Welcome to davis

Davis offers miles of beautifully kept parks, excellent schools, 
world-class musicians and performing artists, and proximity to many desirable destinations. 

 
 

The Best of Davis (ACCORDING TO MARTHA)

Davis' Greenbelt and Parks
The greenbelt is the nearly continuous stretch of parks and bike paths that stretch across North, South, East, and West Davis. There are more than sixty miles of greenbelt in a town of ten square miles offering many pleasant places to walk, run, or ride your bike. With bike bridges and bike tunnels connecting neighborhoods, kids use the greenbelt to bike to school. 

The Arboretum at UC Davis
Davisites and UC students alike enjoy the trail and abundant trees and shrubs along the east end of Putah Creek. The Redwood grove provides a cool, shady place to picnic or read, even on the hottest days.  

The Davis Farmer's Market
Each Saturday morning and Wednesday afternoon, area farmers bring their crops to the Davis Farmer's Market at Central Park. Here you can find a splendid array of fruits and vegetables (including certified organic produce), meats, chicken, fish and seafood, wine, local eggs, honey, baked goods, and flowers. 

Proximity is everything!
From Davis, you can easily drive to some of California's best destinations. Below is a list of places you can visit and the approximate drive time:

California Gold Country - 45 minutes
Napa/Sonoma Wine Country - 1 hour
San Francisco - 1 hour 15 minutes
Sierra Nevada Ski areas - 1 1/2 hours
Lake Tahoe - 2 hours
Pt. Reyes National Seashore - 2 1/2 hours
Monterey/Carmel - 3 hours
Mt. Lassen National Park - 3 hours
Yosemite National Park - 4 hours
Sequoia National Park - 5 hours

Picnic Day
Picnic Day is the annual open house at UC Davis when visitors are invited to enjoy a host of entertaining and educational activities. A few of the popular events around campus are the Sheep Dog Trials, Chemistry Magic Show, Battle of the Bands, Davis Dance Revolution, Polo Match, Track and Field Meet, and Dachshund Races.  

Arts and Entertainment
For a small town, Davis offers many opportunities for enjoying music, dance, and distinguished speakers. The Mondavi Center brings performers with worldwide acclaim to Davis. Orchestras from China, London, San Francisco, and Cleveland have performed, as well as musicians Wynton Marsalis, Itzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma, Sonny Rollins, and the Pat Metheny Group. The “Distinguished Speaker Series" has brought such notables as President Bill Clinton, Garrison Keillor and Terry Gross.
The Veterans Memorial Center has presented numerous performances by local talent—including the annual Nutcracker Ballet, which is performed by dozens of children each year.
Artists of all ages and skill levels can take classes at the Davis Art Center, which also hosts art shows and music performances for children and adults.

Great Schools
Annual test scores for the Davis School District are consistently above the state-wide average. Davis has nine public elementary schools, four junior high schools, and two high schools, as well as parochial and Montessori schools.

Neighborhoods
Central Davis is adjacent to the University and provides easy access to downtown. College Park, which borders the campus, features homes built in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s.
West of town, between Davis and Winters, are many rural homes and small farms with orchards and room for horses.
El Macero Country Club was developed at the southeast edge of town in the early 1960’s. Homes are set along the 18-hole championship golf course.
Newer homes on lots up to one acre in size can be found in Oakshade in South Davis. Also at the south edge of town is Willowbank, with large lots and a rural atmosphere.
Newer developments include Northstar, Mace Ranch, and Wildhorse, which has its own public golf course. Lake Alhambra Estates has some of the largest homes in town set around a man-made lake.
Stonegate is at the west edge of Davis and features its own lake and clubhouse.
From Covell Park, built in the 1960’s and 70’s along the Davis greenbelt, you can easily walk or bike to the High School, Library, or the Davis Art Center.