What else to do near Ontario, California?
 

I am going to Ontario, California on September 4 (two days early for a business trip). Can you recommend must see attractions that are within one hour of Ontario?

I don't know if you can <i>actually</i> make it in under an hour (depends on traffic/time of day), but Pasadena is only 38 miles from Ontario -- it has the Norton Simon Museum, the fabulous Huntington Gardens and Museums, a nice downtown, and great restaurants.

Oh, I forgot, also the Gamble House and the surrounding neighborhood -- great examples of the Greene & Greene architectural style (Arts & Crafts style "bungalows").

If you want to shop, there is Ontario Mills outlet mall, I looked it up and seems to have some nice stores, plus an AMC theater complex.

Glen Ivy Hot Springs is a nice way to spend the day. It will be hot while you're here (I live about 20 min from Ontario) so there are pools to cool off in, clay mud pit, and lots of other services spa. http://www.glenivy.com/

Also, just a bit further down the 15 hwy is the town of Temecula, lots of wineries to visit and taste at.

LA Live near Staples center is fun to walk around.

And of course you can hit any of the beaches around Newport Beach/Balboa Island/Huntington Beach as well.

"<i>And of course you can hit any of the beaches around Newport Beach/Balboa Island/Huntington Beach as well.</i>"

>> Temecula<<

In an hour? -- in your dreams :) -- maybe at Midnight . . .

All are nice, but none w/i an hour of Ontario. Just get used to traffic and car time. Pasadena would be the closest and at the right time of day maybe just under an hour, and the others are doable -- just not in an hour.

As for IN Ontario itself, the outlet Mall is about it.

Another option would be Lake Arrowhead -- but again, more than an hour.

IDK, I can get to Newport from Corona in 45 minutes, I do it all the time. And I just went to Temecula for a wedding this weekend, took me less than an hour and THAT was on a Friday afternoon...and I did say that it was past Glen Ivy, but it would be a shame to miss it if the OP happens to like wineries. They also mentioned they would be here on a Sunday, so I took that into account. Now Ontario to Pasadena...LOTS of traffic in that area too if during rush hour. My daughter is in the Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena and she drives it all the time. So yeah, nothing much IN Ontario and anywhere is more than an hour when driving in rush hour traffic so obviously that is key.

Of course you can get from Ontario to Temecula in an hour. It's freeway the whole way. Just avoid commute hours. You can use one of the live traffic websites, or Google Maps traffic.

Riverside about 1/2 an hour, you can go to the Mission Inn, have a meal on the patio and explore.

Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden is really close, you can get there in about 15 minutes.

Might also see if there is something interesting that you can do on the Claremont Heritage website.

http://www.claremontheritage.org/

In the area, Sycamore Inn is an historic restaurant - used to be a bordello, stage coach stop and they have good food. The Magic Lamp is another vintage, well loved restaurant nearby. Planes of Fame is in Chino and has old airplanes on display with an aerial show the first Saturday of the month- Sept 3 is Dive Bombers. If military is your thing, in Moreno Valley is Riverside National Cemetery with a Medal of Honor wall and a military planes museum. Claremont is a little college town nearby, with great antiques, cute little houses and yummy restaurants. In Ontario, is Graber Olive House which is a family owned company that displays/explains olives production with a store selling said olives. Riverside is about 30 minutes away and downtown has the Mission Inn (which has interesting tours, a great spa and good restaurants),shops, and old houses craftsman style built in 1900-1930. Mt Rubidoux is close by and a nice easy walk up a small hill with some historic markers and a view of the city if the air is clear. The Museum in Riverside currently has a Star Trek exhibit if that interests you. Downtown Riverside also has a California Museum of Photography that has some great stuff. UCRiverside has a botanic garden that has some nice hikes too. Lake Arrowhead is a nice mountain drive about 30-45 minutes away with a fun village, lake cruise ship and shops. Mt Baldy is a little closer but the village is much smaller. Ontario also the Citizens Bank Arena with a Gospel Concert on Sept 2 and Sade on Sept 4th. Beside Ontario Mills, there is Victoria Gardens - another shopping center with more upscale stores. If you are interested in the desert, you can get to Victorville/Barstow in 30-60 minutes and see lizards, catcus and clouds- and HOT.

Almost forgot - LA County Fair (which is actually in Pomona- about 20 minutes away) starts Sept 3 this year if you feel like eating fried Kool aid, fried cookie dough, fried candy bars, fried butter or any of the other attractions of a county fair - livestock, cowboys, buildings full of barking salespeople, etc. Entertainment this year includes aerial circus acts, pig racing, chinese acrobats to name a few.

Good call fairy...I was gonna mention Sade too. And the fair! Some great ideas!

The famous fresh Strawberry Donut at the Donut Man in Glendora.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/attackcat/523501494/

You could take a nice drive up to Lake Arrowhead in a little over an hour. Sunday might be best for any excursions, Monday labor day traffic will get busy in the afternoon and evening.

http://laist.com/2010/07/13/will_you...e_in_the_i.php

"fried butter"?????!!!!!

Mission Inn in Riverside is worth a visit.

Also if you're going to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, then you can walk around the campuses of the Claremont Group of colleges (which includes Pomona College), and maybe have a bite to eat at a restaurant on a nearby street to the west of the campuses. Claremont, as you can gather, is a college town.

Another place you "might" want to visit is that huge Ontario Mills mall.

Otherwise fairgemgirl has just about covered everything in the area.

If you can spare the time, you can drive straight out west on I-10 to Santa Monica and its Promenade.

I lived in Ontario for many years and agree with most of the posts so far.
The only quibble I have is with projected travel times.If the traffic is right an hour from Ontario covers an amazing array of tourist sites,but certainly not Lake Arrowhead.
I have scanned the above posts and found one word missing.
Disneyland!

Since I-210 was finished, it's only 40 min from Ontario to Lake Arrowhead using 210 and I 18 (which has reopened). I can make it and I don't even drive that fast, lol. Disneyland and Knotts are much harder to make in an hour since the OC almost always has traffic, not that it would stop me.

Mapquest says an hour to Lake Arrowhead so I'm riding with fairygirl. We can make it to Arrowhead in the morning and Disney in the afternoon thanks to her heavy foot and calm demeanor. (She doesn't even know how fast she's going - It's like magic!)

"Really Your Honor, I was only going 55....65...75... But, But, But - I'm Tinkerbell!!!" LOL tracys2cents - jump on if you can!

It's unfortunate that you set 1 hour driving time as your go-no go criterion for visiting an attraction within the LA metropolitan area. Rather, as janisj said, "Just get used to traffic and car time." This is what us Angelenos do. For a day trip from Ontario a reasonable maximum time allotment would be 90 to 100 minutes. And the basic question is "is it worth X minutes to get to destination Y?" And this depends on how desirable destination Y is. (For us it's worth an hour and a half or more to get to a grandaughter's birthday party).

I think you have the pick of most destinations within the greater LA area if you give yourself up to 100 minutes to get there, AND if you select the route and time of day to minimize traffic problems. For traffic conditions I recommend
http://www.sigalert.com/Map.asp?lat=...-118.22335&z=2

For suggested routes,
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl

And here are the places you can go.
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/...city-guide.htm

Thank you all so much! You've given me so many options.