31 Best Sights in Sacramento and the Gold Country, California

Learn a little bit about Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"—and Angels Camp's celebrated frog-jumping contests—at this museum's street-side facility, then head to the 3-acre spread behind it for a fascinating survey of gold rush–era mining history. The grounds include a carriage house with pre-automotive farming and passenger vehicles; another structure contains mining equipment. Outside, in its original mountings, stands the 27-foot-diameter waterwheel that powered machinery at the Angels Quartz Mine.

The park protects hundreds of the largest and rarest living things on the planet—magnificent giant sequoia redwood trees. Some are 3,000 years old, 90 feet around at the base, and 250 feet tall. There are campgrounds, cabin rentals, and picnic areas; wading, fishing, and sunbathing on the Stanislaus River are popular in summer. Enjoy the "three senses" trail, designated for the sight impaired, with interpretive signs in braille that guide visitors to touch the bark and encourage children to slow down and enjoy the forest in a more sensory way.

Sprawling over three floors, this museum celebrates the history of trains from their 19th-century English origins to the pre–jet age glory days of rail travel. A permanent exhibit details Chinese laborers' contributions to the transcontinental railroad's completion (Sacramento was the western terminus). Another section contains one of several gold spikes issued to commemorate the joining in Utah of the west-to-east Central Pacific and east-to-west Union Pacific lines.

Up to 21 of the museum's railroad cars and engines—among them Pullman-style cars and steam locomotives—are on exhibit, and there are interactive displays and a play area for kids. Two nearby affiliated attractions (both free) worth a peek if they're open are the re-creation of the circa-1876 Central Pacific passenger station (930 Front Street) and the Huntington, Hopkins & Company Hardware exhibit (113 I Street), a facsimile of a 19th-century hardware store.

Built between 1860 and 1874 and topped by a 128-foot gilded dome, the Capitol functions as a working museum and, since 1869, the active seat of California's government. When it's open, you can wander freely past reproductions of century-old state offices or join a guided tour. Portraits of former governors on display include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, Earl Warren (later Chief Justice of the United States), and Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, whose father was also governor. Tours of the 40-acre Capitol Park, which contains a rose garden, a fragrant display of camellias (Sacramento's city flower), and more than 1,000 types of trees from around the world, take place on Sunday and Wednesday.

Columbia, whose mines yielded $87 million in gold, is both a functioning community and a historically preserved town. Usually you can ride a stagecoach, pan for gold, and watch a blacksmith working at an anvil. Street musicians perform in summer. Restored or reconstructed buildings include a Wells Fargo Express office, a Masonic temple, an old-fashioned candy store, saloons, a firehouse, churches, a school, and a newspaper office. At times, all are staffed to simulate a working 1850s town. Also in the park is the Fallon House Theatre, a gorgeous Victorian structure that hosts plays and live music. The town's two reasonably priced historic lodgings, the Fallon Hotel and City Hotel, perch you in the past.

Relive the days of gold, grit, and glory, when this mine was one of North America's biggest and most prosperous hard-rock gold mines. The Empire-Star Mine complex yielded an estimated 5.8 million troy ounces of gold from 367 miles of underground passages. You can walk into a mine shaft, peer into dark, deep recesses and almost imagine what it felt like to work this vast operation. The grounds have the Bourn Cottage (exquisite redwood interior; call for tour times), picnic tables, and gentle trails—perfect for a family outing.

Leland Stanford, a railroad baron, California governor, and U.S. senator, expanded the original 1856 two-story row house on this site into a 19,186-square-foot mansion. The opulent space is open for touring except on days when California's governor hosts official events. After the death of Stanford's wife, Jane, Roman Catholic nuns transformed the mansion into an orphanage and later a home for teenage girls. Luckily for the restoration efforts, which began in 1986 following the state acquiring the property, the sisters had stashed many original furnishings and fixtures on the fourth floor, and the renowned photographer Eadweard Muybridge had shot images in 1872 that made clear what rooms looked like and where things belonged. Guided tours (first come, first served) depart hourly from 10 to 4.

