Northern California's 10 Most Laid-Back Towns

Northern California's quieter end runs from the Russian River wine country up through the coastal redwoods to Mount Shasta, and east through the Sierra to Lake Tahoe. Calistoga is built on Napa Valley vineyards and the geothermal hot springs that have been drawing visitors since the 1860s. Mendocino keeps its small galleries and Victorian downtown along a 350-acre headlands preserve on the Pacific. Nevada City preserves a working Gold Rush downtown around California's oldest operating theater (1865). Guerneville fills its weekends with paddling on the Russian River and walks among 1,400-year-old redwoods at Armstrong Reserve. Tahoe City sits at the only outlet of Lake Tahoe, where the Truckee River drains north into the Sierra. The ten towns below all run at a pace that rewards staying a few days rather than passing through.

Nevada City

Nevada City has a walkable historic downtown that runs Broad Street through preserved 19th-century commercial buildings, one of the largest intact mid-1800s downtowns in California. The Firehouse No. 1 Museum, in a converted 1861 firehouse, runs exhibits on Nevada County's mining history and earlier Nisenan settlement, with displays of period firearms, Indigenous tools, and a working photograph archive. The 1865 Nevada Theatre, the oldest operating theater in California, runs stage plays, film screenings, and poetry readings on the same boards where Mark Twain delivered his Sandwich Islands lecture on October 31, 1866.

The Deer Creek Tribute Trail leads out of downtown for about 8 miles of mixed paved-and-dirt path, crossing Deer Creek on a suspension bridge and passing through second-growth pine and oak under the watershed of the South Yuba River.

Calistoga

Calistoga sits at the northern end of the Napa Valley, built on geothermal hot springs that have been drawing visitors since Sam Brannan opened a resort here in 1862. The town has more than a dozen working spas with mud baths, mineral springs, and pool complexes, including Indian Springs (in continuous operation since 1862, the original Brannan property). Sterling Vineyards, on a hill three miles south of town, runs a 300-foot aerial tram up to its tasting room with full views over the upper valley. The Old Faithful Geyser of California, just north of town, erupts on a roughly 30-minute interval, sending boiling water about 60 feet into the air.

The Petrified Forest, a private property six miles west of town, holds a fossilized stand of coast redwoods buried by an eruption of nearby Mount Saint Helena 3.4 million years ago, with marked trails through the exposed mineralized trunks. Indian Springs Calistoga, on Lincoln Avenue, runs the largest of the town's mud-bath operations and an Olympic-sized geothermal pool that has been operating since 1913.

Sausalito

Sausalito sits on the northern shore of San Francisco Bay across from the city, a steep hillside town built on the old waterfront warehouse district that supplied the Marin shipyards in World War II. Battery Spencer, a former coastal artillery battery about 500 feet above the Golden Gate strait, runs as a Marin Headlands lookout with the standard postcard view across the Golden Gate Bridge toward the city. The Sausalito Boardwalk along Bridgeway runs through coffee shops, restaurants, and shops with the working ferry terminal at the southern end.

Scoma's of Sausalito, on a Bridgeway dock, has been the working seafood pick on the waterfront since 1968. Waldo Point Harbor, at the northern end of town, holds a community of about 400 floating homes built up over decades from a postwar artist-and-bohemian squatter colony, now one of the largest residential houseboat communities in North America and a National Historic District.

Mendocino

Mendocino sits on a headlands point above the Pacific on the northern California coast, three hours up Highway 1 from San Francisco. The town's grid of preserved 19th-century wood-frame buildings was built around the local lumber industry in the 1850s and 1860s; most of the downtown is on the National Register as the Mendocino and Headlands Historic District. Mendocino Headlands State Park, a 350-acre preserve wrapping the western edge of town, runs gentle bluff trails above the rocky coast with sandy beaches reached by stair access at several points. The Kelley House Museum, in an 1861 wood-frame house that was the home of one of the town's founders, runs guided tours of period furnishings and a historic photograph archive.

The Mendocino Art Center, in continuous operation since 1959, runs gallery exhibitions of sculpture, painting, ceramics, textiles, and other media, and a year-round program of workshops in oil painting, ring-making, printmaking, and clay handbuilding.

Ferndale

Ferndale, in coastal Humboldt County, holds one of the most complete Victorian commercial districts in California, with about 50 buildings from the 1870s through the 1890s lining Main Street. The downtown's Carpenter Gothic and Eastlake-style storefronts now hold galleries, shops, and small businesses, including the Ferndale Arts Gallery, a working co-op of regional ceramicists, jewelers, painters, and woodworkers. The Ferndale Museum runs a regional collection from the Victorian period and the California Gold Rush, including a working Bosch-Omori seismograph from the early 20th century that has been recording earthquakes for decades.

