Where to Stay in Modesto, California

What is Modesto known for?

On the flat farmland of central California, watered by the rivers off the Sierra, it grew as a great agricultural town, and it keeps the almond and fruit orchards and vineyards of the valley, a grand old arch across its main street, the memory of the cruising car nights that a local filmmaker made famous, and the largest winery in the world on its edge. The flat valley runs to the sky. The orchards spread green around.

What are the main landmarks in Modesto?

The old arch is the emblem of Modesto. The bright steel arch across the main street, spelling out water, wealth, and health in electric letters, has spanned the road for a century, the pride of the town, downtown. A grand mansion stands nearby.

The ornate McHenry Mansion, a fine old Victorian house, rises among the trees, while the museums, the orchards, and the great winery mark the country around Modesto.

What is the history of Modesto?

Modesto rose with the railroad. When the railway crossed the valley, a town sprang up beside the tracks and took a modest name, and it grew as a shipping point for the wheat of the great plain. Water made it bloom.

When canals brought the rivers of the Sierra to the dry land, the wheat fields gave way to orchards and vineyards, and Modesto grew rich on fruit, nuts, and wine. The town raised an arch to its fortune. Across the main street it built a bright arch that spelled out water, wealth, and health, in pride of the good life on the land.

A film made its youth famous. A filmmaker who grew up here set a picture in the town's cruising nights of old, and Modesto grew into a busy valley city of orchards and vineyards, keeping its arch, its farms, and its easy ways. The trucks still haul the harvest.

Modesto keeps its orchards and its arch in the heart of the valley.

Where is Modesto?

Modesto lies in the north of the Central Valley in California, on the flat plain between the coast ranges and the Sierra. The city sits on the level valley floor by the Tuolumne river, in a land of orchards, vineyards, and dairy farms watered by canals off the mountains, with the great flat valley stretching north and south. The orchards run to the sky.

Low ranges wall the west.

What is the climate of Modesto?

Modesto has a warm, dry Mediterranean climate. Hot dry summers and mild wet winters cross the valley, with long scorching summers of clear skies and cool foggy winters. The summer sun beats hot.

Winter brings the valley fog.

How do you get to Modesto?

Modesto lies in the Central Valley of California, an hour and a half from the bay. Highways and rail run to it up the valley from the coast and down from Sacramento, and roads climb east to the Sierra. Trucks cross the farm country.

San Francisco lies west over the ranges.