The American River's south fork slices through this park commemorating California's mining history. Trails lead from the parking lot to a statue of James Marshall with sublime views; beyond it to the north stands a working reproduction of an 1840s mill erected near where he first spotted gold. Most of Coloma lies within the park. Though crowded with tourists in summer, the town hardly resembles the mob scene it was in 1849, when 2,000 prospectors staked out claims along the streambed. Coloma's population grew to 4,000, supporting seven hotels, three banks, and many stores and other businesses. But when reserves of the precious metal dwindled, the prospectors left as quickly as they had come. Rangers give gold-panning lessons (additional fee) on most days.

For different sorts of underground jewels, wander into an ancient limestone cave, where stalactites and stalagmites, not gold and silver, await. Take the 235-step Spiral Tour down a staircase built in 1922 into the vast main cavern, or descend farther on the Expedition Tour caving adventure. It's best to make a reservation here.

A must for rail enthusiasts and families with kids, this is one of North America's most intact early roundhouses (maintenance facilities). You can hop aboard a steam train for a 40-minute journey—bring the dog if you'd like. The docents entertain guests with tales about the history of locomotion. Listen to the original rotor and pulleys in the engine house and take in the smell of axle grease. Walk through a genteel passenger car with dusty-green velvet seats and ornate metalwork, where Grace Kelly and Gary Cooper filmed a scene in High Noon. When offered, Polar Express excursions at Christmastime sell out quickly.

From July to late December, Apple Hill Growers Association members open their orchards and vineyards for apple and berry picking; picnicking; and wine, cider, pressed-juice, and other tastings. Treasure hunts, pond fishing, pie making, and other activities attract families. On autumn weekends, take U.S. 50's Camino exit to avoid some of the traffic congestion.

Guided 45-minute tours take you past stalactites, stalagmites, and rare formations of delicate helictites in three underground chambers, one of which also contains a lake. Black Chasm isn't the largest cave in the Gold Country, but its crystals dazzle both eye and camera—the Landmark Chamber, the tour's third stop, inspired a scene in the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded. Outside is an area where kids can "pan" for crystals.  The same outfit also conducts tours of California Cavern State Historic Landmark, 32 miles south of Volcano, though the days open are less regular.

This gigantic space north of Davis in Woodland provides a thorough historical overview of motorized agricultural vehicles through dozens and dozens of threshers, harvesters, combines, tractors, and other contraptions. A separate wing surveys the evolution of trucks, emphasizing those used for farmwork.

More than 150 vehicles—from Model Ts, Hudsons, and Studebakers to modern-day electric-powered ones—are on display at this museum that pays tribute to automotive history and car culture. Check out a replica of Henry Ford's 1896 Quadricycle and a 1920s roadside café and garage exhibit. The museum is south of Downtown and Old Sacramento.

Showcasing longtime and temporary residents who helped elevate the Golden State, this museum contains permanent exhibits covering statehood, the experiences of California Native Americans, life for Japanese Americans in World War II internment camps, and the impact of women. The California Hall of Fame honors Walt Disney, Jackie Robinson, Bruce Lee, Amelia Earhart, writer and Sacramento native Joan Didion, and other familiar names.

A California state park, the museum has displays on gold-rush history including a replica hard-rock mine shaft to walk through, a miniature stamp mill, and a 13-pound chunk of crystallized gold.

At this reconstructed 1876 station there's rolling stock to admire and a typical waiting room. On some days, a train departs from the freight depot, south of the passenger station, making a 50-minute out-and-back trip that starts along the banks of the Sacramento River. Cookies and hot chocolate are served aboard sellout Polar Express rides (book way ahead) between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Take a self-guided tour of this fully lighted mine shaft within a park owned by the City of Placerville. The worthwhile audio tour (included) makes clear what you're seeing. A shaded stream runs through the park, and there are picnic facilities.

