San Bernardino Visitor Information

The essential San Bernardino Route 66 itinerary covers four principal landmarks: the Original McDonald's Site and Museum at 1398 North E Street (the 1948 birthplace of the modern fast-food industry, free admission, daily 10am-5pm), the Wigwam Motel at 2728 West Foothill Boulevard (one of three surviving Wigwam Villages, nineteen concrete teepees, lodging $120-180/night), Mitla Cafe at 602 North Mount Vernon Avenue (the 1937 Mexican-American Route 66 institution, the original of the crispy hard-shell taco that Taco Bell later franchised), and the San Bernardino Arrowhead (the sacred natural formation visible from across the city, viewable free from elevated vantage points in the central and northern city).

A natural one-day sequence visits the McDonald's Museum in the morning when the lighting and crowd levels are most favorable, has lunch at Mitla Cafe to experience the city's classic Mexican-American cuisine, drives the Foothill Boulevard original Route 66 alignment past the Wigwam Motel in the afternoon (with optional overnight stay or extended photography stop), and finishes with sunset viewing of the Arrowhead formation from one of the elevated viewpoints in northern San Bernardino. The total driving within the city is minimal — all four landmarks are within a 6-mile radius — making the city efficient to explore with limited time.

Travelers with more time can substantially expand the itinerary. The San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands (about 6 miles east) offers the regional natural-history and cultural-history context; the San Manuel Stadium downtown supports an evening 66ers minor-league baseball game during the April-September season; the Route 66 Rendezvous classic car festival in mid-September brings hundreds of thousands of visitors and is one of the largest Route 66 events in the country; the Glen Helen Regional Park and the surrounding San Bernardino National Forest offer outdoor recreation; and the broader Inland Empire including Riverside, Ontario, and Claremont expands the regional experience considerably.

Lodging in San Bernardino covers the full range from budget chain motels through mid-range hotels to the iconic Wigwam Motel experience. Chain hotel options concentrate near Interstate 215 and the downtown corridor — Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Best Western, Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta, and the major budget chains all have locations within or near the city. Mid-range options run approximately $90-150 per night; budget chains run $60-90; the Wigwam Motel runs $120-180 for the iconic teepee experience. Booking ahead is wise for weekends and during major events; weekday business-travel rates can be surprisingly favorable.

Dining options extend far beyond the Route 66 landmarks. Mitla Cafe and Molly's Kountry Kafe are the principal historic and working-cafe options on the Route 66 corridor. Mexican-American cuisine is the dominant cultural cuisine of the city; substantial options exist in addition to Mitla including Casa Maya, El Tio's, Las Brisas, and many neighborhood institutions. Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese, and broader Asian cuisines are well-represented through the city's substantial Asian-American population. Standard American chain restaurants are abundant near the freeway corridors.

Getting around the city is most efficient by car. Public transit through Omnitrans serves the major commercial corridors but is not optimized for tourist routing; rideshare (Uber and Lyft) is available throughout the city and is the practical alternative for travelers without a vehicle. The major freeway connections — Interstate 215 north-south through the city center, Interstate 10 east-west through the southern edge, and Interstate 15 northeast-southwest through Cajon Pass to the High Desert — provide rapid access to the broader Inland Empire and Southern California. The original Route 66 alignment along Foothill Boulevard remains the appropriate route for travelers wanting the historic experience.

The Route 66 Rendezvous — the major classic-car festival held annually in mid-September in downtown San Bernardino — is one of the largest Route 66 events in the country and brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city for three to four days of classic cars, music, food, and Route 66 culture. The Rendezvous began in 1990 as a small civic event celebrating the city's Route 66 heritage and has grown into a regional institution; the streets of downtown are closed to ordinary traffic and filled with thousands of classic cars on display, with stages, food vendors, and the kind of Route 66 enthusiast community that makes the event genuinely substantial.

Other major events through the year include the Stater Bros. Route 66 Rendezvous (a smaller spring car-show event), the National Orange Show in February-March (a regional fair tradition dating from 1911), the San Bernardino County Fair in May at the Victorville fairgrounds, various Inland Empire 66ers home stands through the April-September baseball season, the Renaissance Pleasure Faire at the Glen Helen Regional Park (April-May), and the various Christmas and New Year's events through the holiday season. The downtown Route 66 corridor sees regular smaller car shows, cruise nights, and Route 66-themed events throughout the warm-weather months.

Practical visitor services are available through the San Bernardino Convention and Visitors Bureau (which has shifted its physical location multiple times in recent years and is currently best contacted through the website and phone). The Inland Empire Tourism Council provides broader regional information. Major hotels generally provide concierge or front-desk assistance with local restaurant recommendations and event information. The county and city tourism websites (sbcounty.gov and sbcity.org) offer current event calendars and visitor information.