Sacramento CA (California)

Sacramento is a river port city and the capital of California USA (Sacramento County) with population over 0,5 million (metro around 2,7 million). The city is at the confluence of two rivers (Sacramento and American). The town was founded in the mid-19th-century (in 1840 as Fort Sutter/aka New Helvetia colony) and was incorporated in 1850, making it the state's oldest. The city quickly started to develop due to its strategic location on the two rivers as well as being the western terminus of the Pacific Railroad/aka Overland Route (North America's first transcontinental railroad/1869-completed).

Sacramento has a large deepwater port connected by an artificial channel to the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco Bay. However, Port Sacramento (locode USSAC) continuously sustains significant operating losses (mainly due to Port Stockton's competition) and reportedly is facing bankruptcy. Sacramento Deepwater Shipping Channel (length 43 mi / 69 km) links Port Sacramento (West Sacramento) with the Sacramento River. This is an artificial waterway (1963-opened) with depth ~30 ft (9 m) and width 200 ft (61 m). The Port handles primarily smaller-sized cargo ships (transporting agricultural products and bulk cargo) and only small boxships/container carriers

The cruise port is near Tower Bridge (aka M Street Bridge/across Sacramento River) that interlinks West Sacramento (Yolo County) with Sacramento City (Sacramento County).

As cruise port, Sacramento was included in the 2023 schedule of the USA's largest cruise company - ACL-American Cruise Lines.

Next table shows ACL's 7-night/8-day "San Francisco Bay Cruise" itinerary introduced in 2023 on the American Jazz ship.

The voyage's prices started from USD 6330 per person. Overnight port stays are scheduled in either Sacramento (days 4-5) or Napa (days 5-6).

ACL's San Francisco Bay Cruise itinerary features scenic cruising in San Francisco Bay and San Pablo Bay (an evening stop in Vallejo), as well as cruising on the Napa River and San Joaquin River. The San Francisco Bay cruise includes passing the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and Treasure Island. A guided San Francisco city tour visits Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf. The cruisetour's signature experiences also include NASCAR-style driving (at Stockton 99 Speedway) and visiting a Napa Valley Winery (wine-tasting excursion). A guided Old Sacramento tour visits the underground city, the port, and the California State Railroad Museum.

By its economy, Sacramento Metro is currently ranked the USA's 27th-largest and California's 5th-largest (following Los Angeles, San Francisco, the Inland Empire (centering around San Bernardino and Riverside) and San Diego. The city's current-day economy is heavily based on administrative services (state, county, city) and industries like healthcare (UC Davis Medical Center, Kaiser, Sutter Health, CommonSpirit Health), electronics manufacturing (Intel PC chips), education, and tourism.

Sacramento's most visited tourist attractions include California Governor's Mansion and Historic Park, Leland Stanford Mansion (houses the California Hall of Fame), California State Capitol Museum, California Museum, Crocker Art Museum, California State Railroad Museum (has operational steam locomotives), California Automobile Museum (displaying vehicles produced between 1880-2006), Aerospace Museum of California (displays both civilian and military aircraft and historical jet engines), Sacramento History Museum, Museum of Science and Curiosity.

The city's most visited by tourists parts are the Old Sacramento District (cobbled streets, 19th-century architecture, and historic buildings /fully restored or reconstructed, tours by historic steam trains and horse-drawn carriages), the Poverty Ridge Historic District, the Historic Chinatown, the Newton Booth Historic District. The city also features numerous nature parks and recreation zones.

Amtrak trains provide regularly scheduled inter-city connections and also link to the San Francisco Bay Area.

Sacramento Airport (approx 11 mi / 17 km northwest of downtown) has two terminals and a total of 32 gates. Regularly scheduled international flights connect to Mexico (Guadalajara, San Jose del Cabo, Silao, Mexico City) and Canada (Toronto, Vancouver). Numerous domestic flights connect to major American cities in California (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara), Washington, Texas, Tennessee, New Jersey, Oregon, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, as well as to Hawaii (Honolulu, Kahului).