Page 35 - 2025-2026 Travel Guide to California

5TH HOLE AT JOURNEY, Pechanga Resort
Casino’s links-style golf course, bottom;
Catalina Island Casino, right; The action
gets hot when your number comes up at
Chukchansi Gold, opposite.
place, too—the restaurant lineup includes
an outpost of local favorite Boathouse
Asian Eatery, and Tony Gemignani's Italian
food eateries. There is also a 200-room
hotel with a full house of amenities,
including a full-service spa and salon, and
fitness center.
Other Native American casinos in this
region are small but superlative in other
ways. Many, including Thunder Valley
(Lincoln), Chukchansi (Coarsegold), Twin
Pine (Middletown) and Cache Creek
(Brooks) also have full-service hotels.
Chukchansi is the closest casino to
Yosemite National Park, just 27 miles from
the southern entrance near Wawona; it’s
also just 15 miles from Bass Lake Recreation
Area. Twin Pine, nearly halfway between
the wineries of the northern Napa Valley
and Lake County, is marketed as a wine-
themed casino destination. Red Hawk, in
Placerville, offers child-care services for
tykes while mom and dad play.
Harrah’s Northern California, in Ione,
opened in 2019. It offers a Las Vegas vibe in
the heart of the Sierra foothills’ Wine
Country. It is surrounded by wineries, golf
courses, historic monuments and gor-
geous scenery.
Most of the other gambling options in
Northern California are card rooms, and
many are located in the suburbs of San Fran-
cisco and Sacramento. Popular ones are San
Jose’s Bay 101 Casino, Colma’s Lucky
Chances and San Jose’s Casino M8trix.
SoCal and LA
Southern California—from the northern
edge of the San Fernando Valley to the
Mexico border, the Pacific Ocean to I-15—is
home to some of the biggest Native Amer-
ican casinos in the state including: Harrah’s
Resort Southern California in Valley Center;
Pala Casino Spa Resort in Pala; Barona
Resort & Casino in Lakeside; and Pechanga
Resort Casino in Temecula. All of these
properties boast Vegas-style hotels with
eateries, shopping and spas. Viejas Casino
& Resort, just outside San Diego, with the
Willows Hotel and Spa, offers staycation
opportunities, and a live events center,
bowling and an outdoor skating rink.
Closer to Los Angeles, the name of the
game is card rooms. Two facilities are
worth visiting for their grandeur alone: the
Commerce Casino (Commerce) and the
Parkwest Bicycle Hotel & Casino (Bell Gar-
dens). Both venues have expansive poker
rooms and host some of the most popular
tournaments in the area.
The Desert
Soboba Casino Resort, just outside of San
Jacinto, offers spectacular views of the San
Jacinto Mountains. Agua Caliente’s collec-
tion of three Casinos are located in Rancho
Mirage, Palm Springs and Cathedral City.
Most area casinos have their own golf
courses, but locals rave about Eagle Falls,
the course at Fantasy Springs Resort Casino
in Indio. The 18-hole course was designed
by architect Clive Clark.
2025-26 TRAVEL GUIDE TO CALIFORNIA 33