Day Trippin' › California › From Sacramento › Within 3 hours
177 places are worth the drive within 3 hours of Sacramento, counted by road time from ZIP 95814: 13 under 1 hour, 98 1 to 2 hours and 66 2 to 3 hours.
The mix leans toward history, hikes and beaches & lakes, mostly to the southwest and south. Three hours each way makes a long day trip, or an easy overnight if you would rather not drive back the same day.
The headline places are Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park and Empire Mine State Historic Park, and the closest real day trip is Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park (27 min).
Under 1 hour 1 to 2 hours 2 to 3 hours
Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri, CC BY 3.0
Historic site · 53 min northeast
The place in Coloma where the 1848 gold find set off the Gold Rush, with a replica sawmill, a museum and gold panning on the American River.
Theme park · 53 min southwest
Roller coasters, a water park and live animal shows in one park in Vallejo.
Photo: Vince Migliore, CC BY 3.0
Lake · 29 min northeast
A big reservoir with beaches, bike paths and boating close to Sacramento; Beals Point and Granite Bay are the main beaches.
Photo: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0
Town · 44 min east
"Old Hangtown," a Gold Rush Main Street with Gold Bug Park mine tours and the Apple Hill orchards just up the ridge.
Photo: Daderot, CC0
Food town · 1 hr southwest
Food hall by the Napa River in downtown Napa with cheese, oysters and coffee.
Zoo · 42 min south
A county park near Lodi with a small zoo, a Japanese garden and playgrounds.
Photo: Beej71, CC BY 2.5
Historic site · 1 hr 2 min northeast
One of California's richest hard-rock gold mines, with a stone owner's cottage, formal gardens and the old mine yard.
Photo: Matthew Dillon from Hollywood, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0
Hike · 1 hr 38 min southwest
Easy paths through old coast redwoods in a quiet canyon just north of the city.
Photo: Eric Philbin, CC0
State park · 1 hr 55 min east
Tahoe's most photographed view: a deep green bay with tiny Fannette Island, seen from the roadside overlooks on Highway 89.
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
Town · 1 hr 4 min northeast
The best-preserved Gold Rush downtown in the foothills, with gaslit streets and historic buildings, and Grass Valley next door.
Photo: Todd Dailey, CC BY-SA 2.0
Zoo · 1 hr 27 min southwest
Hillside zoo with a gondola, a kids' ride area and a California wildlife section.
Photo: Flickr user "NileGuide.com", CC BY 2.0
State park · 1 hr 37 min northeast
A museum on the Donner Party and the building of the transcontinental railroad, beside the Pioneer Monument and the shore of Donner Lake.
Photo: MARELBU, CC BY 3.0
State park · 2 hr 9 min east
Giant sequoias in the North Grove on an easy, mostly flat loop, where the big trees first became famous in the 1850s.
Photo: Chris6d, CC BY-SA 4.0
Island · 2 hr 12 min southwest
Ferry to the old island prison with an audio tour and big city views.
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0
Landmark · 2 hr 14 min southwest
A historic lighthouse at the end of a long peninsula road with steep stairs and winter whale watching.
Photo: myyorgda, CC BY 2.0
Observatory · 2 hr 18 min south
Historic hilltop telescopes above San Jose with a long winding road and big views.
Photo: The wub, CC BY-SA 4.0
Theme park · 2 hr 26 min south
Classic seaside amusement park with a wooden coaster, arcade and a wide beach next door.
Photo: Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0
Aquarium · 2 hr 59 min south
World-famous aquarium with kelp forest, jellyfish and sea otters, right on the water.
Our picks, by drive time, include Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park (53 min), Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (53 min), Folsom Lake State Recreation Area (29 min), Placerville (44 min) and Oxbow Public Market (1 hr). The full list on this page has 177 places, each with its drive time and direction from Sacramento.
111 places within 2 hours, 177 within 3 hours and 246 within 4 hours of Sacramento, by road from ZIP 95814.
48 of the 177 places need no pass or fee, such as Alameda Creek Regional Trail, Alamo Square Painted Ladies and Crissy Field Promenade. Fees and passes change, so check each place before you go.
162 places are marked good for kids, including Alameda Creek Regional Trail, Alamo Square Painted Ladies and Alcatraz Island.
They are by real roads on a typical day, from the middle of ZIP 95814 to each place (OpenStreetMap data with the OSRM route planner). Traffic, weather and closures can change them. Places under 25 minutes from the city center count as in town, not a day trip, so they are left out.
Yes. Type your ZIP code into Day Trippin' and it shows everything by drive time. Your ZIP is used for that one search and is not saved.
Drive times are by road on a typical day from ZIP <class 'zip'> (OpenStreetMap data with the OSRM route planner). Facts checked against official sites; passes and hours change, so check before you go.