San Bernardino Convention & Visitors Bureau

Convention and visitors bureaus are the standard American destination-marketing organizational structure — typically funded through transient-occupancy-tax revenues (the hotel-room taxes that guests pay on accommodations), supplemented by membership dues from local tourism-industry businesses, and operating with a mission to attract visitors, conferences, and special events to the destination. San Bernardino's CVB follows this standard model. The organization markets the city to leisure travelers, business meeting planners, sports-event organizers, and group-tour operators, and works to convert that marketing into actual visitor arrivals and overnight stays.

The Route 66 marketing function is one significant component of the CVB's overall portfolio. The 2026 Route 66 Centennial year has substantially elevated the highway's importance in the CVB's marketing programs; San Bernardino is participating in coordinated multi-state Centennial campaigns alongside Mother Road tourism organizations from Illinois through California, and the CVB has been involved in promoting the city's Original McDonald's Site, Wigwam Motel, and other Route 66 attractions to the global Route 66 traveler audience.

Beyond Route 66, the CVB markets San Bernardino's broader appeal as an Inland Empire destination — proximity to the San Bernardino National Forest and the Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear mountain resort areas to the north, accessibility to Disneyland and the Orange County beaches to the south, the Auto Club Speedway in nearby Fontana for NASCAR and motorsports fans, and the substantial agricultural-tourism opportunities in the surrounding citrus and stone-fruit growing regions. The Route 66 angle is one part of a larger destination-marketing portfolio.

The CVB office at 201 North E Street is on the first floor of a downtown San Bernardino office building, accessible from the street with free short-term street parking nearby. The interior is more of a working office with a visitor reception area than a dedicated tourist visitor center, but the staff are welcoming to walk-in visitors and the brochure rack near the entrance contains the substantive printed materials most Route 66 travelers come for.

The standard collection of free materials includes the annual San Bernardino visitor guide (a 60-80-page printed publication with comprehensive destination information), a Route 66 corridor map specifically marked with the San Bernardino-area historic alignment and major attractions, brochures from individual San Bernardino attractions and accommodations, the broader Inland Empire regional tourism guide, brochures for nearby mountain-area resorts (Big Bear, Lake Arrowhead) and southern destinations (Riverside, Redlands, Temecula), and several specialty-topic publications (San Bernardino history, food and dining, family attractions).

Staff can provide custom itinerary suggestions for Route 66 travelers — a quick 5-10 minute conversation typically produces a sensible day-plan tailored to the traveler's specific interests, available time, and onward driving plans. Particularly useful for Route 66 travelers unfamiliar with the area: staff recommendations on which historic alignment segments are worth driving versus which Route 66 sections have been redeveloped or eroded enough that I-10 or I-215 freeway driving is the better choice between specific points.

The annual printed visitor guide is the CVB's most-useful single publication for Route 66 road-trippers. The guide includes a comprehensive accommodations directory (rates, amenities, locations, contact information for substantially every hotel and motel in San Bernardino and the immediate surrounding area), a restaurant directory organized by neighborhood and cuisine type, a detailed attractions section with the Route 66 sites prominently featured, an events calendar for the publication year, and several suggested itineraries for visitors with various interests and available time.

The CVB website at sbcvb.org provides online versions of essentially all the printed content, with the addition of frequently-updated event calendars, current accommodation rate information, and online booking links for hotels and major attractions. The website's Route 66 section specifically markets the San Bernardino segment of the Mother Road and connects to the broader National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program resources. Travelers can request the printed visitor guide via the website with several weeks advance notice and have it mailed to a home address before a trip.

Social media channels (Instagram, Facebook, occasional TikTok) feature current events, seasonal highlights, and photographs of San Bernardino attractions. The social-media presence is moderate rather than dominant — useful for travelers researching current conditions and seasonal highlights, less so for serious itinerary planning.

The CVB office is at the corner of E Street and 2nd Street in downtown San Bernardino. The location is genuinely walkable to several significant downtown destinations: the California Theatre of the Performing Arts (three blocks south on E Street, then two blocks west on 4th Street), the San Bernardino History and Railroad Museum at the historic Santa Fe Depot (six blocks south at the train station), the downtown library and the surrounding Carrousel Mall area, and several small downtown cafes and lunch spots.

A natural one-hour downtown San Bernardino walking circuit starts at the CVB office, walks south along E Street to the California Theatre for an architectural exterior view, continues south to the Santa Fe Depot area, returns north along 5th Street (the historic Route 66 alignment through downtown San Bernardino) for the Route 66 streetscape experience, and ends back at the CVB office. The walking is genuine urban-grid walking rather than scenic; standard urban awareness applies but the central downtown area during business hours is well-trafficked and unproblematic.

From the CVB office, the Original McDonald's Site & Museum is a 5-minute drive north (or roughly 15 minutes by walking — feasible but not ideal in summer heat). Mitla Cafe is a 7-minute drive west across central San Bernardino. The Wigwam Motel in Rialto is 12-15 minutes west on I-10. The DoubleTree on Hospitality Lane is 10 minutes south.

The CVB office is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 5pm. The office is closed weekends and major holidays, which is a meaningful limitation for Route 66 road-trippers traveling on weekend schedules — Saturday and Sunday visitors who want CVB materials should plan to pick them up Friday afternoon during the office's open hours, or request them by mail in advance of the trip. The website, social media channels, and printed guides available through other San Bernardino tourism touchpoints (some hotels carry stacks of the visitor guide in their lobbies) provide alternative information access during closed hours.

Phone contact at 909-791-3280 is staffed during office hours. Phone calls in advance of a trip can produce custom itinerary suggestions, accommodation recommendations, and event-calendar information — particularly useful for Route 66 travelers with specific interests (family-with-children itineraries, accessibility needs, specific architectural or cultural focus) that benefit from staff judgment rather than generic published materials. E-mail inquiries through the sbcvb.org website are also reliable and typically receive responses within 1-2 business days.

For specifically Route 66 questions, the CVB staff are knowledgeable about the local San Bernardino segment but may refer questions about broader multi-state Route 66 planning to the national Route 66 organizations (the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, the Route 66 Alliance, the various state-level Route 66 associations). Combining CVB materials with national Route 66 resources produces the most thorough trip planning.