Rancho Bernardo was the first Inland North County planned community and is a part of the City of San Diego.  A unique community of approximately 65,000 residents, it has a mix of old and new and is nestled in a scenic valley, surrounded by majestic hills. The community offers a wealth of recreational and business opportunities, golf courses and first-class restaurants, as well as the top-notch schools within the Poway Unified School District, which are among the highest ranking in the state. Rancho Bernardo is a great place to live, work and play!

Location

Rancho Bernardo is a northeastern neighborhood of San Diego located in San Diego County, southern California. It is bordered by the city of Poway on the east, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs and Rancho Penasquitos on the south, Rancho Santa Fe and 4S Ranch on the west, and Escondido on the north.

Geography/Terrain

Rancho Bernardo is located within a valley built into hills, and has a terrain consisting of canyons and rolling hills. Lake Poway lies just to the south and Lake Hodges is on the northern edge.  The community has easy access to the mountains, deserts and the Pacific Ocean.

Distance to 3 Closest Major Cities
 
Rancho Bernardo is located approximately 20 miles northeast of downtown San Diego, 98 miles northwest of Los Angeles, and 76 miles northeast of San Bernardino.

Jobs and Local Economy

Rancho Bernardo is home to a 685-acre business park which has as tenants many major financial and hi-tech companies such as Sony Electronics, Siemens, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems, NCR Corporation, SAIC, Eastman Kodak Co. and Hewlett-Packard. It is one of the largest business parks in San Diego, employing approximately 50,000 workers. There are also town plazas and a busy main street, where such businesses can be found as financial services, insurance, attorneys, computer services, real estate, mortgage and escrow companies.

Rancho Bernardo has had recent job growth of 2.98% and in early 2006 recorded an unemployment rate of 4.4%. The average commute time is 28.3 minutes. The median household income at this writing is $81,524 and the average per capita income is $38,037.

Although a community of the City of San Diego, Rancho Bernardo has its own Town Council, as well as a volunteer advisory panel to the City’s Planning Board.

Parks/Sports/Recreation/Golf

Rancho Bernardo residents and visitors have easy recreational access to desert and mountain regions, as well as to beautiful Pacific Ocean beaches and waters. Hiking and fishing opportunities are available at both Lake Hodges and Lake Poway as well as at Lake Miramar a few miles further south and many other locations within the county.   There are over 200 tennis courts in Rancho Bernardo, as well as playgrounds, ball fields, soccer fields and parks.  Each community has organized team sports in every category.

Blue Sky Ecological Reserve in Poway encompasses 700 acres with Lake Poway on the south, the Mt. Woodson open area on the east, and Lake Ramona on the north. The reserve offers a variety of challenging hikes, all leading to a sparkling, clear reservoir. There are an abundance of natural sights including many rare and threatened plant and animal species. The 3.8-mile Piedras Pintadas Trail begins at a trailhead just south of Lake Hodges. Rancho Bernardo has its own dog park, located at the southern most end of the Rancho Bernardo Community Park. This beautiful 2.66-acre area of the park is sectioned into three pens where dogs can run free.

There are eight challenging and beautiful golf courses located in and around Rancho Bernardo. Oaks North Golf Course is a popular executive course; the Rancho Bernardo Golf Club has a private championship 18-hole course which is always in top condition. It has wide fairways, medium-sized greens, and water hazards on three holes. The Rancho Bernardo Inn is a 5-star luxurious resort, which was included in GOLF Magazine's 1996 list of "Silver Medal Resorts.” The Inn’s beautiful 18-hole course has fast greens and winds through a river valley. The Bernardo Heights golf course and the Maderas Golf Club and Stoneridge Country Club in Poway offer other excellent options, and there are numerous additional courses in the county which are just minutes away.

Rancho Bernardo-Glassman Recreation Center offers a first-class facility for a wide variety of recreational activities. The center boasts an indoor gymnasium as well as a 38-acre park. The park area includes eight ball fields, two outdoor basketball courts, six tennis courts, lawn bowling areas, and a large gazebo. The community also has six community centers and a racquet club.

The uniquely designed Rancho Bernardo library is completely computerized and an architectural landmark, as is the City of Poway public library.

