A Complete Guide to Sacramento
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RP Digital
- 04 Apr 2019 | Travel
Though California's capital city—known affectionately to locals as “Sac”—may not get the attention San Francisco or Los Angeles do, the state’s sixth largest city has plenty of its own charms. Read on for where to drink, stay and play in Sacramento. (For where to eat, you’ll have to wait until June when the first-ever MICHELIN Guide California launches.)

What To Do
The second Saturday of every month sees galleries and shops open late until 9:00 p.m., with wine and snacks flowing, live music and art exhibitions. Start at 25th and N Streets or 18th and J Streets. Check this list to see what’s on at dozen of galleries.
Hornblower runs cruises on the Sacramento River four days a week, with four to five cruisings a day. The noon, 1:30 p.m., and 3:00 p.m. cruises are an hour ($20/person), during which you’ll float languidly down the Sacramento River as the captain gives an informal history lesson. Come evening, the Alive After Five cruise sets off (1.5h, $25/person), where a DJ spins and food and drink are available (not included in your ticket). For an adults-only jaunt, book Rock the Yacht (8:00 - 9:30 p.m., $25). All cruises depart from the dock at L and Front Streets.
A car-free 23-mile parkway that runs along the American River, this bike trail beckons Sacramento visitors itching to enjoy the warm weather. There are no bike rental shops in the park, but Practical Cycle and Folsom Bike both offer rentals and are within cycling distance of the park.

Where to Drink
Even if you’re staying in Midtown, it’s worth taking the tram or grabbing a cab to one of this brewery’s three outposts. Track 7 has seven regular beers in its rotation, including a honey blonde ale, a peanut butter-chocolate cream porter and an IPA, plus a dozen-odd semi-regular beers like a golden guava IPA. Brewery tours and a three-beer tasting are available for five to 25 people at $5 per person. Every day a different food truck parks outside the breweries, with the schedule changing weekly.
Right off the blue and gold tram lines and between Midtown and Downtown Sacramento is this speakeasy-style bar with live music five nights a week. The bar goes heavy on the Prohibition vibes—flocked wallpaper, velvet sofas, dark leather banquettes, candelabras, pressed-tin ceiling—but although it’s a little kitsch, it works, as do the cocktails. The not-unpleasantly-medicinal Judas is a potent mix of vermouth, rye whiskey, honey, lemon and bitters.

Where to Stay
A charming bed and breakfast in Sacramento’s Midtown neighborhood, Amber has 10 rooms all named after classical museums and writers (Dickinson, Beethoven, etc.). Each room is different—the Dickinson has a fireplace and a wall of windows, the Chaucer has a four-poster bed and an antique bathroom sink—but all include breakfast (think yogurt, fruit and housemade granola, oatmeal, crêpes and eggs).
This article written by Sophie Friedman first appeared on the MICHELIN Guide digital platform. View it here.