San Jose is home to a number of performing arts groups, museums and professional sports clubs. There are more than 3,000 restaurants and cafes in the city and a number of specialty entertainment venues.

The city's premier pro team, the San Jose Sharks of the NHL skate off at the Hewlett-Packard Pavilion. The Pavilion is one of the world's most active arenas, ranking third behind the Manchester (England) Arena and Montreal, Canada's Bell Centre. The Pavilion handles an average of 184 events each year, or one every two days, and sells more tickets to non-sporting events than any other venue in the U.S.

Also playing at the Pavilion are the San Jose SaberCats of the Arena Football League and the San Jose Stealth of the National Lacrosse League. The San Jose Giants of MLB's California League play at the San Jose Municipal Stadium. The annual SAP Open men's professional tennis tournament will be held at the Pavilion in February, 2007. At the MVP Arena, indoor sports facility, residents can play indoor soccer and sharpen their baseball batting skills at an indoor range.

The Opera San Jose performs at the California Theatre, as does the Symphony Silicon Valley. Ballet San Jose performs its season at the San Jose Center for Performing Arts, which is a facility managed by the San Jose Convention Center. The San Jose Repertory Theatre, located in downtown, is the only fully professional theatre company in San Jose and performs at their own facility. The not-for-profit American Musical Theatre of San Jose stages well-known Broadway and London musicals and plays at the Center for Performing Arts.

The San Jose Museum of Art is considered one of America's finest Modern Art museums. The Cinequest Film Festival, slated for February 2007,draws some 80,000 attendees to its showings of independent films.

Seasonal facilities such as Raging Waters, the largest water park in Northern California, and nearby Paramount's Great America theme park, offer spring/summer/early fall attractions.