San Bernardino County – Travel guide at Wikivoyage (2024)

San Bernardino County is a county that spans the Southern California and Desert regions of the state of California. It is the largest county in the state at 20,105sqmi (52,070km²) - an area larger than nine of the US states, and about the same size as Costa Rica!

• 1 Mojave National Preserve

It is served by Ontario International Airport (ONT^IATA) with flights from Mexico, Taiwan, and the West Coast. The city of San Bernardino (SBD) has an airport, although it has never been used commercially.

• Hiking in Mojave National Preserve

• 1 Riverside County - Bordering San Bernardino County to the south, Riverside County's western portions include the far outskirts of Los Angeles, as well as more rural areas like Temecula, known for its wineries and hot air balloons. The majority of the county lies in the desert, with the most-visited portion being Palm Springs and its neighboring resort towns. Further east the county is essentially uninhabited, and includes the remote, rocky desert of Joshua Tree National Park, and the empty landscapes west of the Colorado River.
• 2 Orange County - While Disneyland is obviously the attraction that brings the most visitors to Orange County, there is more to this county than just the House of Mouse. The county's Beach Cities offer vast sand expanses great for sunbathing, swimming, surfing and even whale watching, particularly in the spring and fall when grey whales migrate along the coast. Festivals such as Laguna Beach's Pageant of the Masters (July & August) or the Orange County Fair in Costa Mesa (mid-July to mid-August) draw hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. And Knott's Berry Farm was an actual berry farm before adding roller coasters and other rides, and since 1973 has featured a popular October transformation into "Knott's Scary Farm" when the entire 160 acres (65 hectares) park is re-themed into a haunted house style attraction.
• 3 Los Angeles County - While many places claim to have "something for everyone", San Bernardino County's southwestern neighbor actually does. There are movie studios to tour in Hollywood and its surrounding cities, shopping at luxury boutiques in Beverly Hills, the Ice Age fossils of the La Brea Tar Pits, the incredible museums of Exposition Park (including the Space Shuttle Endeavour), hiking and camping opportunities in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, some of the world's most impressive roller coasters at Magic Mountain, the famous beaches of Malibu, Santa Monica or Venice, and a million other options; just budget extra time to get to all of these places as you brave the infamous traffic with the county's ten million residents.
• 4 Kern County - Bordering San Bernardino County to the northwest, Kern County extends across a number of geographic regions: the western portion is in the San Joaquin Valley, the northeastern portion is in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and the southeastern part is in the Desert. Visitors to the county are most likely to be heading to Bakersfield, one of California's largest cities, or traveling along Interstate 5 past oil fields and agricultural areas.
• 5 Inyo County - San Bernardino County's northern neighbor is a land of extremes, covering a massive 10,000sqmi (26,000km²) expanse of the Eastern Sierra and California Desert. Inyo County is home to Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the lower 48 states, as well as Death Valley National Park, the largest national park in the lower 48 states and host to earth's hottest temperatures and the continent's lowest elevation. In addition, ancient bristlecone pine trees can be found within the White Mountains, the oldest of which is estimated to be around 5,000 years old.
• 6 Southern Nevada
• 7 Western Arizona