearby Washington Park hosts a popular and seasonal Movies in the Park series, where residents can sprawl out on the park’s open lawn to watch free outdoor movies under the stars. Burlingame Park’s colorful residential streetscapes are lush with flora and abundantly lined with various trees, from coastal oaks to redwoods. Narrowly paved sidewalks flow from one subdivision to the next, providing a safe path for residents to walk to nearby schools, parks or other local establishments. As one of the oldest neighborhoods in Burlingame, historic homes such as Tudor Revivals with steep-pitched roofs and charming 1930s bungalows are the most common architectural styles. Sprinkled in are some new modern builds, often grand and featuring luxury interior amenities. Home prices start just under $2 million but can go as high as $8 million for new construction properties on expansive lots. With Burlingame Village’s high popularity, the housing stock is often limited, and homes on the market sell quickly. The neighborhood is zoned for one of the best public school districts in the Bay Area. Students can attend Washington Elementary School, which gets an A rating from Niche, followed by the A-minus-rated Burlingame Intermediate School. For upper-level students, the A-plus-rated Burlingame High School is ranked in the top 100 best public high schools in California by Niche. The school offers extensive AP classes and college-readiness programs and has a prominent state and national competition-winning Robotics team. Surrounded by residential homes, the area is home to two neighborhood parks, Pershing Park and Heritage Park. “The wonderful thing about Pershing Park is that it’s private, and it’s usually just children and families in the area,” Laugesen says. It features an expansive open lawn, basketball and tennis courts and a modern playground with climbing ropes. Heritage Park is a small pocket park where residents can relax under a canopy of towering trees or enjoy an outdoor afternoon lunch at the site’s central picnic table. Area golfers can practice their swing at the nearby Burlingame Country Club, featuring an 18-hole rolling terrain golf course along with tennis and pickleball courts. Burlingame Park is also not far from the San Francisco Peninsula, for all kinds of trails, waterside views and wildlife spotting. Residents are able to walk to all the parks and main downtown hotspots, however, when looking to travel outside the city, the neighborhood sits right along Route 82 and El Camino Real Roadway. The area has multiple public bus stops as well, and the Burlingame Train Station is conveniently located a half mile away. Catching an out-of-state flight is a breeze in Burlingame Village, as the San Francisco International Airport sits eight miles north.

Situated in one of the most desirable Bay Area cities, Burlingame Terrace is an affluent neighborhood well known for its coveted residential allure. Strongly reminiscent of a European garden village, the neighborhood streets are lined with charming cottages and historic Victorian Tudors, idyllically framed by white picketed fences and elegant wintergreen boxwoods. “It’s a wonderful place with a great sense of community,” says Denise Laugesen, a Burlingame resident and local realtor at Laugesen Team, Luxury Specialists. Along with dreamy streetscapes, the area’s school district is of equal appeal. “Just like everywhere in Burlingame, the schools are excellent, so you have a lot of families coming into the neighborhood,” Laugesen says. With its walkable location to quaint neighborhood parks, top-rated dining and shopping and Bay Area public transportation, Burlingame Terrace is where residents can find the best of suburban living with urban city qualities right outside the San Francisco peninsula. Burlingame Village is just a few blocks from Broadway Street, packed with popular dining and entertainment. Residents can walk to places like Ristorante Rocca, an Italian restaurant with California influences. This romantic, dimly lit eatery has a European design and dishes out favorites like gnocchi with pesto cream sauce and ravioli Bolognese. Further down Broadway, the native Italian-owned Centro Pizza serves up authentic, stone oven-baked Neapolitan pizza in a small, cozy dwelling. Residents are also within walking distance to downtown for some of the city’s best eateries, including Crepevine. This beloved spot offers a mix of sweet and savory specialty crepes. Downtown’s Burlingame Avenue is packed with quaint boutiques, local fashion shops and national retail chains like LuluLemon. When looking to stock up on grocery items, the Mollie’s Stone Market on Chapin Avenue is a favorite choice for gourmet items, fresh produce and organic options. Steps from the neighborhood is the Burlingame Farmers Market, known for its specialty Turkish, Russian and Bulgarian items. Residents can enjoy numerous community gatherings throughout the year. Nearby Washington Park hosts a popular Concerts in the Park event with live local performances and then a Movies in the Park series, where locals sit out on the park lawn for free, family-friendly outdoor movie screenings. Burlingame on the Avenue is a huge annual event featuring two days of downtown block party-style festivities, featuring local food and beverage vendors, multiple stages for live music from top Bay Area jazz and rock bands and a play area for the kids. During the Christmas season, residents come together for the annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony in front of City Hall, followed by Winterfest with family sleigh rides and photos with Santa. Burlingame Terrace showcases nicely paved sidewalks lined with various trees, from California bay laurels to oaks and redwoods. The properties showcase well-manicured lawns, made colorful by flower-filled gardens and vibrant shrubbery. The housing landscape in Burlingame Terrace is architecturally mixed, full of Spanish-style homes, quaint craftsmans, historic cottages and Victorian Tudor Revivals. “I think the neighborhood itself has old-world charm with a lot of period architecture,” says local Realtor Mariana Pappalardo of the Mariana Pappalardo Group. “Even the new homes sort of comply with the nods of the old-world architecture but reimagined in a modern way.” Housing prices here can start around $1.5 million and go as high as $4.5 million for updated properties with luxury interior amenities. Burlingame Terrace is zoned for some of the most top-rated schools in the Bay Area. Students can attend McKinley Elementary School and Burlingame Intermediate School, both of which get an A-minus from Niche. Burlingame High School, rated at an A-plus, is ranked in the top 100 best public high schools in California by Niche. The school offers students a wide range of AP classes and college-readiness programs. The neighborhood has a few playground sites and nearby larger parks, all within walking distance. Paloma Playground is a small but beloved park, fenced-off for privacy and featuring two play structures for younger and older kids. The other neighborhood spot is Alpine Park, with an adorable and recently renovated train engine-themed playground. Children can play on the climbing engines while catching a real train pass along the Caltrain tracks across the street. Not far from the neighborhood is Washington Park, one of the biggest city parks. “There is something for everyone here,” Laugesen says. It features a rose garden, baseball fields, basketball courts, a fort-style imaginative playground and an expansive open lawn shaded by grand oak trees. The park often has a food or ice cream truck on site on the weekends. Residents have numerous ways to travel within and outside of the city. The neighborhood is located near the Millbrae Bart Station and downtown’s Burlingame Caltrain Station, and there are multiple nearby Muni bus stops. The San Francisco International Airport is a few miles away, and Burlingame Terrace is conveniently situated right next to the main El Camino Real/Route 82 road for access to other cities throughout the peninsula.