Special Attractions/Events

Rancho Bernardo has a number of first rate stores and restaurants. The 5-star Rancho Bernardo Inn is famous for its superb cuisine as well as for its beautiful golf course. You can visit the Bernardo Winery to do some wine tasting, have a meal, or visit the village shops.  Just north of Lake Hodges is North County Fair, one of the largest regional shopping malls in the County.

The community celebrates with various festivities throughout the year. The Annual Salute the Military Golf Tournament is held at Miramar Memorial Golf Course.

In June, you can enjoy the lively RB Alive! Expo, which draws over 35,000 participants to the heart of the community every summer. The event boasts 350 exhibits, featuring the community’s crafters, health care providers, businesses, service clubs, and churches. The RB Fall Festival at 4S Ranch includes live entertainment, health screenings, Kiddieland, a “Strut Your Mutt” Contest, and the Diamond Dig. You can browse the booths and enjoy international cuisine as well as participating in all the other fun activities.

The annual Spirit of the Fourth celebration is an all-day event that begins in the morning with booths and games in Webb Park and continues with a parade in the afternoon and a fireworks show in the evening.

There is also the nearby Carmel Mountain Ranch Fall Festival, with approximately 300 booths displaying a variety of arts and crafts  - and Poway Days, which has festivities spanning a little over two weeks, including a parade and one of the best rodeos in the country.  Other not-to-be-missed special events are the annual Art, Wine, and Food Festival, and the Fiesta de los Peñasquitos Street Fair.  There is also the annual Poway Street Fair, as well as numerous other events which take place in the Rancho Bernardo area.

Interesting Facts/Historic Buildings and Places

Rancho Bernardo had its origin in 1789 as a land grant of 17,763 acres from the King of Spain. During that time the area was called "La Canada de San Bernardo", and the population consisted of a rather explosive combination of indigenous Native Americans and ranchers.

The first recorded land owner of San Bernardo was an English sea captain whose name was Joseph Sevenoaks. After becoming a Mexican citizen, Sevenoaks married Maria Antonia Alvarado and changed his name to Don Jose Francisco Snook. He used the land as a working cattle ranch. After his death, the land changed hands several times, often being divided into smaller lots.

John and Laurence Daley purchased the land for cattle grazing. In 1961, the Daleys and W.R. Hawn and Harry L. Summers established Rancho Bernardo, Inc. Community developers later purchased the corporation and began developing the land, which has since become one of the select communities in the nation.

See also Poway and Rancho Penasquitos descriptions.

Scripps Ranch is a community of San Diego known for its woodsy older neighborhoods nestled under canopies of Eucalyptus trees and cedars of Lebanon.  In recent years the area has expanded into newer, affluent neighborhoods and the current population including Scripps Ranch Villages is over 30,000.  Just off Interstate 15 and within a comparatively easy commute of downtown San Diego, the community is bounded by the city of Poway and the Miramar Air Station on the east and south and a deep ravine on the north which gives it a secluded feel.

Although served by the San Diego Unified School District, Scripps Ranch has its own schools, some of them new - and is building more to accommodate the growing enrollment.   School rankings are some of the highest in the district.  Good schools and proximity to many places of employment located throughout North County, as well as work centers in Sorrento Valley, La Jolla and San Diego, make Scripps Ranch an attractive place to live.  Some companies have even moved into business parks in the community itself.  The nearby Miramar Marine Air Station employs hundreds of workers.  The U.S. International University is on the south side of Scripps and several other universities are within easy reach, including UC San Diego at La Jolla.  Miramar Community College is close by, offering a variety of classes for everyone.   There is no shortage of shopping centers.

Homeowners belong to a community center which organizes various recreation activities, and soccer and other sports leagues abound.  There are hiking and biking trails at Miramar Reservoir, where residents can also fish and boat on the lake, and there are many golf courses within a short commute.  Nearby communities including Poway and Rancho Bernardo offer even more recreation opportunities, and fine dining can also be experienced close to home.

Escondido (the name means “Hidden Valley”) is a sprawling community of over 140,000 residents and many diverse neighborhoods, the fourth most populous city in San Diego County.  Once a farm hamlet, Escondido was incorporated in 1888 and has grown from about 5,000 people 60 years ago to the unique community it is today with a wide diversity of inhabitants on all parts of the economic scale.  Along with varied residential housing areas, here is also found a mix of agriculture, industrial and high tech firms, and recreational centers and parks. The city is bounded along the I-15 corridor to the south by the community of Rancho Bernardo and Lake Hodges, and to the northeast lies San Marcos.  Escondido is served by the Escondido Union Elementary district and the Escondido Union High School district.