Hadley Gardens, a small public garden at the edge of town, runs marked walkways through native coastal prairie, coastal dunes, and riparian forest habitats planted with native plant species.

Guerneville

Guerneville sits along the Russian River about an hour and a half north of San Francisco and two hours west of Sacramento. Johnson's Beach, the town beach, runs directly off Main Street with summer swimming, picnicking, and canoe and kayak rentals from the on-site outfitter. The Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve, two miles north of town, runs 805 acres of old-growth coast redwood including the 1,400-year-old Colonel Armstrong tree and the 308-foot Parson Jones tree, the tallest specimen in the reserve. The trails wind through second-growth and old-growth stands with interpretive panels covering forest ecology and the 19th-century logging history that left this single grove standing.

Main Street holds a few standing food picks. Boon Eat + Drink runs seasonal California cuisine with dishes like Moroccan chicken and vegan risotto. El Barrio, a few doors down, runs ceviche and tequila past dinner.

Dunsmuir

Dunsmuir sits along Interstate 5 and the upper Sacramento River in the shadow of Mount Shasta, a former Southern Pacific railroad town with a preserved early-20th-century downtown. Mossbrae Falls, on the Sacramento River north of town, drops over 50 feet of basalt face in a wide curtain. Public access historically required walking the active rail line (which is unsafe and trespassing); the City of Dunsmuir has been working on a dedicated pedestrian access route, and visitors should check current trail status before going. Hedge Creek Falls, off the I-5 northern exit, drops about 35 feet over a basalt overhang and is reached by a quarter-mile trail with a viewing platform behind the falls.

The Dunsmuir Botanical Gardens, in a 10-acre site at City Park, runs labeled native plant collections of dogwood, Shasta lily, and Pacific rhododendron. Cave Springs Resort, on the river south of town, runs riverside cabin lodging.

Grass Valley

Grass Valley was the largest gold-mining town in California through most of the 19th century, with the Empire Mine alone producing approximately 5.8 million ounces of gold over its century of operation (1850-1956). The Empire Mine State Historic Park, an 856-acre preserved mine site at the southern edge of town, runs guided tours of the William Bourn Jr. cottage (the 1898 mine-owner's country house designed by Willis Polk), a yard of preserved mining equipment, and the entrance to a 367-mile underground shaft network that runs more than a mile beneath the surface. The Holbrooke Hotel on Main Street has been operating since 1862 and is the standing downtown anchor.

The Wolf Creek Trail runs about 1.3 miles along Wolf Creek through the lower part of downtown. Condon Park, the town's main public park, runs picnic pavilions and a small playground in a grove of mixed pine and oak.

Tahoe City

Tahoe City sits at the northwest corner of Lake Tahoe, where the Truckee River drains north out of the lake at the only outlet (Tahoe City was named after the lake, not the other way around). Commons Beach, a free public beach in the heart of town, runs as the standing town swimming spot through summer with concerts on the lawn most weekend evenings. Tahoe City Kayak & Paddleboard runs rentals and guided tours, including a two-hour Sunset Kayak Tour that runs along the western shoreline.

Truckee River Rafting runs guided float trips down the upper Truckee from Tahoe City to River Ranch on Class I-II water. The Truckee River Bike Trail, a paved 4.5-mile path along the river from Tahoe City toward Squaw Valley, makes the same run on land.

Mount Shasta

The town of Mount Shasta sits at 3,500 feet on the southwestern flank of Mount Shasta itself, a 14,179-foot stratovolcano in the southern Cascades and one of the tallest peaks in California. The mountain is sacred to several local Indigenous nations including the Wintu, Karuk, Modoc, Shasta, and Pit River. Mount Shasta Spiritual Tours runs guided trips to scenic viewpoints, alpine lakes, and forested areas around the lower slopes. River Dancers Rafting & Kayaking runs whitewater on the upper Sacramento, Trinity, and Klamath rivers, with guided runs from beginner sections to Class III rapids.

Lake Siskiyou, a 430-acre alpine reservoir three miles west of town, runs walking trails, kayak rentals, and a designated swimming area, with the standard view of Mount Shasta across the water. Redwood Gallery in town runs landscape photography, prints, and paintings of Mount Shasta and the surrounding wilderness, much of it produced by local artists.

Northern California's Relaxing Communities

The ten towns above run on something specific to where they sit. A 19th-century mining downtown around the oldest operating theater in the state. A hot-springs resort at the northern end of the Napa Valley. A coastal headlands preserve wrapping a Victorian downtown built by lumber. A railroad town at the base of a 14,179-foot stratovolcano. A floating-home community at the foot of the Marin Headlands. Pick the one whose anchor matches the trip, and the rest tends to follow.