Things to do in Sacramento
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Sacramento
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best month overall, perfect patio weather and the festival peak with harvest at full strength.
Spring at its best, gardens peak, rain fades and the Parkway and markets are ideal.
Still hot but evenings turn, with the Farm-to-Fork Festival and Tower Bridge Dinner.
Good shoulder months, June only works well with a river plan for the heat.
Worst for heat unless the trip is the river and the State Fair, highs regularly over 95F.
Cheapest and quietest, with tule fog and rain, best for Kings games, museums and restaurant value.
What's on
- California State Fair Mid July to early August each year
The region biggest family, food and concert fair at Cal Expo.
- Farm-to-Fork Festival & Tower Bridge Dinner September
The city signature food celebration on Capitol Mall and the Tower Bridge.
- Aftershock Festival Usually early to mid October, over four days
Major hard rock and metal festival at Discovery Park, book hotels months ahead.
- GoldenSky Festival mid-October
Country music festival at Discovery Park from the same promoter as Aftershock.
- Theatre of Lights holiday season
Holiday lights tradition in Old Sacramento through the winter season.
- Dine Downtown January
Restaurant week programming that makes winter the best value fine dining window.
Best things to do in Sacramento
California State Railroad Museum
Massive restored locomotives and the transcontinental story, the one museum even sceptics rate in Sacramento.
Crocker Art Museum
Oldest public art museum in the West, strongest on California art, in a mansion plus modern wing.
Old Sacramento Waterfront
Gold Rush buildings and riverfront walks, best for museums and a cruise rather than its restaurants.
California State Capitol
A working capitol with free tours through restored offices and chambers in the city centre.
Capitol Park
Forty acres of memorial groves and the World Peace Rose Garden around the Capitol building.
Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament
A grand downtown cathedral that anchors the best free half day alongside the Capitol and Stanford Mansion.
Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park
Guided tours of a restored Victorian mansion, part of the best free half day in central Sacramento.
Golden 1 Center
Modern food serious NBA arena where a Kings night is the best big event energy in the city.
Where to stay in Sacramento
Midtown
first trip, all-round base
Tree canopy, best restaurants and bars on foot, residential and lit at night.
Downtown / DOCO
game night, splurge hotel, first night
Best hotels by Golden 1 Center and the Capitol, walk to Midtown for dinner.
East Sacramento / McKinley Park
quiet longer stay, second visit
Leafy streets around McKinley Park and the Folsom Blvd dining strip, rentals mainly.
Land Park / Curtis Park
families
Near the zoo and Land Park, rental led and car assumed, with Tower Cafe nearby.
Think twice about
- Del Paso Heights / Del Paso Boulevard corridor
Among the highest crime areas, with motel strips functioning as crisis housing and no visitor reason to stay.
- Meadowview / Florin Road / South Sacramento motel corridors
High crime and car dependent motel corridors. Stockton Boulevard is a daytime food trip only, do not sleep there.
- Upper Land Park / Broadway far-west freeway-edge motels
Budget motels toward the river and freeway feel isolated at night. Eat on Broadway, sleep in Midtown.
- Arden-Arcade motel row (Arden Way / Watt Ave)
Bleak, traffic choked and entirely car bound, despite listings calling it Sacramento.
Best restaurants in Sacramento
The Kitchen
One-star dinner party as theatre, one seating with chefs presenting in an open room.
Localis
The intimate starred tasting room in Midtown, with a dedicated herbivore menu and chef counter.
Canon
Great-value neighbourhood restaurant locals would eat at monthly, the bar works without a booking.
Allora
Cal Italian seafood and house pasta with a serious Italian wine list, the East Sac date night room.
Kru Contemporary Japanese
The sushi kitchen local obsessives name first, with an omakase counter as the splurge inside.
Frank Fat's
An American classic since 1939, polished Chinese American cooking and famous banana cream pie.
Ella Dining Room & Bar
Best nice dinner near the arena, strong happy hour and seafood towers if splurging.
Shoki Ramen House
Handmade ramen benchmark in Sacramento, built on taking time, with a devoted decade long following.
Best bars in Sacramento
Shady Lady Saloon
Craft cocktail saloon on R Street, a staple stop on a Midtown and DOCO bar crawl.
Der Biergarten
Outdoor beer garden in Midtown that works as an easy group stop before dinner.
Betty Wine Bar
Midtown area wine bar highlighted locally for bachelorette trips and relaxed group pours.
