As the largest city between San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, the City of Santa Rosa has both small town features and big city amenities. Santa Rosa has museums, a strong biking and hiking communities, incredibly beautiful countryside and respect for open space and agriculture, fine colleges and universities, and a diverse community recognized for its volunteer spirit and energy.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places ~ a step back in time honoring early 1900’s preserved architecture and a district defined by the railroads.

Events

Santa Rosa is home to a number of grassroots to large annual events featuring music, performance, kinetic races, sports, food and wine tasting, seasonal activities, and so much more.

• The Great Handcar Regatta
• AMGEN Tour of California &
  Levi Leipheimer’s Gran Fondo
• First Fridays on Fourth
• Taste of Railroad Square
• 6th Annual Railroad Scare
• Sonoma County Vintners

See current Events information.

Tours

Self-Guided Walking Tour Maps available at the Visitors Center and Mara’s walking tour of RRSQ. Also, see the Santa Rosa’s guided walking tour PDF

Santa Rosa Convention & Visitors Bureau and the California Welcome Center offers a wealth of information housed in a 1904 authentically restored Northwestern Pacific Railroad Depot. View the Welcome Center’s list of 30 reasons to visit Santa Rosa. Also in the restored Depot: the Rail Room — History Museum of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad Historical Society.

Museums & History

Charlie Brown and Snoopy, Bronze Tribute Statues designed by Stan Paukulski and honoring world renowned cartoonist Charles M. Schulz who made his home in Sonoma County for over 50 years. Other Peanuts characters featured around the District as part of the Peanuts on Parade Street Art events include Woodstock, the Engineer, Charlie Brown, the Conductor, and Snoopy, the Brakeman.

Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center welcomes people from all over the world travel to visit this jewel of a museum where the many works and creative genius of the most popular cartoonist in history are on display.

Other museums and attractions not to miss are the Pacific Coast Air Museum located at the Charles M. Schulz Airport, Safari West, a wild life preserve where you can even sleep overnight in luxurious tent cabins, and the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County.

Historic sites a few blocks away include famed horticulturalist Luther Burbank’s Home & Gardens, the Sonoma County Museum of Art & History and the one of a kind De Turk Round Barn, a perfect “barn in the round”, located the nearby residential West End neighborhood.

College & University

Sonoma State University (SSU) embodies a tradition of promoting intellectual and personal growth, leadership opportunities and technological proficiency, SSU offers its students a friendly, safe and informal atmosphere on a beautiful campus setting.

Santa Rosa Junior College is known for its academic rigor, its outstanding job training programs, superb faculty, comprehensive student services, and excellent facilities.

Empire College focuses on training of individuals for enriching and lasting careers in medicine, business, and law.

Live Entertainment

See more information about local venues and entertainment Events.

6th Street Playhouse located in 1880’s beautifully retrofitted brick building.

Last Day Saloon featuring live music nightly in a spacious venue with dinner, full bar, and room for dancing or lounging.

A’Roma Roasters is a local favorite encompassing european style fine coffee and roasting, ice cream and pastry, plus live music and performance in a large comfortable space.

Recreation

Run, bike or walk along the adjacent Santa Rosa Creek and the Prince Memorial Greenway. Bike paths let you explore more of Sonoma County from this central location.

Located at the heart of the Sonoma County Wine Country and the business and professional center and county seat, Santa Rosa is just a few miles away from the vineyards, the Redwoods, the Coast and a rolling countryside dotted with small farms where farmers grow produce and raise sheep, cheese and dairy, beef, ducks and poultry and so much more that grace the tables of Sonoma County’s and San Francisco’s renowned restaurants.

• Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve
• Farm Trails
• Annadel State Park
• About.com Recreation: Sports/Parks/Nature lists further resources

Food, Wine, & Shopping

See more information about shopping and dining in Railroad Square.

Conveniently located within the District are 18 restaurants, coffee houses and wine shops/tasting rooms, a Spa and 320 hotel rooms in 3 distinct lodgings for all tastes and budgets.

Railroad Square is next door to Santa Rosa Plaza, the regional shopping center, and to Santa Rosa’s downtown commercial center, including Santa Rosa City Hall, the Library, post office, banks, and other small shops and eating establishments.