Berkeley Live Cam

Berkeley is a short drive east of San Francisco. Situated on the shore of the San Francisco Bay and stretching through its coastal plain and into a scenic range of foothills, Berkeley is a city that occupies a classic stretch of coastal California. Its twists and turns of terrain have enabled Berkeley to develop a sylvan integration of shops, parks, streets and greenbelts. Its leafy avenues and craggy hillsides cradle a vibrant metropolitan city scene. Within easy access of Northern California's principal freeways and the Bay Area's major airports in Oakland and San Francisco. Visitors have many transportation options at their disposal.

The Culinary Scene

Berkeley is a gastronome's paradise. It is here where "California Cuisine" was born at Alice Water's Chez Panisse restaurant, a wonderful choice both for fine dining downstairs and more casual fare upstairs at its café. Chez Panisse shares its North Shattuck Village location with a variety of specialty shops, cafés and delicatessens offering fresh baked goods, cheeses, handmade chocolates and fine wines.

In downtown Berkeley and extending in every direction, a visitor can discover wonderful yet inexpensive eateries featuring the cuisines of Thailand, India, Mexico, China, Vietnam, the Mediterranean and North Africa -- just to name a few. The Berkeley Marina is the place for a table with a view, so don't miss the opportunity to catch a sunset over San Francisco and the Golden Gate from a window table at one of the Marina's highly rated restaurants.

Berkeley is a revelation for the lover of brewed beverages. The Berkeley Brewery Trail Guide, available at the Berkeley Visitor Information Center, outlines a great pub crawl through the town that visits many of the "craft" brewers of beer and sake, the tasty fermented rice beverage from Japan.

Berkeley's wonderful food markets are the legacies of being the birthplace of California Cuisine. At Berkeley Bowl, Andronico's Market and the Monterey Market, there's a dazzling variety of locally grown and organic produce, exotic imports and fresh-baked delicacies. These "destination markets" are surrounded by vibrant street scenes where you can pick up a hot cappuccino to keep your engine running.

Shopping

Berkeley is a lively marketplace with an atmosphere wonderfully conducive to the art of shopping. Here, shopping is not a passive, enclosed-mall experience - instead it's an interactive, outdoor-oriented activity where window-shopping and walking complement the excitement of discovery.