Fort Bragg and the Mendocino Coast offer a spectacular array of activities and attractions.  We offer a short list below and on our Area Information page.

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• Mendocino’s Crab and Wine Days offer a feast of local Crab and Wine offered by local restaurants, wineries and breweries as well as cooking demonstrations by renowned chefs and crabbing demonstrations by local captains in late January.

• Fort Bragg’s Annual Whale Festival offers a number of activities including a 10K/5K whale run along the Ten-Mile Coastal Trail, a Classic Car show, microbrew tasting, an Arts and Craft Fair and charter whale watching cruises out of Fort Bragg’s Noyo Harbor in March.

• Fort Bragg’s Paul Bunyan Day’s on Memorial Day weekend includes traditional Lumber Jack competitions, a Kiddy tricycle race, an ugly dog contest, period dress competition and a kangaroo court, truly a great time for all.

• The World’s Largest Salmon barbecue is held each Fourth of July in Fort Bragg’s Noyo Harbor along with music, fireworks and an antique car show.

• Mendocino Music Festival offers over a week of extraordinary music from Beethoven to the Blues and special guest performers in a spectacular setting in July.

• Winesong is the wine & culinary tasting and charity auction that brings together 100 of California's most acclaimed wineries and 50 fine restaurants and food purveyors to benefit the Mendocino Coast Hospital Foundation in September.

• Mendocino’s Wine and Mushroom Fest celebrates the over twenty different varieties of mushrooms that grow wild in the surrounding woods and are gathered and shipped to fine restaurants around the world with gathering and cooking demonstrations in November.

For more information on Fort Bragg and Mendocino Coast festivals and events visit the city of Fort Bragg Event Page or the Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce Events Calendar.

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• The Skunk Train, with its depot located at the foot of Laurel street in historic down town Fort Bragg, offers a unique, nostalgic trip back in time to the era when steam was king when ole engine #45 gets the steam up and carriers its passengers up through the redwoods, over trestles and through a mountain tunnel to the old North Spur logging camp.

• Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is the only public garden in the continental United States fronting directly on the ocean and with the mild maritime climate this is a garden for all seasons with manicured formal gardens, a dense coastal pine forest, fern-covered canyons, diverse plant collections and flower-filled coastal bluffs overlooking the blue Pacific Ocean make this a must see attraction.

• Noyo Harbor tucked into the forested hills at the south end of Fort Bragg along the Mendocino coast is the largest harbor between San Francisco and Eureka and until the 1900’s whaling ships were built in and sailed out from here, but today the visitor to Noyo Harbor can charter a whale watching, fishing or party boat from one of the local captains or just sit at a table in one of  the dock side restaurants and watch the ships go by.

• MacKerricher State Park is popular with hikers, joggers, equestrians and bicyclists with its variety of habitats; beach, bluff, headland, dune, forest and wetland as well as tide pools along the shore and seals living on the rocks off the park’s Mendocino coast and more than 90 species of birds visit or live near Cleone Lake, a formal tidal lagoon and during winter and spring, the nearby headland provides a good lookout for whale watching.

• Glass Beach began life in 1949 as the public dump, but today thanks to years of relentless, pounding  wave action, tons of polished glass is waiting along the shores of Glass Beach for collecting.

• North Coast Brewing Company, which was recently named “One of the 10 Best Breweries in the World” by the Beverage Testing Institute in Chicago, operates a 17,000 sq. ft. brewing facility with an annual production capacity of 27,000 bbls. and also operates the adjacent Taproom and Grill, one of Northern California's favorite restaurants.

• Pacific Star Winery located just 12 minutes north of Ocean View Lodge along the scenic Highway 1 is an excellent example of the many wineries located in Mendocino county and is unique in their location right on the Cliffside along the Mendocino coast and as are many of Mendocino’s wineries are open for wine tasting tours.

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• Site Seeing is one of the most popular activities both at Ocean View Lodge and all along the Mendocino coast; with its endless miles of breathtakingly beautiful coastline and majestic redwood groves it is truly one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

• Whale Watching is a very popular Spring time activity along the Mendocino coast with Grey whales visible from along the headlands, from chartered whale watching tour boats out of Noyo Harbor and even from your private balcony at Ocean View Lodge.

• Riding the Skunk Train is an enjoyable activity for young and old alike as ole engine #45 huffs and puffs its way through the scenic redwoods, over trestles spanning the Ten Mile river and through a mountain tunnel on its way to the old North Spur lumber camp.

• Tide Pooling is the activity of exploring pools formed by rocks along the coastline at low tide when many forms of ocean life are exposed for the Tide Pooler’s observation (Please, be careful not to disturb these very fragile environments and the creatures that depend upon them.)

• Fishing the waters along the Mendocino coast for salmon and rock cod with the assistance of the many captains chartering boats out of Noyo Harbor is a very popular activity, but the same captains may also offer crabbing, sunset, bay or party cruises.

• Beach Combing is one of the favorite activities of the guests of Ocean View Lodge with the miles of beach access right outside their rooms; the guests can walk for miles along secluded beaches looking for treasures washed upon the beach by the churning surf.

• Exploring the many Art Galleries and shops of historic down town Fort Bragg.

• Hiking and Mountain Biking are popular activities among Ocean View Lodge guests with over two miles of paved trail, miles of headland trails and open beach right outside their rooms and seven State Parks just minutes away,

• MacKerricher State Park

• Russian Gulch State Park

• Jug Handle State Reserve

• Caspar Headlands State Reserve

• Caspar Headlands State Beach

• Mendocino Headlands State Park

• Navarro River Redwoods State Park

• Kayaking and Canoeing adventures abound on the Mendocino coast and its river estuaries with tide pools, blowholes, hidden caves and beaches accessible only by kayak.

• Abalone Diving is a very popular activity with locals and visitors alike who, with equipment that can be rented from local outfitters, explore the Mendocino coast from a very different perspective.

• Horseback Riding along the beaches and headlands of the Ten-Mile Coastal Trail and in the redwoods with horses rented from Ricochet Ridge Ranch.

• Relaxing and Meditating is perhaps the most popular activities among visitors to this most wondrous location we call the Mendocino coast.

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Whatever it is that brings you to the Mendocino coast you will find it all within minutes of the Ocean View Lodge and the best of the Mendocino coast will be just outside your room.