7 Best Lakeside Towns in California

Known for the LA scene and the Golden Gates of San Francisco, the coastal dwellings in California also receive attention simply for the proximity to the Pacific. But, bring in a lake scene into the varied mix, and all of a sudden, you get the rivers flowing in, lush forests, and more scattered lakes around the landscape—sometimes mounted for that “elevated” alpine feel. June Lake is part of a lake loop, while Tahoe Lake is the largest alpine lake in North America. Big Bear Lake is surrounded by thick evergreen towering mountain slopes east of San Bernardino National Forest.

Straying just inland from the charming ocean towns, there’s the wine country, not far from Clearlake and Clear Lake, the state’s largest natural freshwater lake. Tahoe City enjoys Tahoe National Forest in its backyard, while Mono Lake Vista Point offers a clear overlook of the beautiful mountains surrounding the “inland sea” with its limestone tufa towers. Offering an enticing mix of exciting attractions and relaxing nature, these towns center around calm, pristine, crystal-clear lake waters, which makes them a standout in the Golden State.

Big Bear Lake

Tucked away in San Bernardino National Forest, this small town along the southern shore of the eponymous man-made reservoir is a favorite city getaway, between Los Angeles, Barstow, and Twentynine Palm. One of the state’s most fun yet secluded, it offers an enticing mix of exciting attractions and relaxing nature, strewn along the shores with trails and green parks. As an all-season town, where the Ski Beach Park is a 16.25-acre park on Big Bear Lake with sports courts, ball fields, a playground, and picnic tables, families enjoy the year-round Alpine Slide at Magic Mountain with winter bobsled tracks and summer water slides, accessed via chairlift. Across the water, the Big Bear Solar Observatory hosts visiting scientists to work and stay. Next door, Big Bear Valley Historical Museum offers local history attractions like panning for gold and wooded cabins with artifacts.

Right on the outskirts of the Greater Los Angeles Area, some two hours from the city center, Big Bear Lake is one of the most easily accessible locations, including international travel. Enjoy an easy approach via Highway 18 to the stunning area’s natural beauty. The high elevation receives plenty of sunshine in the summer, snow in the winter, and starts changing color through the San Bernardino forest in the fall, carpeting the surrounding mountains like Bertha Peak. The popular Boulder Bay Park comprises large boulders and rock formations on the shore and jutting from the water, perfect for climbing and photography. Across the lake, Big Bear Discovery Center features nature-based exhibitions, eco-tours, an amphitheater, and trail maps. The upcoming Christmas and New Year’s festivities are perfect to combine with your skiing getaway at Snow Summit, just south of downtown.

Clearlake

Clear Lake, the state’s largest natural freshwater lake, is a fisherman’s paradise, featuring bass, catfish, and crappie. The expansive lake and the town along its southeastern edge nestle at the base of the Mendocino National Forest, so nature is varied and abundant here. Among the many small lakeside towns along the enormous lake, Clearlake is the most robust, making it a memorable daytrip or a base for a getaway, with other excursions in the surrounding area. Moreover, home to around 16,500, it is a surprisingly affordable area to call home in the face of other Golden State lakeside towns, and tourist amenities are also more than fairly priced. Just imagine a whole vacation by one of the more popular bodies of water in Northern California!

From shopping to city parks, arts, and events, you also get the local wineries through the nearby Sonoma wine country. And let’s not forget the national forest on the doorstep with endless trails and plenty of other outdoor activities for adventurers and nature enthusiasts. Anticipate a whole list of amenities downtown with a family-friendly feel, including hotels and entertainment from the doorstep year-round. Starting on a high note at one of the coffeeshops, like Catfish Coffeehouse, you can browse a candle store and collectibles, or take a stroll around Borax Lake. Explore the peninsula poking the lake west of downtown with park trails and settle for dinner at Main Street Bar & Grill, a hip mom-and-pop joint serving familiar American food throughout the day.

