20 Best Things to Do in Redlands, California

By VI Staff on July 17, 2019

Redlands is a city near San Bernardino in Southern California that is renowned for its beautifully preserved historic buildings that date back to the 1800s. Top attractions include the sprawling Kimberly Crest House & Gardens, the 1920s Redlands Bowl amphitheater, and the San Bernardino County Museum.

1.Redlands Bowl

The Redlands Bowl is an amphitheater in Redlands that dates back to the mid-1920s and is used for music and theatrical performances. Built by Florence and Clarence White as a gift to the City of Redlands in 1931, the Redlands Bowl hosted performances to the public with no admission charge. Today, the amphitheater plays host to the Redlands Shakespeare Festival, which takes place over the last three weekends in May and presents three full-scale Shakespearean productions in repertory, as well as the Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival, which takes place each summer from late June through August. It is the oldest continuous music festival in the United States at which no admission is charged and features up to 20 programs covering a diverse range of musical genres.

25 Grant St, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-793-7316

2.The Lincoln Memorial Shrine

The Lincoln Memorial Shrine was constructed in 1932 to commemorate the life of Abraham Lincoln and his role in the Civil War. Designed renowned Southern California architect Elmer Grey and built by British-born businessman Robert Watchorn in honor of Lincoln, the memorial houses personal memorabilia, artworks, manuscripts, and even locks of Lincoln’s hair. Originally designed as an octagon with striking limestone panels, the shrine has expanded over the years with two new wings being added in 1998. Visitors to the Lincoln Memorial Shrine can enjoy guided tours around the building and researchers can find all the information they need from more than 3,000 books at the West Vine Street building.

125 W Vine St, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-798-7632

3.Caprice Cafe

Caprice Café is a friendly neighborhood eatery and bar that serves classic American fare in a simple, modern setting with inviting outdoor patio seating overlooking State Street and a warm and welcoming ambiance. Located across from Ed Hales Park in Historic Downtown Redlands, Caprice Café serves a creative menu of freshly prepared food, including fresh salads, grilled seafood, organic steaks, pasta dishes, and handmade pizzas. The cuisine is accompanied by a selection of beverages ranging from craft and artisan beers, globally-inspired wines, imported spirits, and handcrafted cocktails. Caprice Café is open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week.

104 E State St, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-793-8787

4.Kimberly Crest House & Gardens

The Kimberly Crest House and Gardens is a beautifully maintained estate with a French château-style Victorian mansion surrounded by exquisite gardens and grounds. Designed in the Châteauesque style by Oliver Perry Dennis and Lyman Farwell and built for Mrs. Cornelia A. Hill in 1897, the elegant three-story Victorian mansion spans over 7,000 square feet of floor space and boasts inspiring architectural details and stunning interiors. The villa is surrounded by exquisite examples of Italian style gardens, which were created in 1909, and features several koi ponds and plenty of hand-carved statues. Kimberly Crest is open to the public for tours and can also be booked for weddings and private events and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

1325 Prospect Dr, Redlands, CA 92373

5.San Bernardino County Museum

The San Bernardino County Museum is a regional museum that is dedicated to showcasing the cultural and natural history of the region through a variety of fascinating exhibits and displays. Founded by the San Bernardino County Museum Association in 1952, the museum features educational presentations that focus on local culture and natural science, extensive research collections, a live animal discovery center known as the Exploration Station, and beautiful cacti gardens. The San Bernardino County Museum also offers an array educational programs, workshops, and projects for students, families and the public with the aim of fostering an interest and celebrating the region’s past, present, and future.

2024 Orange Tree Ln, Redlands, CA 92374, Phone: 909-798-8608

6.Escape Craft Brewery

Escape Craft Brewery is a locally owned and operated brewery that creates complex and full-flavored beers utilizing locally sourced ingredients and served in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. Escape Craft Brewery features a 5,000 square foot, five-barrel production and distribution brewery and open concept tasting room where visitors can sample the facility’s beers. Signature beers boast big bold flavors and range from rich English brown beer- coffee chocolate stout to hop-forward west coast IPAs, and a variety of seasonal beers, and crisp, small-batch craft sodas carefully created from ripe fruit, herbs, and spices. Flagship beers include Midnight Express Chocolate Coffee Stout, Vanilla Blonde, Destination Brown, and Lazy Day India Pale Ale and the brewery is open for tastings and tours Tuesdays through Sundays at various hours.

