Natural beauty and nice people on a Sacramento Charter Bus tour

In 2012, Sacramento started the marketing campaign as “America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital” due to Sacramento’s many restaurants that source their food locally from the numerous surrounding farms. The city has an annual Farm-to-Fork festival that showcases various grocers and growers in the industry. In 2012, The Kitchen was nominated for Outstanding Restaurant by the James Beard Foundation. It continues to excel, earning the AAA’s Five Diamond dining award since 2011.  Sacramento is home to well-known cookbook authors, Biba Caggiano of Biba’s Restaurant and Mai Pham of Lemongrass and Star Ginger.

Sacramento is also known for its beverage culture, with keystone events that include Cal Expo‘s Grape and Gourmet, Sacramento Beer Week, and Sacramento Cocktail Week. Its growing beer scene is evident, with over 60 microbreweries in the region as of 2017. Some local brews include Track 7 Brewing Company, Big Stump Brew Co, Oak Park Brewing Co., and Sactown Union Brewery. Numerous beer festivals around the region highlight both local and visitor beers. In addition to festivals in Elk Grove, Davis, Roseville, Placerville, and Woodland, Sacramento hosts the annual California Beer Craft Summit, an exposition dedicated to the art of brewing. The summit also hosts the largest beer festival on the West Coast, featuring over 160 breweries in downtown Sacramento.

Sacramento boasts an extensive park system consisting of over 5,000 acres (2,023 ha) of parkland and recreation centers. The city features a collection of smaller parks in the Downtown districts, including Crocker Park, Pioneer Landing and Southside Park. Popular parks outside the central core include American River Parkway which spans 23 miles along the American River, and William Land Park.

In its 2013 ParkScore ranking, The Trust for Public Land reported that Sacramento was tied with San Francisco and Boston for having the 3rd best park system among the 50 most populous U.S. cities. ParkScore ranks city park systems by a formula that analyzes the city’s median park size, park acres as percent of city area, the percent of residents within a half-mile of a park, spending of park services per resident, and the number of playgrounds per 10,000 residents.