June Lake

Home to June Lake and Silver Lake, plus Gem Lake immediately west, this small town is also a gateway into Yosemite National Park. Offering something for every daytripper and vacationer year-round, you can explore the area in beautiful fall foliage on a scenic drive. The leafy trees turn on a vibrant spectrum of autumn colors, while the cool breeze and low crowds along the scenic lake’s edge give it an untouched aura—and right in the midst of the Sierra Nevada Mountains! This quaint mountain town is a dream for trout fishermen, sightseers, and families on a retreat, with high altitude that can both make your head spin and calm the nerves away from the bustle of the city. The area is irradecent in the wintertime, but the conditions can be quite treacherous after a snowfall.

Enjoy mild summers where you won’t break sweat on a hike, plus more lakes within the June Lake Loop. Dispursing visitors, so never overcrowded, all as one offer shallow shores to dip your tired feet, go for a swim, or take out a boat in the summer months. Reversed Peak is a good day workout with multiple trailheads, like from Gull Lake Campground without much traffic. Oh Ridge Campground is a good mix of sunshine and shade, conveniently located within walking distance to June Lake Beach. Find lodging for every taste, whether you’re up with the sun wading the shores or returning after an adventurous hike to catch the sunset over waters before turning in. So camp, fish, hike, and relax at one of the state’s best lakeside towns!

Mono City

Though not the best spot for watersports, Mono Lake is second-to-none in the state for scenery and solitude chasers, attracting artists, photographers, loners, romantics, and families from all over. The marvelous lake features jutting bone-colored rock spires at the center, often described as eerie white fingers pointing skyward. Actually called limestone tufa, on the mysterious Paoha Island, it exudes an otherwordly aura—both a beckoning and precarious sight. For a close-up to its sharp features, a reasonably priced canoe tour is a memorable experience. Simply explained by the high salt content, the constantly evaporating surface water creates the protruding crystalline formations from the depths. Just north along the byway, Mono Lake Vista Point is a nice and clear overlook of the fantastic Lake Mono and the beautiful mountains surrounding this inland sea.

Located between Yosemite National Park and the Nevada border, the shore is dotted by small towns like Lee Vining and Mono City. Home to only 232, the locals living along the ancient saline lake in an ecologically significant area enjoy birding and a quiet, secluded lifestyle. Tourists are always welcome to the remote location, with something for everyone in the outdoors. From fishing and hiking the perimeter in the summer, take a scenic foalige drive to the nearby ghost towns, like Dog Town, or see the sparkling winter beauty on a holiday escape. The waterfront Mono Lake Park features trails and a boardwalk through marshland to a picnic area with playgrounds on the shores. Despite its popularity, you can still feel like standing on the edge of an abysmal completely alone—turquoise waters inspire a fresh-faced tropical paradise—so peaceful.

Shasta Lake

Beneath the continually snowcapped Mount Shasta at 14,000 feet above sea level, this small town feels like a self-sustainable world of its own, a safe oasis from the daily stressors. Shasta Lake, the largest reservoir in California, is an amoeba-like freshwater body. Featuring jagged edges, it is so much fun to explore via boating, fishing, and water sports for outdoor enthusiasts from the small town nestled along its southern shores. Surrounded by a naturally beautiful area with numerous trails and local parks for hiking and exploration, like Waters Gulch Trailhead, Castle Crags features ragged granite peaks poking over the evergreens. Enjoy comfortable houseboat access to Shasta Caverns to admire a unique geologic world underground, its stalactite and stalagmite formations, in a landscape that began forming some 250 million years ago.

With a spillway three times that of the height of Niagara Falls, Shasta Dam is an awe-inspiring sight at over 600 feet high. This marvel of engineering inspired Woody Guthrie to write the American ode “This land is your land” while working on the dam’s arch barrier. Attracting architect fans and sightseers, enjoy a picnic among them and relax against the sight and sounds of the tremendously rushing water. Away from the lake, families enjoy mining for gems. The indoor/outdoor Oasis Fun Center offers mini golf, go-karts, and laser tag, plus kiddie rides and an arcade. Home to under 10,500, the locals enjoy all the amenities you would expect of a city, with a family-friendly feel downtown. Next to the visitor center, find both the Dry Creek Trail and Digger Bay at Shasta Lake, a marina, for all your land- and water-based adventures on a short getaway.