721 Nevada St #401, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-713-3727

7.Ritual Brewing Company

Ritual Brewing Company is a local brewery owned by Steve Dunkerken and Owen Williams and is named after the ritual of the brewing process. Ritual Brewing Company celebrates the fact that it is an independent California brewery with a single red star on its labels that are based on the brewer’s star which was the universal symbol for a brewery dating centuries ago when much of the population could not read and the symbol of independence on California’s first state flag. Signature brews include Monk’s Lunch, Pale Ale, Honeybuzz, Funner IPA, Love & Malt, Hellion, and Art of Dankness IPA and they can be sampled in the brewery’s taproom which is open from Tuesday through Sunday. Ritual Brewing Company also sells a range of important Ritual products such as growlers and growler fills, T-shirts, sweatshirts, kegs to-go, glassware, stickers and more.

1315 Research Dr, Redlands, CA 92374, Phone: 909-478-7800

8.Historical Glass Museum

The Historical Glass Museum is dedicated to collecting and preserving beautiful glass art houses the largest collection of American-made glass west of the Rocky Mountains. Located in a century-old Victorian home on Orange Street, the Historical Glass Museum Foundation was established to preserve specimens of American glass that were becoming extinct, as well as showcasing glassworks created by local artists. Visitors to the museum can take a virtual tour of the facility by watching an online video on the website or enjoy a docent-led guided tour of the property.

1157 Orange St, Redlands, CA 92374, Phone: 909-798-0868

9.Redlands Art Association

The Redlands Art Association (RAA) is dedicated to supporting visual arts and promoting a vibrant society by inspiring creativity. Founded in 1964 and located in downtown Redlands, the Redlands Art Association (RAA) features an exhibition center where the artworks are displayed and a sales gallery where visitors can purchase pieces. The Redlands Art Association (RAA) also offers art classes, educational programs and workshops for students and visitors of all ages, scholarships for children, and hosts lectures and demonstrations by well-known artists on the fourth Tuesday of the month from September through May.

215 E State St, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-792-8435

10.The Redlands Footlighters

The Redlands Footlighters is an intimate, long-running venue that hosts a variety of performances, ranging from comedies, classics, dramas, and other community theater performances. Founded by a group of four women in 1945, Redlands Footlighters was established to provide exciting and entertaining productions of live theatre and create a space where actors, directors, and performers can grow. The Redlands Footlighters presents a full season of performances from dramas and comedies to musicals, and more and tickets can be purchased online or at the theater box office on Barton Road.

1810 Barton Rd, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-793-2909

11.Splash Kingdom Waterpark

The Splash Kingdom Waterpark is an Egyptian-beach themed water park in Redlands that offers a world of water-based for the whole family. The Splash Kingdom Waterpark features three fun-filled activity areas, including a trampoline park, which offers wall-to-wall trampolines and one of the unique trampoline park experiences in the world; a waterpark with acres of splash and swimming pools, water slides and rides; and an upper deck sports lounge where families can enjoy delicious food and beverages. There are plenty of activities for children of all ages from toddlers to adults, and the park has over 200 American Cross certified lifeguards on duty at all times and plenty of shaded and un-shaded lounging areas for relaxing.

1101 California St, Redlands, CA 92374

12.Redlands Dog Park

The Redlands Dog Park is a dog-friendly park located just off the ten freeway where dog owners can take their dogs to play without a leash. Situated in the northwest corner of Ford Park next to the Fire Prevention Demonstration Garden, the Redlands Dog Park boasts a small and large dog park, a playground area for small children, flat grassy areas for games, ample picnic areas, and tennis courts. Founded in 2011, the dog park is run by the volunteer organization, R.U.F.F. (Redlands Unleashed Fidos & Friends) and maintains its upkeep through charitable donations.

Roosevelt Rd, Redlands, CA 92374, Phone: 909-798-7655

13.LifeHouse Theater

LifeHouse Theater is an independent, interdenominational community theater and Inland Empire attraction that presents a variety of exclusive and original performances, plays and productions for audiences of more than 30,000 people each year. One of the Inland Empire’s top attractions, LifeHouse is an acclaimed faith-based theater guided by historical Judeo-Christian perspectives and values, which employs over 500 gifted artists, technicians, and volunteers. The theater also offers a range of educational programs, workshops, classes and symposiums for scholars and students of drama and theater.