On weekends much of the year and some major holidays, docents conduct guided 90-minute surface tours of one of the gold-rush era's most prolific, and one of the world's deepest, mines. Exhibits inside the remaining buildings illustrate how gold flakes were melted for shipment to San Francisco and how "skips" were used to lower miners and materials into the mile-long shaft and carry ore to the surface.

Pivotal accomplishments in engineering history occurred at the nation's last functioning water-powered foundry and machine shop, established in 1873 and these days run by volunteers. Namesake Samuel Knight's innovations included a revolutionary system for casting iron and the one-piece Knight Water Wheel for generating power. You can tour on the second Saturday of the month or on workdays (usually Wednesday). Plaques and outdoor exhibits accessible at all hours convey some of this facility's fascinating story.

You'll leave this small museum feeling like you just found your own gold nugget. Detailed exhibits, both indoors and out, tell the history of Mariposa County. Visit a replica of a typical miner's cabin; see a working stamp mill; tour the blacksmith shop. Artifacts, photographs, and maps, along with the knowledgeable staff, will capture your imagination and transport you back to 1849.

Lighthearted, well-informed guides lead 45-minute tours (208 steps down, 232 steps up) into caverns a prospector named Walter J. Mercer discovered in 1885. Millions of years in the making, the sheer, draperylike formations and aragonite crystals that resemble snowflakes are enthralling. Dress in layers (even in summer) and wear nonskid closed-toe shoes for this mildly strenuous adventure.

Volunteers converted a parking lot into a compact open-air tribute to the area's mining legacy. Signs along the path describe 19th-century mining operations and the equipment on display used to extract or process ore.

Inside a former powerhouse, the museum displays a 32-foot-high Pelton Water Wheel said to be the largest ever built. The wheel, used to power mining operations, was a forerunner of modern turbines that generate hydroelectricity. Other exhibits document life in the mines and the environmental effects mining had on the area. You can picnic nearby.

A jumble of historic attractions and bonafide tourist traps—the Sacramento History Museum and the superb California State Railroad Museum representing the former and a Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, and salt-water taffy and T-shirt concessions the latter—occupies several square blocks of the Sacramento River's eastern banks a quarter-mile west of the Capitol. Shining bright metallic gold, the Tower Bridge, designed in the art-deco Streamline Moderne style and completed in 1935, anchors the waterfront's southern flank.

Visible from the highway, Auburn's standout structure is the Placer County Courthouse. The classic bronze-domed building houses the Placer County Museum, which documents the area's history—Native American, railroad, agricultural, and mining—from the early 1700s to 1900. Look for the gold nuggets valued at more than $338,000 today, and don't miss the women's cell under the Maple Street staircase.  Ask about other nearby county-run history museums.

History buffs and ghost hunters love poking around this fantastically creepy, 156-room, Romanesque Revival structure erected in 1894 to house troubled youth. Having fallen into disrepair, the building is slowly undergoing restoration. On tours, which take place on many Saturdays between April and August, you'll hear all sorts of spine-tingling tales.

A pandemic-era video campaign revolving around this museum's antique printing presses went viral, making a TikTok star out of a longtime volunteer named Howard. Other exhibits investigate Sacramento's gold-rush past and agricultural, economic, and political evolution. A must-see third-floor stop provides insights into the life of a 12-year-old girl through personal belongings discovered in a trunk a century after her death in 1879. The museum's Old Sacramento Underground Tours, booked separately, explore vestiges of the city before floods wreaked havoc in the 1860s and 1870s and many buildings were raised a story or two higher.

Adjacent to Sutter's Fort but run separately, this small but engaging museum explores the lives and history of California's indigenous peoples. Arts-and-crafts displays and other exhibits portray the state's earliest inhabitants.

Nearby office buildings tower over Sacramento's earliest Euro-American settlement, founded in 1839 by German-born Swiss immigrant John Augustus Sutter. A self-guided tour includes a blacksmith's shop, bakery, jail, living quarters, and livestock areas. Staff and docents sometimes demonstrate crafts, food preparation, and other circa-1840s activities.