California State Capitol Museum

California State Capitol Museum

California State Capitol Museum
4.5
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Saturday
Closed
Sunday
Closed
About
This 19th-century granite building, modeled after the U.S. Capitol, is home to the California Legislature and houses a public museum and a surrounding garden. We are closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Duration: 1-2 hours
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  • Disneybus
    Pittsgrove, New Jersey979 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Very nice capitol - tour comes up short
    My wife and I, touring from New Jersey, took a docent tour of the capitol. First, the grounds are very impressive with palms swaying around the perimeter and the dome very prominent. While we gained some insight from the tour, we were disappointed. Our guide, while knowledgeable, was a fast talker and not albeit clear. It was hard to pick up on his rehearsed delivery: we were led to several rooms no longer used rather than seeing and learning about today's working government. Most disappointing was that we weren't brought into either the Senate or Assembly chambers; a must with our other capitol visits. We did visit the Assembly on our own later, but didn't get into the Senate. It was fun seeing the portraits of Arnold and Ron, but why is Reagans statue in the basement adjacent to the gift shop?
    Visited May 2024
    Traveled as a couple
    Written June 7, 2024
  • BrakiWorldTraveler
    Belgrade, Serbia20,038 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Private tour of amazing Capitol
    California's Capitol is the most similar to DC's Nation Capitol. It's modeled upon DC's, but finished earlier. That's because of CA wealth due to gold rush and mining which mostly started and ended here, in Sacramento. That gave Sac great advantage over SF and LA to become the state capital. That, and many other interesting stories we learned from our tour guide, whose name I unfortunately don't remember. Tours of CA Capitol run on the hour from 10AM to 4PM. Luckily for us, some people cancelled so we were the only on the 3PM tour. Throughout 45 min he gave detailed explanations about CA history, took us to the assembly room and by the painted Governors portraits. The rest of time we could roam freely, seeing the small museum and other interesting things.
    Visited May 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written June 8, 2024
  • Sarah C
    Ashtead, United Kingdom1,321 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Awesome building, great tour
    This was excellent, we saw the museum and did the tour, which was a bit limited due to renovations. Our guide was brilliant, lots of insider titbits, and made the place - which is delightfully grand - come to life. The Governor portrait gallery was fascinating. Highly recommended
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written June 19, 2024
  • Katia74LA
    Los Angeles, California69 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    A Must see
    Great place for Californians and visitors to see and learn more about our history ! People who worked in the building were very friendly , beginning with the security, state highway trooper, attendants inside . A Must see when in town !
    Visited August 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written August 6, 2024
  • scott r
    Silver Spring, Maryland784 contributions
    4.0 of 5 bubbles
    Docent tour worth your time - but also speak with interpreter in historic room
    Friendly staff, decent hour long docent tour. We did not see the Assembly and both chambers are viewed from a heavy plexiglass shielded gallery - tribute I guess to some overenthusiastic CA citizen audiences. Several historic rooms downstairs interpret the building as it once was - but in reality it was gutted in order to earthquake proof the place and you are viewing a recreation rather than a restoration. The court was here once too, but you do not see that - nor the (present) governor's offices. It is a pleasant visit and average-good as state Capitols go in terms of being ornate / oohs and aahs. They don't incorporate a little history museum as some Capitols do. Reagan looks a little lonely in his basement rotunda.
    Visited September 2024
    Traveled solo
    Written October 6, 2024
  • Cathy T
    30 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Great historical experience
    The guided tour was very informative . We ended up basically having a private tour. Our guide, Cindy, was very knowledgeable. The inside of the capitol was extraordinary: the architecture was beautiful and unique. There were Great photo opportunities for anyone who likes historic places. The tour was free. You can also walk through the allowed areas for visitors on your own if you just want to wonder at your own pace
    Visited October 2024
    Traveled with family
    Written October 10, 2024
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.

Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.5
4.5 of 5 bubbles1,403 reviews
Excellent
889
Very good
439
Average
68
Poor
5
Terrible
2

Brendan S
Arlington, VA2,172 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2022
The California Capitol Building has a "Museum" section of rooms that look like they did a century ago, and information about the State (bird, song, animal, etc.). There's a free hour-long tour that takes the group to some of these rooms, to the legislative assembly room, into the rotunda, and examines the interesting portraits of governors, including the very famous ones like Reagan and Schwarzenegger. It's interesting and informative as the guide was very knowledgeable about design elements and trivia about the building and governors that I would not have known but for the tour.
Written November 6, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Lottelli
Wirral, UK2,931 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2022 • Couples
There are free walking tours on the hour - meet in the rotunda.

