Hotel at a Glance: Hallmark Inn UC Davis

Between the UC-Davis campus and the charming establishments in downtown Davis, there’s a lot to see near Hallmark Inn UC Davis—but you don’t have to leave the building to get a taste of local flavor. The lobby and other parts of the hotel showcases local artwork, and the rest of the building encompasses restaurants, a yoga studio, and a local winery’s tasting room. When you are ready to venture outside, hop on a bicycle, which the hotel loans out free of charge.

• Where you’ll stay: Guest rooms come with a 32-inch flat-screen TV, complimentary WiFi, and Keurig coffeemakers.
• Onsite dining: Your room comes with two breakfast vouchers at Café 110, where you can start your morning off with dishes such as egg scrambles and breakfast bread pudding. Breakfast is served 6:30 a.m.–10 a.m. each day.
• Treat yourself at adjacent businesses including Massage Envy and CREAM, which serves gourmet ice-cream sandwiches.
• Local wines are showcased at the courtyard lounge, with complimentary glasses poured every evening from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
• Work up a sweat while lifting weights in the onsite exercise room or swimming laps in the outdoor pool.
• Nearby attractions include art galleries, a seasonal farmer’s market, UC-Davis, and the US Bicycling Hall of Fame.
• Recent accolade: The hotel picked up a 2015 TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence.
• Visit Seasons Restaurant which specializes in American cuisine, and features local ingredients and seasonal menus. Guests can look forward to nightly specials, Sunday brunch, as well as lunch served Tuesday–Friday, and dinner served Tuesday–Sunday.

Davis, California: A Cycler’s Paradise in the Suburbs of Sacramento

Learning to bike is a rite of passage for Davis’s citizens. Known to many as “The Bicycle Capital of America,” Davis has been on the cutting edge of bicycling communities since the 1960s, when citizens lobbied for more bike lanes and safer cycling. Today, 95 percent of Davis’s streets have dedicated bike lanes, and you can learn more about cycling as a whole at the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame, located just a few blocks from the hotel. Aside from two-wheeled transportation, much of the city revolves around University of California, Davis, and you don’t have to be a student to benefit from higher education. Check out the campus’ Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts for a lineup of nationally-known musicians, comedians, and other artists.

Sacramento— California’s present-day capital—is a 20-minute drive from Davis. The city made a name for itself in the mid-1800s when the first traces of the state’s rich gold deposits were discovered in nearby Coloma. Remnants of the iconic gold-rush era can still be found in Old Sacramento, a designated National Historic Landmark that spans eight blocks. At the north end of Old Sacramento is the 100,000-square-foot California State Railroad Museum. Among the museum’s holdings are 21 massive, restored locomotives, some of which date back to the Civil War. Nearby, the Crocker Art Museum—founded in 1885 by the widow of a railroad magnate—is one of the western U.S.’s oldest continuously operating art museums.

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