Stockton CA California
Frequently Asked Questions
At the downtown basin, where a riverside promenade runs between the local baseball stadium and the marina docks. You land right downtown, with no transfer.
Thanks to the deep water channel dredged through to San Francisco Bay, opened in the early 1930s, which lets ocean-going vessels come all the way up to the wharves. That is what turned this inland crossroads into a port connected to the oceans.
Yes, the immediate surroundings of the basin suit an unhurried two or three hour walk: restored theatres, ornate facades and murals. The Haggin Museum and the Miracle Mile, however, need a short ride.
Walk the riverside promenade and the historic centre, then choose between the Haggin Museum and the Miracle Mile district on Pacific Avenue. Finish at a local table, where valley produce takes the lead.
It is among the most unusual in the American West. The ship threads between the low islands of the delta, past levees planted with fruit trees, and passes anglers, motionless herons and houseboats moored to the willows. At sunset the levees stand out in silhouette against copper-coloured water.
A museum combining American landscape painting, European canvases and collections tracing regional history. It is the cultural stop local excursions favour.
A stretch of Pacific Avenue lined with cafés, shops and restaurants in a retro neighbourhood atmosphere, close to the leafy campus of the University of the Pacific.
Central Valley produce: asparagus in spring, cherries and tomatoes in summer, and wines from the neighbouring hills to go with them.
The US dollar and English, with Spanish very present in this agricultural California. Credit cards are accepted everywhere and restaurant tipping runs 15 to 20 percent.
Spring and autumn, when the Central Valley stays bearable. Summers here are very hot and dry, and shade is scarce along the riverside promenade.
