Some of the best things to do around Sacramento are the ones most of us never get around to, and a visitor should not know your city better than you do. This is the list I hand people who have just moved here, in the order that actually makes sense to work through it.
Every region has a short famous list and a much longer one that is just as good, usually cheaper to reach, and somehow always six months away. I have left the awkward parts in, because a guide that only tells you the good news is not much use when you are the one doing the driving.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DRIVE TO THE COAST FOR A BEACH DAY
The nearest ocean beach is a real drive, and most of us make it about once a summer. Meanwhile there are river and lake beaches within an easy morning, and for anyone who mostly wants to swim, sit, and eat something out of a cooler, they are not a compromise.
- Granite Bay, on Folsom Lake. A sandy beach on the western shore in Placer County, with a snack bar, barbecue areas, and paddle board and kayak rentals. Beals Point, a short way along the same shore, has a beach and services too.
- Paradise Beach, in River Park. A cove on the American River Parkway with calm water and no entry fee, which makes it the closest thing the city has to a neighborhood beach.
- Jenkinson Lake. Also called Sly Park, up in Pollock Pines, with several beaches, campgrounds, trails, and a waterfall if you want to make a weekend of it.
- Upper Lake Clementine. A rocky beach on the North Fork of the American River with clear water that people swim and paddle in. Weekend parking needs a reservation, so sort that out before you leave the house.
THE PART OF THE CITY THAT IS LITERALLY UNDER THE OTHER PART
Old Sacramento was raised in the 1800s to get the streets out of the flood path, which means the city you walk on sits on top of an earlier one. You can tour the original street level, see the old storefronts and doorways, and get a real sense of how the Gold Rush town was built.
Of everything here, this is the one I would call a genuine curiosity rather than a nice afternoon. It is engineering history, and it explains more about why the waterfront looks the way it does than any plaque will.
A DELTA TOWN THAT WAS BUILT BY AND FOR CHINESE IMMIGRANTS
Locke is a small town in the Delta, built in the late 1800s by and for Chinese immigrants, and it is a recognized historic district. The wooden sidewalks are genuinely rickety, the buildings are original, and there is a small museum that explains the history properly instead of skimming it.
One thing to know before you go: people still live there. It is a neighborhood and not a set, so park like a guest and keep the camera pointed at the buildings.
THE RIVERS ARE BUSIER THAN THE ROADS
If you would rather be on the water than in it, Old Sacramento is the launch point. Narrated historic cruises and livelier party cruises go up and down the river, there is a dinner cruise on the River City Queen, a chartered tiki boat called the Sac Brew Boat that works well for groups, and a wine tasting cruise that runs seasonally out of Clarksburg.
The other thing about the rivers is who else uses them. Sea lions come up the Sacramento to feed on the fish, and sightings are most common where the Sacramento and the American meet, though they turn up further upstream as well. Old Sacramento, Discovery Park, and River Park are the usual spots. They are wild animals and they are much larger up close than people expect, so watch from the bank.
THERE IS STILL GOLD IN THE RIVER BEDS, AND THERE ARE RULES
The Gold Rush started here, and there is still gold in the rivers, though this is not the gem panning they set up for kids at a tourist stop. Most stretches operate under a hands and pans rule, which means exactly what it sounds like: your hands, or a designated gold pan, and no other tools.
Reasonable places to start are the South Yuba River, the South Fork of the American near Coloma, which is the original discovery site, and the Auburn State Recreation Area. Check the current rules for the stretch you are heading to before you go, because they are not the same everywhere and they are enforced.
THE COMPARISON I REACH FOR, AND WHERE IT STOPS WORKING
The closest ordinary thing I can think of is the front page of a streaming service. It shows you a short list of what everyone has already watched, and the things you would actually enjoy are behind the search bar, where nobody looks.
That gets the instinct right, and then it oversells it. I keep calling these places hidden, and most of them are not hidden at all. They are on the map, they are in guidebooks, and several of them cost money and want a reservation. The honest version is that they are unvisited rather than unknown, and unvisited is a habit you can break in one Saturday.
WHAT I WOULD ACTUALLY TELL SOMEONE WHO JUST MOVED HERE
- Do one thing a month. These stay on the list because they never feel urgent, and a list with no pace on it never gets finished.
- Check the rules before the drive, not after. Parking reservations, panning rules, and park hours are the three things that turn a good idea into a wasted morning.
- Ask a neighbor instead of a search engine. The best version of every place on this list is somebody’s specific advice about which entrance, which hour, and which side of the water.
If you want the neighborhood version of this, start with what Sacramento is actually like to live in. And if you are still deciding whether to rent another year or buy now, the buying process is the honest walk-through, including the parts that are not fun.
Question for you: what is the one place around here that you keep meaning to visit and have not? Tell me, and I will tell you whether it is worth the drive or whether it is fine to leave on the list.
Adapted from Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do in Sacramento, originally published by Windermere Signature Properties at windermerecalocal.com.
WHEN YOU ARE READY
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Send me the areas you are considering and what matters most to you. I will tell you what each one is actually like, including the parts that argue against it. Nothing is committed by asking.