3553, 1135 Church St, Redlands, CA 92374, Phone: 909-335-3037

14.State Street Winery

Located in downtown Redlands, State Street Winery is a family-owned and operated winery that produces handcrafted wines with globally-inspired flavors. Established in 2011, the winery creates wines using the highest quality grapes sourced from vineyards around the world and produces a selection of reds, whites, specialty, and fruit wines. Visitors to the winery can sample the wines in the comfortable and cozy tasting room which boasts a bar and barrel tables and can make their own vintages by creating custom labels for special events or occasions. State Street Winery has a Wine Club, which gives members the opportunity to enjoy a new wine every month, purchase wines, accessories, and batches of wine at special sales and events and enjoy tasting and discounts on bottles.

404 E State St, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-798-4300

15.Caroline Park

Caroline Park is a dog-friendly park that skirts the edge of Sunset Drive in South Redlands that was donated to the City of Redlands in 1929 by Olivia Phelps. Located between Sunset Drive, Mariposa Drive and Poppy Road in Redlands, Caroline Park spans 16.8 acres and is a quiet neighborhood park and botanical nature garden that features a variety of California native plants. The park boasts a loop trail with an abundance of wildflowers, small creatures and lizards, and spectacular mountain views, and a grassy meadow on the eastern edge of the park that’s perfect for picnicking.

1748 Chaparral Dr, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-798-7572

16.Asistencia

The Asistencia is a reproduction of the original Estancia ranch outpost of the Mission San Gabriel and a California Historical Landmark. Established as a part of the Mission San Gabriel's Rancho San Bernardino in the early 1800s, the original Asistencia, known then as Estancia, functioned as a cattle outpost for grazing and the buildings on the site today are reproductions that were built in the 1930s. The Estancia served different roles throughout the decades, including a polling place for the newly organized county of San Bernardino in the mid-1800s, a doctor’s surgery in the early 1900s, and now stands as a museum and an outstanding example of handcrafted structures of the WPA era after being restored to its former glory in 1937. The museum features historic rooms, beautiful gardens, a charming chapel, and a landscaped courtyard, which are popular destinations for weddings.

26930 Barton Road, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-798-8609

17.Open Door Escape Games

Open Door Escape Games is a family-owned business that provides an interactive entertainment experience and a fun and challenging way for friends to spend together. The game is a family-friendly live experience in which contestants are locked in a room and have to figure out how to get out, using the elements of the room to find clues, solve puzzles and get out of the room under an hour. Open Door Escape Games offers three different games of varying levels at two locations in Redlands, and are open for fun and games all day from Wednesday through Sunday.

19 E Citrus Ave #208, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-747-4784

18.Nick's Burgers

Nick's Burgers is a family-owned and operated burger joint that serves authentic all-American cuisine in a friendly, inviting diner-style atmosphere. Best known for their juicy, char-broiled burgers, which include their famous made-to-order bacon avocado burger and the mouthwatering bacon cheeseburger with fried zucchini sides, Nick's Burgers also serves a variety of Mexican dishes, steak, and other gourmet sandwiches, fresh fish and chicken entrées, homemade soups of the day and breakfast staples such as pancakes, eggs, and burritos. Nick's Burgers is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, seven days a week.

1626 W Redlands Blvd, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-798-5428

19.MU Restaurant

MU Restaurant, Martini Bar, and Lounge is a contemporary Thai eatery that serves modern cuisine with an ethnic French-inspired flair, along with craft cocktails and global wines in an elegant, relaxed ambiance. Established by Thai native Daranee Muongpruan in 2006, MU Restaurant draws a mixed crowd of food-lovers from culinary connoisseurs to casual patrons who come to enjoy the authentic Thai and South-east Asian cuisine. Signature dishes on the menu include Spinach Duck Salad, Grilled Marinated Chicken Satay, Steam Mussels, Bangkok Duck, Bo Luc Lac, Rib Eye Steak, and Seafood Linguini Kee Moa. MU Restaurant is open for lunch Tuesday through Friday and dinner Tuesday through Sunday.

309 W State St, Redlands, CA 92373, Phone: 909-798-7747

20.Hangar 24 Craft Brewery

Hangar 24 Craft Brewery is a locally owned and operated brewery in Redlands that produces a range of unique rotating beers that are inspired by aviation and flight. Based in an aircraft hangar and aptly named Hangar 24, the brewery’s beer range includes Orange Wheat, Betty IPA, Aventura, Peak Blonde, Freedom Fox IPA, l-39 IPA, and 10th. Ann Sorbet Close. The brewery has a modern tasting room where visitors can sample the facility’s homebrews, as well as tuck into delicious fare provided by local eateries. The brewery also hosts live music on the patio of the tasting room, creating a relaxed and laid-back ambiance in which to enjoy great beer.

1710 Sessums Dr, Redlands, CA 92374, Phone: 909-242-8111