Downtown Burlingame is a coveted Bay Area district, where a blend of condos and charming homes, from classic Tudors to bungalows, sit beside a vibrant commercial district. The neighborhood is known for boutique shopping and award-winning dining, but it also has a thriving social scene and highly-rated schools. "We have a fabulous community and great schools. And the sense of community isn’t only in the schools. Our city council members have also worked really hard to make everyone feel welcome," says local realtor Denise Laugesen, a KW Realty Laugesen Team leader who has been selling in the area for 32 years. In an effort to create a communal spirit, the city launched several specialized clubs, including ones for families and women. The neighborhood's central location within the Peninsula also makes it a commuter-friendly destination, with San Francisco just 17 miles south and Silicon Valley 23 miles north. Downtown’s Burlingame Avenue, locally known as "The Ave," is home to numerous stores and restaurants, from unique local spots to well-known chains. "We have some amazing restaurants and lots of little shops. There aren't a ton of big retailers anymore, but we have little toy stores, bookstores, men's and women's clothing stores. But it's really the restaurants that draw people," Laugesen says. Backhaus – Burlingame is one of the highest-rated eateries along “The Ave.” The café is known for its sourdough bread and German pastries. Tapas spots are also popular around town, with restaurants like Mykonos Meze, serving up Greek food, and Limón, a Peruvian eatery known for its open-flamed rotisserie chicken and street-side patio dining. Large shopping retailers here include places like Lululemon and Madewell, while the family-owned Mollie Stone’s Market on Chapin Avenue is the go-to spot for gourmet grocery items. Contemporary condos are the dominant housing option in Downtown Burlingame, although there are also several clusters of single-family homes. Condos start around $700,000 for a smaller one-bedroom and up to $1.6 million for a two- to-three-bedroom option, often with luxury-style interiors. Single-family homes generally sit snuggly on manicured lots along narrow sidewalks lined with redwoods, coastal oaks and California Bay Laurel trees. The most common housing styles include craftsman cottages, bungalows and Spanish Missions. Single-family home prices typically range between $1.2 million and $3.1 million. The Downtown Burlingame Business Improvement District coalition sponsors several annual gatherings, including the A Walk with Wine event. This wine walk is a unique summer activity where residents can stroll around downtown as they listen to live music and sample local wine. Each October, the city hosts the popular Burlingame Fall Festival. The event features vendors, a beer garden, local musicians and a petting zoo along a three-block span between Primrose Road and Highland Avenue. Primrose Playground is a small play area that is popular amongst local families. A mural of kids playing with woodland creatures serves as the backdrop for this urban park, which offers a vibrant, fenced-in Seussian play structure. For more expansive recreation, the 19-acre Washington Park is less than half a mile north of the neighborhood. It's the city's oldest park but is full of modern amenities. Here, residents can enjoy a paved walking path bordered by oaks and primrose trees, sports facilities and a playground. It also offers picnic areas and a designated dog park. Sprawling along the San Francisco Bay is the Coyote Point Recreation Area, less than a few miles east. Along with being a popular spot for watching planes fly into the San Francisco International Airport, the site features waterside trails and designated fishing spots. It’s also connected to the Coyote Point Marina, which has a public boat launch that's open 24 hours a day. California State Route 82 runs along the southwestern border of the neighborhood, a main thoroughfare for connecting to San Francisco and San Jose. The Burlingame Train Station is within walking distance to most residential homes, with Caltrain commuter railcars running through the station daily. There are also numerous SamTrans public buses throughout the neighborhood, and the San Francisco International Airport is just five miles north. Students can attend Washington Elementary, which gets an A rating by Niche followed by the A-minus-rated Burlingame Intermediate School. The A-plus-rated Burlingame High School offers extensive AP classes and college-readiness programs and has a prominent state and national competition-winning Robotics team.