The Belwood, Belgatos, and Surmont neighborhood in east Los Gatos is a tidy community at the base of the hills and close to beautiful Belgatos Park. It includes 4 subdivisions which all share access to the Belwood of Los Gatos cabana. They include:
- Surmont, the oldest section of the neighborhood, with semi custom homes (“Class D” optional cabana membership)
- Belgatos, which was built next and is on the west side of Belgatos Road (“Class D” optional cabana membership)
- Belwood of Los Gatos, a large tract neighborhood with the cabana at its heart (mandatory cabana membership, many homes now extensively remodeled or rebuilt)
- A small subdivision with 14 homes built between 1977 and 1979 that wasn’t given a name, unfortunately: Tract 5921 (10 homes) and Lots A – D. (“Class D” optional cabana membership)
Where is the Belwoood, Belgatos, and Surmont neighborhood?
The community is located on the south side of Blossom Hill Road, generally between Westhill Drive and Harwood Road.
Nearby public landmarks are Belgatos Park and the Walgreen’s shopping center (corner of Blossom Hill and Harwood), with a Mountain Mike’s Pizza and a newly added cake shop.
There’s a fair amount of confusion about what is or isn’t in this neighborhood or who can use or join the pool. Adding to the location confusion, The Los Gatos Monte Sereno Police cert map identifies the whole region plus the Strathmore neighborhood, which is across Blossom Hill Road, as “Belwood” generally.
What are the schools for this neighborhood?
The public schools for this area are Noddin Elementary, Union Middle, and Leigh High School.
What’s the neighborhood like?
The terrain is nearly level, with very low, gentle hills over most of the area. For those looking for an arduous climb on foot or bike, though, Harwood Road provides a nice challenge. At the top, you’ll see a fantastic view of downtown San Jose and Silicon Valley for your trouble. There are some challenges to be found in the open space trails, too.
With winding, mostly tree-lined roads and tidy houses as a rule (there are only a very few exceptions). It is a very attractive neighborhood overall.
Some streets have sidewalks, but many do not. There are not a lot of street lamps, which makes for wonderful night sky viewing.
Something fun: in the summer, private and group swim lessons take place at the cabana.
Park and trails
At the middle of this community is the very inviting Belgatos Park, a scenic, setting which includes a playground near the parking lot, picnic areas, restrooms, trails into the hills (with some wonderful valley views), and access to the Heinz Open Space Preserve and its network of trails also. (And it’s not far to the Santa Rosa Open Space area either.)
One hill attracts kids who enjoy sliding down it on bits of cardboard, and thus has been nicknamed “cardboard hill” for decades. Most of the time these cardboard sledding enthusiasts are pretty good about picking up their “sledding vehicles” when done.
The paths are popular with people on foot, but also those on mountain bikes or horseback. As there are a few larger properties which are zoned for horses in the area, this is a very nice equestrian option. There are 2 nearby places for horse boarding, too.
For photographers, the park has abundant worthy subjects year round, both of the open space and the valley views below. In the early morning hours, or near sunset, you may see some deer too. But be careful: bobcats and mountain lions are in these hills also.
What are homes like in this part of town?
Most houses were built over a fairly short span of about 20 years in the sixties and seventies, and most are the typical 1-2 story ranch style of architecture which is so common in Silicon Valley. Houses are usually between about 1800 and 3000 SF, though a few in Belwood are just under 1500 SF, and some larger houses in Surmont exceed 3000 SF. Lot sizes are usually around 10,000 SF, but again there’s variation, with some as small as 8,000 and others approaching 1/3 of an acre.
The prices vary on home size, lot size, condition, exact location, and view. At the bottom of this article we’ll share recent listings and sales to provide an accurate and current picture of what’s happening there with home values.
For a better feel, please watch the “driving tour” video below.
What about nearby? On either end of these subdivisions in Los Gatos there are more expensive areas (but on the San Jose side, less expensive ones). If you move just slightly east and south from this area, the Alerche, Crider, Harwood Hills area boasts acre sized parcels (or more) with larger, luxury homes, many with valley views. These high end properties begin at about $4 million as of 2022 and go up from there.
The Belwood Cabaña
The other centering point for the community is the Belwood of Los Gatos Cabaña. Originally only available to those in the Belwood of Los Gatos subdivision (appx between Harwood and Belgatos Roads), now most of the streets from Harwood to Westhill qualify, either as “class A” (mandatory) or “class D” (optional membership, but dues are a bit more expensive, and technically not Belwood since it’s not a mandatory area).
A newer part of Bacigalupi Drive, and Jamie Court behind it, are in the class D area, as well as the properties between Belgatos and Westhill on the west side.
Neighborhood Video Drive Through
Video: a driving tour through these subdivisions, plus nearby Alerche and Harwood Hills, with a view of the park, the cabana and a local horse ranch on Harwood Road in the hills
Browse homes for sale in this part of Los Gatos
View nearby real estate listed, pending, or sold in these areas plus a few on the other side of Harwood Road or in the Harwood Hills here:
Sorry, but we couldn't find any results in the MLS that match the specified search criteria.
Would you like to learn more about buying or selling your Los Gatos home? Please call or email me today! 408 204-7673 or email mary (at) popehandy.com
More more info on this area, please see our site: BelwoodOfLosGatos.com .
