Sacramento is the capital of the state of California and enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate, making it an ideal location for a vacation. It is also the center of cultural and economic activity and easily accessible. Sacramento has several nicknames and the most commonly used are Capital City, River City, The Big Tomato and the City of Trees. The locals refer to Sacramento as Sac, Sactown, or Sacto. A popular area to visit is the original area where Sacramento was first developed is the area referred to as Old Sacramento or Old Sac.



The California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento has exhibits of the old steam engines and locomotives, which the visitors are allowed to ride. The Community Center Theatre hosts the Sacramento Ballet, the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and the Sacramento Opera. The oldest public art museum of the west, the Crocker Art Museum, is also housed here. The popular theater companies here are California Musical Theatre and Music Circus. These theaters bring popular artistes from New York City to Sacramento, to perform in their productions.

The Sacramento Shakespeare Festival is held every summer in William Land Park. The entertainment is provided under the star filled skies. Sacramento holds a Sacramento Jazz Jubilee every year, during the Memorial Day weekend. Jazz events are organized and performed in many parts of the city simultaneously. For this event, jazz fans from all over visit the city for the weekend and hence, it has earned itself the reputation of being the Dixieland jazz center. Apart from this, there are film festivals like the Sacramento French Film Festival, which showcases the best French films and also masterpieces of French cinema. The film festival also includes the Trash Film Orgy, held during the summer, which recognizes and celebrates the less classy movies, comprising of horror movies, monster films and other B-grade films.

If you are on vacation with the family, there are many places that are perfect for the little ones. The Pixie Woods Wonderland is one such place. It is a play area that has sets from various popular fairy tales. The Frontier Village allows children to ride on the stagecoaches and the bouncing ponies as well. There are various other shows and exciting games that are offered by the Toadstool Theater, making a visit here fun and eventful for the children. Sacramento also has a zoo that has more than 300 animals. The Sacramento Zoo includes lions and tigers and has a separate area dedicated to reptiles, in a safe a secure environment and yet as natural as possible.

In addition to the Sacramento Zoo is the Discovery Park. It is here that the American river flows into the Sacramento River making it extremely popular for fishing. It is 275 acres grasslands which provides the visitors with ample of opportunity to indulge in car and boat trailers, the archery range, horse and human trails and good picnics. This park also hosts a variety of concerts by local bands. A good time to visit Sacramento is during summer, when it is abuzz with activities and has something for everyone.