Sacramento Hotels

Capitals often sacrifice liveliness for politics, but while Sacramento is far from California's most exciting city, it's still an energetic urban centre and worth investigating for its gold-rush past, its humming harbourfront, its university life - and its vintage icecream parlours.

The US is most popular with travellers during the summer, but this is when American families pack everything up and head out to visit Aunt Tilly. To avoid mobs (especially throughout the national park system), it's better to go during autumn or early spring.