Why Sacramento is the greatest city in California, America, and probably the world
If you’re not from Sacramento, you’ll want to be
Sacramento, despite being the capital of the greatest state in the US, is often overlooked in lieu of big names like San Francisco or Los Angeles. People just don’t know what they are missing.
We get more sun than the Sunshine State . . . and everywhere else in the world
Sacramento is the sunniest place on the entire planet from June until August, according to the World Data Center for Meteorology. Things really don’t get better than 98 percent sunshine. But unlike places like San Diego, where it is the same boring weather all the time, in Sactown, we have seasons. Worry not about never getting a chance to show off your cute little short shorts or adorable sweaters: Their time will come. Our climate is mild, but with a little spice. You’ll love it, just visit!
No seriously, visit
As the capital city and a Very Historical Place, Sacramento is bursting with attractions. Just head on down to Old Sac and see original edifices from the Gold Rush, before popping in to the Railroad Museum where there really cool old trains and cars. Or for the more politically minded, try visiting the California State Capitol and take a (free) guided tour of state government at its finest. Art lovers should definitely hit up the Crocker Art Museum, and younger visitors will love the Sacramento Zoo and theme parks like Fairy Tale Town and Adventureland. And if you’re here in the summer? Hit up the State Fair.
Visit for the food alone
Sacramento has a vibrant restaurant and beverage scene, which prides itself on being farm-to-fork. Fresh and locally grown produce is impossible to avoid (and you’ll love it). Excellent cuisine from every culture can be found and for every price range. Great restaurants abound, and specialty dining like vegan, Korean barbeque, or restaurants listed on the Yelp Top 100 in the US are ubiquitous. Food truck fun follows you around . . . or maybe you chase craft beer on the Sac Brew Bike, a fifteen-person mobile bar harnessing human pedalling power to get from brewpub to alehouse. (I couldn’t make this up.) And of course for lovers of a different kind of fast food, there’s In-N-Out everywhere.
We’re super hip?
Sacramento has for sure become a dining destination, partially as a result of its newly hipster status (4th Most Hipster in US, 1st in California, yeah above SF), which mostly just means trendy new eateries with cool decor and LOTS of independent coffee shops. We’re like Portland, but less rain and we shower.
We have the most trees per capita in the world. Seriously
My hometown is not nicknamed the City of Trees for nothing. Did you read that? The. Most. Trees. Per. Capita. I’m not bragging but – ok, I’m definitely bragging. But come on, as urban forests go, Sacramento-1, Paris-0.
It’s easy to get around, even without a car
Sacramento’s got a great public transportation system, featuring a myriad of buses and our pride and joy, the light rail. To get a little farther away, the Amtrak is a train that can take you to other cities, and if that’s not far enough, there’s an international airport ten minutes away from downtown. (But why would you ever leave?)
We’re a big city, but we’ve got that small town sense of community
Sacramentans stick together. We help each other out, get neighborly, and are free with our smiles (at strangers too!). We LOVE community projects and coming together to enact social or artistic change. Take for example our Thanksgiving Day charitable 5k Run to Feed the Hungry raises almost half a million dollars each year.
Good cost of living
Sacramento is affordable. As a hometown, things like being able to go out to eat or pay rent are nice without having to sell a kidney or mortgage your first-born.
If it’s not here, it’s not far
We are the perfect distance from everything. Want to ski at the site of a Winter Olympics or hike in the Sierra Nevadas? Tahoe is a mere 100 miles away (an hour and a half by car). Feeling a day trip to San Francisco? 90 miles. Redwood State Park, Monterey, LA, Napa Valley, Yosemite . . . you could go for a day-trip anywhere you wanted.
Sacramento is centrally located, so everywhere is accessible. Capital perks, I suppose.
But you don’t have to leave the city to get away
Nature permeates the city and surrounding region, and it’s so easy to immerse yourself in the outdoors. Take a bike down the American river trail, visit the delta, or if you are more adventurous, navigate whitewater rapids on a rafting trip. Lose yourself among the vegetables at a Sunday farmer’s market.