The building is fantastic.

The free tour was really informative and I learnt thinks I wouldn’t have known about.

All of the Californian governors portraits are on the wall - look out for Arnies!

We got to look into the chambers which was cool.
Written November 3, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

BigMerk
Glasgow, UK2,707 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2022
We were only in Sacramento for a few hours on a long road trip. I had already identified that the Capitol building was closed on a Saturday (some are, some aren’t) so it was not a surprise. It was still good to see the outside and take some photos. It’s a very grand-looking building in a classic style and immediately the surrounding area is similarly grand. It’s very central and within easy walking distance of Old Sacramento (the main tourist destination).
Written September 30, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Mel S
Santa Barbara, CA122 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2024 • Solo
For those of us who have only a weekend to visit Sacramento, it is disappointing that the Capitol and Museum are closed weekends. I think our State could do better. As for the exterior, half of it is covered by scaffolding g for the construction of an annex/extension, and the park is torn up in parts for the construction, with many paths closed.
Written February 1, 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Susan L
Port Washington, NY5 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2022
Most areas of building were closed to visitors due to Covid. Briefly viewed each chamber in session but other interesting rooms had been closed for a while.
Also, entry is difficult to locate. You must walk a distance from the front to access entry.
Written June 7, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

grwpl
Munich, Germany1,264 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020
It is a real bonus to be able to access buildings like this, even more so as entrance id free of charge as well as the guided tour.

Walked all around ti building in the beautiful park to the south entrance, simple and effective security screening and then you are allowed to wander around on your own. It is interesting to see some Californian history and where tomorrows history is being made. I joined the free tour with was very informative and relaxed. Really enjoyed seeing the historical rooms that were on display as well as the chambers where laws re debated and enacted.

The portraits of the governors are really worth seeing especially the Jerry Brown portrait that I thought was excellent - It is interesting to see the ego's of Ronnie and Arnie reflected in their portraits
Written January 26, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Richard Small
1 contribution
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jan 2020 • Friends
I went on this tour on a Saturday morning and it was one of the most interesting and fun tours I’ve been on. Our tour guide, Cindy ( I think that was her name) was not only very knowledgeable about everything, but she also made the tour a lot more interesting by pointing out random things about the building and engaging with the group. I’m not sure if all the guides do this but they need to. I also really enjoyed hearing about all the facts about the California seal and how the building has changed over the years. Do this tour, you won’t regret it I promise.
Written January 19, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Raymond
145 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Mar 2020
To me this is our city's pride and joy. A most beautiful building that luckily was saved due to an increase in patriotism during the Bicentennial year. The building was seismic proof so many of it's roof top statues were removed. A display of the seismic proofing can be found in the basement along with a nice gift shop. Free tours are offered and well worth it. Their is a big statue in the rotunda and tours take you inside the assembly and senate chambers with it's Czech lead crystal chandeliers, and walk passed the governor's portraits. There are rooms of historic information, a film to watch and antiqued furnished rooms. Don't miss Arnold Schwarzengger's bronze bear in front of the governor's office and the hallway of county exhibits. Due to security there is only one entrance now. The capitol grounds with it's memorials, camilla garden, peace rose garden tree arboretum, and site of Res. Gerald Ford's almost assassination.
Written March 13, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Steve M
Pulaski, TN583 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Couples
Another beautiful capitol building. They are in the middle of a huge renovation, gutting and replacing the back of the capitol. Luckily you can get some great pictures in the front. You will enter the north side of the building through a temporary building. We could only see the museum part of the capitol. We found a parking garage about 2 blocks north of the capitol and walked. Security and the staff were helpful and friendly.
Written July 20, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Rob-CS
Gothenburg, Sweden180 contributions
2.0 of 5 bubbles
Feb 2020 • Friends
As a museum I was not very impressed. They have recreated some old rooms and there is a lot of information about the building and it’s multiple renovations.
The cool part was that you can see where the California senate sits. If they were in session I would consider coming back to see that.
The building is very beautiful so if you want to go for that sake you can do that.
It is free to enter!
Written February 14, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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California State Capitol Museum - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2025)

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