South Lake Tahoe

Kind of like Tahoe City’s excited brother, South Lake Tahoe is one of the riziest lakeside towns you’ll come about, and no wonder, carrying the state’s most popular lake’s name. Lake Tahoe, a perfect daytrip or a getaway idea for the local folk, draws visitors from around the globe like flies to a honeypot, just off Interstate 80. Bordering California and Nevada in the vast and impressive Sierra Nevada Mountains, the clear waters framed by forested pine mountains and the peaks poking cobalt sky create 360-degree opportunities for photography. Whether you want to capture the spirited downtown area or the relaxed shoreline full of family water fun and sports, outdoor recreation activities abound year-round. There’s no wrong time to visit with lakefront trails, fireworks, as well as music, food pairings, and sporting events in each season.

The big blue centerpiece, surrounded by massive granite Sierra peaks, carries 39 trillion gallons of water to enjoy under the skies reflecting into the largest alpine lake in North America. For seclusion, the peaceful Thomas F. Regan Memorial City Beach is popular for weddings with a playground and a seasonal restaurant. Just inland, High Meadow Trailhead is a great hike without much traffic along the pet-friendly trail. Enjoy shopping, spas, and galleries depicting the beauty of the region along the shores surrounded by mountainsides, with fine or leisure dining to suit every palette, plus top-rated lodging for your family, romantic getaway, or relaxation. Soon, the world-renown Heavenly Ski Resort will come alive with downhill and nordic skiing plus snow sports of all kinds, including its observation deck.

Tahoe City

Certainly one of the most known small towns by the most famous lake in California, Tahoe City offers a stunning landscape atypical to the usual Golden State scenery. Making for a unique vacation getaway despite its obvious popularity, Tahoe City, on the lake’s western edge, under two hours from Sacramento, boasts Tahoe National Forest right in its backyard. The lake is split vertically down by the stateline, with a claim of its eastern shore going to Nevada. The mountain town, full of friendly, outdoorsy locals, offers bike shops to get your horse and explore along the summertime streets overflowing with flowers, spilling on you from the baskets above and all around. Expect quality hotels, bars, and restaurants, like Jake’s On The Lake and Za’s Lakefront.

Boating is huge in Lake Tahoe, with rentals for an affordable price in between lots of entertainment and accommodation. Imagine stepping out of your hotel with the shimmering Lake Tahoe on one side and mountains to the other. Strewn with galleries depicting the area’s beauty, don’t miss Penny Bear at Heritage Plaza or the historic house in a classic log cabin style. The stunning views of the Sierra Nevada mountains follow you browsing, from the town center for shops and restaurants to Commons Beach and down the shore to Eagle Rock, a scenic point. Tahoe City provides not only a great overlook of Lake Tahoe but a 360-degree view of pure California beauty, leaving a vibrant imprint. Take an easy hike to Paige Meadows or spend a fun-filled afternoon at Tahoe Treetop Adventure Parks.

While lake towns can be overlooked for the Pacific beaches and the glitzy cities, few things are as relaxing as a lakeside atmosphere. Beneath the continually snowcapped Mount Shasta at 14,000 feet above sea level, Shasta Lake is like a safe oasis from the daily stressors to decompress along the largest reservoir in California, with jagged edges to explore via boating, fishing, and water sports. From the San Bernardino Mountains to the iconic Sierra Nevada, the scenery in these towns is all-dimensional.

One of the most stunning, Mono Lake beckons with its jutting bone-colored rock spires at the center, often described as eerie white fingers pointing skyward. Big Bear Lake is one of the state’s most fun yet secluded, while Crowley Lake is often forgotten along with its 20-foot Moorish-like columns, dating back to the catastrophic volcano eruption. Find everything you would expect of a city, subtract the crowds, then add the times you say “awe” to the number of friendly faces—or just relax and enjoy!