Housing in Escondido comprises smaller, older and relatively affordable homes to grand estates with incredible views of the surrounding mountains and hills.  There is also the unincorporated neighborhood of Lawrence Welk Village, which includes a retirement community, as well as a time share vacation club and a theater.  There are several local lakes and golf courses as well as many parks and playgrounds, including a soccer park and a dog park, and there are a variety of sports leagues.  There is also an ice rink with two arenas.  Cruise Night is a popular attraction on warm summer evenings, when residents and visitors can watch with nostalgia as vintage cars cruise through the center of town playing 50’s and 60’s music.

Recently added to the old established downtown area is a state of the art Center for the Arts complex which includes a conference center, a 400-seat theatre and a museum.   Together with a variety of medical facilities, Palomar Medical Center is located in the downtown area and the complex includes a trauma center.  Escondido boasts the largest indoor shopping complex in San Diego County, and it is also home to the world famous San Diego Wild Animal Park at its eastern most border.  The Cal State University at nearby San Marcos and Palomar Community College both offer a variety of classes to the public.

San Marcos lies to the west of Escondido and is bordered by Vista and Carlsbad to its west.  A fast growing city of over 73,000 residents, San Marcos is home to California State University at San Marcos as well as Palomar Community College.  The community is served by the San Marcos Unified School District and its appeal to young families is due in part to the area’s comparative affordability.  It has is a mixture of old and new buildings, mobile parks and some commercial firms and light industry, but there are many modern housing tracts away from the highway and the center of town and properties in neighborhoods with a country flavor can also be found.

Home prices in San Marcos are generally lower than those in communities to the south which are closer to downtown San Diego.  Several new schools have been built in recent years and there are plenty of new shopping centers to keep pace with the expanding population, as well as North County Fair regional shopping mall in nearby Escondido. Palomar Hospital in Escondido serves San Marcos residents.  The city has a new 18-theater movie complex, and its Restaurant Row offers a variety of eating establishments all in one convenient location.

The unincorporated community of Lake San Marcos, surrounded by hills and built around a lake on the Vista border, has two golf courses.  There are many other golf courses nearby, and San Marcos has an abundance of parks and other recreational activities, including community swimming pools, basketball courts, a boys’ and girls’ club and a seniors’ center.  There is a civic center with a library as well as a performing center for plays, musicals, dance recitals and other happenings.  Escondido’s nearby California Center for the Arts is becoming renowned for first-rate cultural entertainment.  The City of San Marcos sponsors such events as a chili cook-off and the Sunflower County Fair.

Situated only 7 miles inland and a city of contrasts, Vista is located west of San Marcos and just east of Carlsbad on the coast.  It has over 94,000 inhabitants and enjoys one of the best climates the county has to offer.  Because of its ideal location, the city is not impacted by the fog that can blanket coastal communities, yet Vista enjoys cooler temperatures in the summertime than further inland.  The area is served by the Vista Unified School District.  California State University at San Marcos is close by, as is Palomar Community College.

Downtown San Diego is 45 miles away, but Vista has a 15 million square foot business and research park offering local jobs.  Camp Pendleton Marine base, the learning institutions and North County work centers provide plenty of additional, relatively local employment.  There is plenty of local shopping.  The “Coaster” train runs from Carlsbad to San Diego.  Housing in Vista comprises many choices from very modest homes in the older areas to mansions in the hills with fantastic views.  Some even have ocean views.  There are horse ranches in the outlying areas, and a country club sub-division.  Prices are lower than are found in some other parts of North San Diego County, especially for the upper end properties.

There are an abundance of community services and many parks and recreational programs, including soccer football and softball leagues.  Vista is justifiably proud of its Little League program.  In 2005 Vista Little League team finished third in the World Series and the players were welcomed home with a parade.  Boating and fishing opportunities are available close by.   There is a swim center with water slides and a wave pool for surfers, as well as a skate park for both stunt skaters and line skaters.  Vista also boasts a gas and steam engine museum.