Good News Wine
Wine bar named in local celebration coverage as a Midtown highlight for groups.
Outdoor things to do in Sacramento
Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail
Thirty two mile paved trail from Discovery Park to Folsom Lake, the defining local ride and run.
River Bend Park
A popular put in for the lazy five to six mile float down the lower American River.
Whitewater Excitement
Long running permitted outfitter for South Fork and Middle Fork American River whitewater trips.
H2O Adventures
Highly rated outfitter running both forks of the American with lunch and gear included.
Haggin Oaks Golf Complex
Alister MacKenzie designed public golf at municipal prices, plus a lighted range open late.
Ancil Hoffman Golf Course
Mature tree lined parkland course on the American River, the local favourite scenic round.
Empire Ranch Golf Club
Semi private foothill layout in Folsom with more elevation and conditioning than the city munis.
Turkey Creek Golf Club
Rolling foothill course in Lincoln rated highly in green fee directories for value and layout.
Best hotels in Sacramento
Kimpton Sawyer Hotel
Consensus best hotel in town at DOCO, with a pool deck overlooking the arena district.
The Citizen Hotel, Autograph Collection
1920s tower boutique with a political theme and a real farm to fork restaurant downstairs.
Hyatt Centric Downtown Sacramento
Restored historic building with a rooftop lounge between the Capitol and DOCO, strong on walkability.
Fort Sutter Hotel, Tapestry Collection by Hilton
The only full service hotel actually in Midtown, the default base for food focused trips.
The Exchange Sacramento, Curio Collection by Hilton
Handsome boutique in the historic California Fruit Building, close to DOCO and the Crocker.
Hyatt Regency Sacramento
Reliable full service Capitol facing hotel with a pool, ideal for convention and late bookings.
Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel
Well run full service partner to the Hyatt for Capitol trips, chosen on loyalty and price.
Delta King Hotel
Sleep on a 1927 sternwheeler moored on the river, small cabins and total novelty for one night.
Is Sacramento expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | $95 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | $190 a person |
| Splurge | $420 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- California State Railroad Museum: a few days ahead
- Golden 1 Center: a few days ahead
- Sutter Health Park: a few days ahead
- B Street Theatre: a few days ahead
- Sac Brew Bike: a few days ahead
- Whitewater Excitement: weeks ahead
- H2O Adventures: weeks ahead
- Haggin Oaks Golf Complex: a few days ahead
- The Kitchen weeks ahead and the Localis chef counter as early as Tock allows for weekends.
- Canon, Allora and the Kru counter several days to a week ahead for prime weekend times.
- Kings ahead for marquee teams, As ahead for weekends and big series, the small park sells out.
- Whitewater Saturdays in summer, Yocha Dehe weekend tees and festival hotels book as soon as dates are known.
Is Sacramento safe?
- Do not leave anything visible in a parked car, smash and grabs are the main visitor crime risk.
- Visible homelessness concentrates near North 12th, W/X underpasses, Cesar Chavez Plaza edges and the lower Parkway.
- River safety is the underrated risk, wear a life jacket on any float and respect cold fast water.
- Summer heat is a genuine hazard, do dawn outdoors, midday museums and evening patios.
Sacramento travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Old Sacramento restaurants and souvenir shops charge history prices for food better found in Midtown.
- A full day of only history museums becomes a field trip, cap it at two main stops then river and food.
- Tower Bridge Dinner is a priced special occasion splurge, the free festival street events are the visitor value.
- Driving to Napa on a Saturday without reservations, tasting rooms will turn you away.
Getting around Sacramento: public transport and more
- Walk or bike the flat Midtown, Downtown and Old Sacramento core, about two miles across.
- Use SacRT light rail downtown and the Gold Line to Folsom, rideshare late at night.
- Rent a car only for excursion days: East Sac dining, golf, rafting, Folsom and day trips.
- SMF airport is about 15 minutes by car, with no rail link, rideshare typically 25 to 40 dollars downtown.
- Amtrak Capitol Corridor from Sacramento Valley Station reaches Davis in 15 minutes.
Who Sacramento suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Great |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | Good |
| Families | Great |
| Bachelorette parties | Good |
Make Sacramento your trip
Swearby drafts the days from places people swear by. Swap any stop, then invite the crew by text, even friends without the app. Vote on dates, track costs as you go, and everyone gets one number at the end.
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