Downtown Davis is compact and easy to navigate, with cafes, restaurants, shops, services, entertainment, parks and public spaces clustered within a walkable core. It can be explored on foot, by bike or by car, with parking and accessible routes available throughout the area.
Visiting downtown Davis offers a sense of everyday life in Davis — not just the university, but the wider community around it.
Central Park
Central Park is a key gathering space in downtown Davis and a focal point for community life. Originally established in 1937 as the city’s first public park, it was expanded in the late 20th century through community-led planning efforts that reshaped it into a larger civic green and home for the farmers market.
On Wednesday evenings and Saturday mornings, Central Park hosts the Davis Farmers Market and becomes one of the most active social places in Davis. Stalls fill the park with local produce, food, and flowers, and people gather to eat and meet. At other times, Central Park is quieter and offers space for walking and recreation. The park includes a children’s playground and Natalie’s Corner, a seasonal splash pad, making it a regular destination for families. Gardens are also part of the park and open to the public.
Hattie Weber Museum
This small local history museum is located next to Central Park. The building originally served as the town's first public library. Today, it features photographs and exhibits on the city’s development, agriculture, and everyday community life. Limited opening hours — check current times before visiting.
U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame
This museum is dedicated to the history and culture of cycling, including racing, recreation, and everyday cycling. Exhibits include vintage bicycles, memorabilia and rotating displays that reflect Davis’s cycling culture. Limited opening hours — check current times before visiting.
Varsity Theatre
The Varsity Theatre is a designated City of Davis landmark and long-standing cultural anchor in downtown Davis. Opened in 1950 as a single-screen movie theater, it is a notable example of late Streamline Moderne architecture. Today it operates as a two-screen venue showing independent, foreign and art-house films.
Davis Amtrak Station
The Davis train station sits just east of downtown. Built in 1914, it was central to Davis’s early growth. Like many small-town train stations, its use declined after World War II as car travel increased, but it was revived with Amtrak in the 1970s. Restored in the early 2000s, the station is now an active rail station connecting Davis to the wider region.
Mary L. Stephens Davis Branch Library
This Davis branch of the Yolo County Library is the city’s main public library and just a short walk or bike ride from Central Park. The library offers lending services, reading and study spaces, and is a hub for community programming for children, teens and adults year-round.
The Greenbelts and Davis Bike Loop
The Davis Greenbelt is a series of paths and open spaces that run through parts of the city, linking neighborhoods with parks, schools, downtown, and the UC Davis campus. Greenbelts also connect to the Davis Bike Loop, a 12-mile circuit around town that showcases a variety of bike-friendly infrastructure, including bike tunnels and bridges. The full network of bike paths can be seen here.
What connects these experiences
In downtown Davis, university and city life overlap, with students, staff, faculty and residents sharing the same streets, parks and public spaces. Campus and downtown are closely connected, making it easy to move between the two.
A morning at the library, an evening at the theater or a weekend at the farmers market can all happen within a few blocks of one another. Many everyday needs are met here as well, with banking, the post office, services, errands and civic institutions alongside cafes, shops and cultural venues in the same walkable core.
How to use this
A visit to downtown Davis does not require a fixed route or schedule and is easy to explore at your own pace. You can start almost anywhere and move between places as you go.
- Most people park once and explore on foot or bike within downtown.
- Parking is available in on-street spaces, public lots and parking structures.
- Sidewalks and crosswalks connect key destinations, with accessible routes available across much of the area.
- There are many places to pause along the way, including benches and shaded seating areas.
- Cafes, restaurants and casual food options are easy to find throughout downtown.
Fun Fact: Cycling is deeply integrated into everyday life in Davis. As you explore downtown and nearby neighborhoods, you’ll quickly notice how central bicycles are to getting around the city. Davis’s long association with cycling is also reflected in its city logo, which features a vintage high-wheeled bicycle.