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Day Trips From Chico

Fifteen day trips from Chico, nearest first. Drive times are our own estimates from OpenStreetMap road data, rounded to 5 minutes, with no traffic. Each line links to a page with the operator’s hours and fees.

Checked October 29, 2026

  • 25 minto Butte Creek Canyon
  • 45 minto the Oroville Dam overlooks
  • 1 hr 5 minto the Sacramento refuge
  • 1 hr 50 minto Lake Almanor, one way

Within 30 Minutes

  • Butte Creek Canyon

    25 min each way · about 15 miles

    A creek-side canyon drive toward the foothills. Round trip: about 50 min on the road.

  • Downtown Oroville and the Riverfront

    30 min each way · about 23 miles

    Five city museums on Museum Mile, plus Riverbend Park on the Feather River. Round trip: about 1 hr on the road.

  • Feather River Fish Hatchery

    30 min each way · about 23 miles

    Salmon and steelhead; viewing window mid-September through June. Round trip: about 1 hr on the road.

30 to 60 Minutes

  • Orland and Willows

    35 min each way · about 20 miles

    Valley farm towns. Round trip: about 1 hr 10 min on the road.

  • Gridley and Biggs

    40 min each way · about 30 miles

    Rice country and the road to Gray Lodge. Round trip: about 1 hr 20 min on the road.

  • Black Butte Lake

    55 min each way · about 29 miles

    Army Corps lake with two campgrounds. Round trip: about 1 hr 50 min on the road.

  • Red Bluff Recreation Area

    55 min each way · about 41 miles

    A paved 3-mile trail beside the Sacramento River. Round trip: about 1 hr 50 min on the road.

  • Gray Lodge Wildlife Area

    1 hr each way · about 40 miles

    A 9,200-acre Pacific Flyway wetland, open sunrise to sunset. Round trip: about 2 hr on the road.

Over an Hour

  • Lake Almanor

    1 hr 50 min each way · about 77 miles

    A 28,000-acre mountain lake, cooler than the valley in summer. Round trip: about 3 hr 40 min on the road.

Our own timed plans combine several of these stops: A Lake Oroville Weekend, Feather River to Lake Almanor Drive and Paradise and the Ridge.

How to Read These Times

These come from the Chico Area Drive Times data, which routes every pair of map pins on OpenStreetMap road data and rounds to the nearest 5 minutes. Individual place pages quote a different figure, a typical Google Maps time plus 10 minutes, so the two can differ by 5 to 10 minutes. Add time for roadwork, weather and mountain roads.

What We Could Not Verify

  • Winter road conditions on Highway 70 and the Lake Almanor roads: they change with snow and closures. Check Caltrans QuickMap before you drive.
  • Drive times checked against Google Maps for every pair: Not confirmed. The estimates are ours.

More to Plan With

Sources

  1. Chico Area Drive Times (our data page): https://itschico.com/data/chico-drive-times/ (checked October 29, 2026)
  2. OpenStreetMap routing data: https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright (checked October 29, 2026)
  3. CDFW, Feather River Fish Hatchery: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Hatcheries/Feather-River (checked October 29, 2026)
  4. CDFW, Gray Lodge Wildlife Area: https://wildlife.ca.gov/Lands/Places-to-Visit/Gray-Lodge-WA (checked October 29, 2026)
  5. USFWS, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge: https://www.fws.gov/locations/sacramento-national-wildlife-refuge (checked October 29, 2026)
  6. California State Parks, Lake Oroville SRA: https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=462 (checked October 29, 2026)
  7. Caltrans travel: https://dot.ca.gov/travel (checked October 29, 2026)

On The Map

15 places named on this page are pinned. Tap a pin for the page and directions. Dashed pins were placed from the street address and are approximate. © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Cite this page: It's Chico, “Day Trips From Chico”, itschico.com/guides/day-trips-from-chico/ (updated ). By the It's Chico editorial team. Free to quote with attribution and a link to this page; data and tables are licensed CC BY 4.0.