Attractions
Attractions
This ain’t no theme park. This here is the real deal. Registered as a national historic landmark, The Waterfront overflows with invigorating things to see and do. Wild museums, riverboat rides, historic railroads excursions, horse carriage, and cobblestone…it’s one non-stop adventure after another just waiting to unfold.
California Automobile Museum
Sacramento’s riverfront car museum, is an essential stop during your visit to Old Sacramento Waterfront.
California State Railroad Museum
The California State Railroad Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, offers a sight of rail history with over 2.5 acres of exhibits on the property. With a roundhouse museum space filled with trains, a picnic area on our 1849 scene, museum store, library, turntable, passenger station, and the areas only historic and authentic excursion train ride that is volunteer ran!
Library materials are available for review in the reading room, open Tuesdays – Saturdays, from 1 pm – 5 pm.
The Museum and Museum Store is open daily from 10 am to 5 pm. (Except major holidays)
The Excursion Train rides are 45 minutes long and operate weekends only April – September. Departures are from the Passenger Station (930 Front Street, Sacramento, CA 95814) every hour on the hour. Check departure availability and times on our website.
Our special event Spookomotive and Polar Express trains operate select weekends with limited ticket availability.
Museum exhibits are fully accessible, with the exception of historic railroad equipment. However alternate visitors’ experiences are provided.
Help keep the trains rolling by joining the California State Railroad Museum! Several membership levels are available for individuals, families, and children with benefits including but not limited to Free museum admission and coach excursion train ride tickets!
For questions learn more here.
Classic Coach
Carriage Rides departing from 1002 2nd Street.
Available for private booking
Ghost Tours
Presented by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation in October.
Something wicked this way comes, when you join our 2019 Murderers, Mayhem & Tragedies Ghost Tours! Witness villainy, treachery, and murder most foul- all true stories wrenched from headlines more than 150 years ago! We’re dying to see you! Click on the website link to learn more and buy tickets!
Gold Fever! Tours
Presented by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation. Tours run March through December.
The Gold Fever! Tour takes you to Sacramento’s beginning, when pioneers scratched and clawed to make this the hub of the Gold Rush. Visitors become real-life characters from the city’s first topsy-turvy decade. Will floods, fires, and disease destroy your fortune, or will you thrive anew in the Golden State?
Hornblower Cruises & Events-River Cruises
Historic river tours and special events.
Click here for the October river schedule.
Huntington & Hopkins Hardware
Part of the Old Sacramento State Historic Park, this free museum recreates a small town hardware business and displays 19th century tools and machinery.
Old Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum
Explore California’s early days of education in a living replica of a traditional one-room schoolhouse.
Old Sacramento Underground Tours
Operated by the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation. Tours run April through December.
Explore excavated foundations and enclosed pathways hidden since Sacramento raised its streets over a century ago.
Sac Brew Boat
Operated by the owners of the Sac Brew Bike and operated daily through October.
Sacramento’s 16 passenger Brew Boat provides a one and a half hour, pedal-powered party boat tours along the Sacramento River. Groups can bring their own beer/cider/wine aboard the chartered boat (limit 3 drinks per guest), as we cruise, pedal, and have fun on the river.
Cruises depart from the Public Docks just south of the L Street Landing (entrance between Rio City Cafe and Joe’s Crab Shack).
Sacramento History Museum
The dramatic and diverse history of Sacramento unfolds in the museum’s galleries.
Sacramento RiverTrain
Visit the storefront located at 127 J Street in Old Sacramento Waterfront for more information and to book tickets. Trains depart from a depot in West Sacramento, approximately 3 miles from Old Sacramento Waterfront.
Sacramento Southern Excursion Train
Operated by the California State Railroad Museum. Train rides run April through September.
Trains depart from and return to the Front Street Train Depot in Old Sacramento Waterfront.
Chug along the Sacramento River behind Granite Rock No. 10 steam locomotive or one of the museums vintage diesel locomotives.
The Sacramento Southern Railroad
The California State Railroad Museum’s popular excursion railroad — the Sacramento Southern Railroad operates April through September. Train rides include closed coach cars, open-air gondolas and a first-class observation car pulled by either Granite Rock No. 10 steam locomotive or one of our vintage diesel locomotives from the Museum’s collection.
Top Hand Ranch
Departing from 1002 2nd Street. Available for private booking.
Wells Fargo History Museum
A historically furnished recreation of an old Wells Fargo Agent’s office.