I am a native of Sacramento, born and raised. Who else is better to give a review? I may not be objective, but i do have sensible ideas. I say, spend the afternoon, or midmorning to midafternoon in Old Sacramento. Located directly off the river, the area referred to as old sacramento is sequestered between a freeway and a river. The old wood walkways look just as they did. There are even cobblestones, which arent very pleasant to drive over, but add to the scenery. When you first arrive in the Old sacramento area, there is parking in the garage, but if you dont plan to stay long, find some street parking. First, just walk around. The buildings are old. See the old Schoolhouse, which is very historic. Walk along the river, it is very pretty. Look at the little tourist shops-some of them have cool things..my two personal favorites are enchantment and evangelines. There is also a great chocolate shop called "the chocolate factory" and their truffles are delicious. California Fats is a good restuarant to eat in, but i heard most of them are. After just checking out the history of the area, and you got a bite to eat, walk down by the parking garage, on a large path area that goes under the freeway. At night it use to be pretty creepy, but it has gotten alot better, just like Old sac( i heard it use to be a slum). In any case, if you continue walking you will run straight on to the Downtown Plaza Shopping mall. It is my favorite mall in Sacramento. So conveniently located near Old sacramento...five minute walk. But, Old Sacramento is a favorite place of mine. Its charming. Definately spend a few hours there when you come to Sac.

We recently flew from the east coast to Oakland on our way to Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, etc. We were looking for a place to spend the afternoon and evening without traveling too far from the airport. We decided to spend some time in Old Sacramento. Old Sacramento is a fairly small area consisting of 2 longer streets which are intersected by about 6 short streets. There are typical tourist stores such as t-shirt shops and trinket stores. We did have a first rate and delicious lunch at the Rio City Cafe which served extraordinaily delicious salads. We sat outside at a table with a large umbrella which shielded us from the powerful late summer sun. The outdoor dining overlooked the attractive Sacramento River where private boats were sailing. It really made for a lovely scene. The restaurant served excellent food and was very reasonably priced. Parking was also convenient in a large municipal garage only a block away. Unfortunately our preteen son did not have a lot to do and didn't love Old Sacramento. It's an interesting place to spend a couple of hours. It's purportedly restored to the way it looked shortly after the founding of the city. But the well-advised will not plan to spend an entire day here. There simply aren't enough attractions.