San Mateo vs. Walnut Creek, CA? (Berkeley, Palo Alto: apartments, transfer to, to live in)

[golfisgood33]

Hello,
My wife and I are in the process of doing a temporary relocation to the bay area and I have been working with my corporate housing group and we have two options - Walnut Creek and San Mateo. We didn't want to live in SF, but wanted to stay close enough to the city to allow for a rather simple commute via Caltrain or Bart.

We found nice apartments in both spots and now just trying to determine what is the best place for a newly married couple with no kids to live for the next 6 months. Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

[humboldtrat]

Where is your job??

[golfisgood33]

Thanks for the reply! I will be working in downtown SF close to both the Bart and Caltrain stops.

[roadwarrior101]

I personally prefer Walnut Creek...it has a bit more of an upscale vibe to its downtown area.

[ccm123]

Both are nice areas. San Mateo is on the peninsula with cooler weather year around. WC gets hot as heck in the summer.
WC has an awesome downtown area.

[mayorhaggar]

Originally Posted by golfisgood33

Thanks for the reply! I will be working in downtown SF close to both the Bart and Caltrain stops.

The Caltrain station is nearly a mile from BART...do you work near the BART stations on Market Street or near the 4th and King Caltrain terminus? Or in between?

I would look at the commutes and definitely consider the summer weather. Walnut Creek is a 35 minute BART ride from downtown SF.

San Mateo is only a 20 minute Baby Bullet Caltrain ride from the SF terminal station, but it's 40 minutes if you catch a non-bullet train. And then when you get to SF if you need to get up to Market Street you have to walk or transfer to Muni, which adds time to your commute and makes it more of a daily pain in the neck.

[Carlite]

Beyond their downtowns, San Mateo is an older style of suburb, much of which developed between World War I and World War II. Walnut Creek is newer, pretty much exclusively post-World War 2. Transit is better from Walnut Creek (BART), but there are other attractive towns around San Mateo, like Burlingame to the north and Menlo Park/Palo Alto to the south. San Mateo is also a short drive over to the coast at Half Moon Bay. The Asian (especially Japanese) and Latino food choices are better in and around San Mateo, Walnut Creek is strong on American/Californian restaurants (many of them branches of Berkeley places) and especially in Italian food, which is fairly rare in the Bay Area. Walnut Creek is near Mount Diablo. I'd vote for San Mateo, but either one would be reasonable.

[DocGoldstein]

I prefer Walnut Creek. Peninsula weather is just not that great for old people (IMO). If you're young, can deal with fog, and like generally cool weather, then San Mateo.

[golfisgood33]

Thanks for the note, I am woking down by Berry St, so definitely closer to Caltrain and about a mile from Bart.
Thanks!

[tstieber]

I grew up in Walnut Creek and would just reiterate that WC has a much nicer downtown than San Mateo, which lots more places to eat and shop. I prefer the hotter weather, because although the summers can get toasty, the shoulder seasons of spring and fall will be warm while San Mateo will be borderline cool. BART access rocks, and if you like the outdoors, you'll have tons of hiking/biking trails, golf, swimming, tennis, etc available year round in WC.