Is Riverside worth a visit?
 

We are traveling to Anaheim next year and everybody has said go to Laguna, Huntington, etc. however, nobody has mentioned traveling to the east towards the desert. Is there anything out there to see. Beautiful landscape, etc. Heard a bit about the Historic Mission Inn in Riverside...

Many years ago, we use to visit a relative in Riverside. It was a bore. It may have changed, I don't know. I haven't been there for many years. There was nothing much around.

While I agree that the desert is worth a visit, Riverside is not (River-tuky). It is the meth capital of California. Seedy, seedy place. If you want to do the desert, keep going until you hit the Palm Springs area. That's nice.

While there are nice areas to live in Riverside county, for a tourist there really isn't much at all. If you want to go to Riverside county, the only place really worth going is to Palm Springs/Palm Desert area. Lots of golf courses, shops etc.

Mission Inn would be worth a stop if you like historic old hotels. The grounds and building are beautiful, but it should only be considered for a stop of an hour or 2 on your way to your destination.

Riverside is about a half hour from where I live - and I don't even go there. The only reason a tourist would want to see Riverside is if they were passing through to somewhere else.<BR><BR>The desert can be a beautiful sight to see. But Riverside does not equal desert. It is huge suburban sprawl, with horrendous amounts of smog, and even the people living there don't like it. Go with the advice given: Palm/Desert Springs.

The City of Riverside is definitely not the meth capital! (That would be Adelanto up in the high desert on the way to Vegas). It's a nice inland community, but doesn't offer much for tourism. There are some cute stores along the Main Street (a closed off pedestrian mall). And of course there is the Mission Inn. I just went there last night for a holiday meal which was delightful. The decorations along the historical building are breathtaking this time of year.

I used to stay at the mission Inn 1 or 2 times a year when visiting our branch offices in San Berdo and Riverside. The Inn is wonderful, but neither Riverside nor San Bernardino are worth a special trip. (if it wasn't for the Mission Inn I would have avoided the whole area.)

I live 1 hour from Riverside. I have always considered it one of the most god-awful places in California. It is part of the &quot;Inland Empire&quot;, as they call it. The smog never lifts. I don't know much about the Inn you are talking about, but I can't think of any circumstance that would drive me to visit Riverside just for the sake of visiting.<BR><BR>As someone else suggested, you may try the Palm Springs area. The Tramway and the Indian Canyons are worth it. Palm Springs on any Thursday night is awesome. They shut down the main drag, and put on quite a show - shopping, shows, music, food, the whole bit.<BR><BR>