Known as the “Avocado Capital of the World,” Fallbrook is an unincorporated rural community about 20 minutes north of Escondido and 60 miles from downtown San Diego.  The population of Fallbrook is around 43,000, which encompasses all economic levels.  The town has buildings dating from the 1800’s and antique and eclectic variety shops can be found on Main Street.  The downtown area also has a number of art galleries, as well as old-fashioned store fronts, but Fallbrook is predominantly an agricultural area with its flower fields and nurseries as well as farms.

Housing includes a mixture of older, modest homes near the center of town, newer housing tracts and large custom estates and acreage.  Many of the residents are retired or work from their homes, so the long commute to San Diego is often not a concern. There is no shortage of jobs available at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in Oceanside and at work centers throughout North County, and Temecula (in Riverside County) is not too far away.  There is department store shopping in Oceanside and Escondido.  The area is served by the Fallbrook Union Elementary and Fallbrook Union High school districts.

Bonsall is an equestrian community at the northern most edge of North San Diego County and home to large rolling estates and ranches.  The area has close to 10,000 residents.  Children attend elementary and middle school in Bonsall and go on to Fallbrook High, known for its accomplished choir.  The Madrigals have performed at Carnegie Hall in New York.  Palomar College holds satellite classes at Fallbrook High School.

The area boasts two park preserves, community parks, golf courses and horse trails, and there is a horse track to the south of Fallbrook.  Live Oak Park is a 25-acre forest of giant oak trees, streams, nature trails, herbal and wildflower gardens.  The Fallbrook 4H Club is renowned in San Diego County.  Fallbrook hosts summer concerts and a variety of festivals and art shows as well as horticultural and cultural events throughout the year.

Ramona is a peaceful rural town some 50 miles or so from downtown San Diego.  With approximately 36,000 residents, it is bordered by Poway to the southwest and Escondido to the northwest, all three areas separated by hills and mountains.  The mountain towns of Santa Ysabel and Julian, a historic gold mining town about 4,000 feet above sea level, are found off Highway 78 several miles to the north.  Ramona lies in what is known as the Valley of the Sun and is spread out over an expansive area dotted with farms and horse ranches off its woodsy country roads, many of them without side-walks.  The area is served by the Ramona Unified School District.

San Diego Country Estates is a large sub-division of homes on half-acre plus lots on Ramona’s east side, which boasts a country club, swimming pool and an equestrian center, and even a time-share resort.  Some of the San Diego Country Estates community is situated near or surrounding a golf course and another portion is zoned for horses.   As a contrast to the older, more modest homes found in downtown Ramona, San Diego Country Estates has many upscale custom homes.  On Ramona’s west side, close to the Poway border, is the Mount Woodson championship golf course and country club, another area of upscale properties.

The town of Ramona offers most of life’s necessities, and department stores are not too far away in Escondido. For specialized medical services, residents can choose between Palomar Hospital in Escondido and Pomerado Hospital in Poway.  Many residents work in these two cities and in other employment centers in North County, rather than make the longer commute to San Diego.  Sports activities include golf, Little League, soccer, Pop Warner football, softball and 4-H Club.  There are miles of horse trails throughout the Ramona area.  Lake Sutherland, just east of Ramona, is a popular spot for fishermen.  Local events include Pioneer Days and an annual rodeo.  Ramona also hosts an annual non-motorized parade, believed to be the largest such parade in the country.

Valley Center is a largely undeveloped area north of Escondido close to Interstate 15.  Large private ranches and gated communities, together with orange groves and farms, dot the rolling hills surrounding the old-fashioned downtown.  Including downtown, the population of the region numbers under 20,000, but Valley Center is attracting more residents lured by its country flavor.  Two large Indian casinos have created new jobs and tourism, and other employment is found in Escondido and in the various job centers of North County.  The long commute to San Diego can be arduous.  The region is served by the Valley Center-Pauma Unified School District.

Necessities can be found locally, but for department store shopping, colleges, and hospital and specialized medical care, residents drive to Escondido or San Marcos.  Valley Center does have a modern library, a community center and a fire station, as well as some offices and restaurants.  Local attractions include Bates Nut Farm, which produces some of the County’s biggest pumpkins each October.  There is an annual street fair, and recreational activities include an active 4-H club, horse riding and team sports such as soccer.