6 Guided Tours to Experience in Butte County

Trav­el back in time to see and learn about the area’s his­to­ry with a guid­ed tour of the Bid­well Man­sion, John and Annie Bidwell’s grand, 26-room Ital­ian-style man­sion, car­riage house and grounds. Enter­tain­ing docents show­case the home’s peri­od fur­nish­ings and dis­cuss the Bidwell’s con­tri­bu­tions to the city and state, the famous guests they enter­tained, how the home lat­er served as a col­lege dor­mi­to­ry, and tales of Annie Bidwell’s ghost.

Tours: Check for cur­rent hours

Admis­sion: $6 for adults $3 for youth under 18

Take a fas­ci­nat­ing tour of Oroville’s Chi­nese Tem­ple, which was built in 1863 as a place of wor­ship for the near­ly 10,000 Chi­nese labor­ers that called Oroville home dur­ing the Gold Rush. Inside the muse­um and active tem­ple, you’ll view an exten­sive col­lec­tion of embroi­dered tapes­tries, parade para­sols, cos­tumes, fur­nish­ings and arti­facts rep­re­sent­ing dai­ly life dur­ing this time peri­od. You can also enjoy the Chi­nese gar­den and koi pond. The tem­ple is cur­rent­ly open Wednes­days and Sat­ur­days from Noon-2pm. It is closed on hol­i­days and from Dec. 15 through Jan.

Tours: To sched­ule a guid­ed tour, call (530) 538‑2508

Admis­sion: $4 adults/$3.50 for AAA mem­bers; chil­dren under 12 are free.

All ages will enjoy the one hour, trac­tor-dri­ven tour of the Chico State’s Uni­ver­si­ty Farm—a work­ing 800-acre ​‘liv­ing lab­o­ra­to­ry’ for ag stu­dents. Locat­ed just south of Chico, you’ll learn about and inter­act with farm ani­mals, take a peek at the organ­ic dairy oper­a­tions, and enjoy the scenic beau­ty of row crops and orchards. You’ll see the Meats Lab, which sells farm-raised beef, pork, lamb, goat and oth­er items every Thurs­day and Fri­day from 8am to 5pm. Free guid­ed pub­lic tours are offered at 2pm on the third Fri­day of each month (no tours are offered in Jan., June and July).

Tours: Call 530−898−6343 to inquire about tour avail­abil­i­ty. Self-guid­ed tours are not permitted.

Admis­sion: Free

Learn more about the rich (and some­times racy) his­to­ry dur­ing the month­ly His­toric Oroville Walk­ing Tour. Guide Dan­ny Bal­lard will take you through dif­fer­ent attrac­tions and points of inter­est in and around Down­town Oroville. Tours change month­ly to fea­ture dif­fer­ent routes and dif­fer­ent sub­jects, so there’s always some­thing new to dis­cov­er and always a rea­son for repeat visits.

Tours: First Sat­ur­day of every month, with tours at 3pm, 6pm, and 8pm. No reser­va­tion required, and all tours start at the Oroville Con­ven­tion Center

Admis­sion: Free

Vis­it the Feath­er Riv­er Fish Hatch­ery for a fas­ci­nat­ing view of how this spawn­ing facil­i­ty keeps Chi­nook salmon and steel­head pop­u­la­tions strong in Cal­i­for­nia. Vis­i­tors can watch from obser­va­tion plat­forms and under­wa­ter win­dows as thou­sands of fish swim up the hatchery’s lad­ders to the spawn­ing oper­a­tions. Salmon view­ing is best mid-Sep­tem­ber through Novem­ber; steel­head spawn­ing is most vis­i­ble Jan­u­ary and Feb­ru­ary. Vis­i­tors will still see fish March through May.

Tours: Call (530) 534‑2306 to arrange a guid­ed tour to learn more about these life cycle and pop­u­la­tion efforts. Self-guid­ed tours are avail­able dai­ly from 8am to 5pm.

Admis­sion: Free

There’s a tour for every taste at Chico’s land­mark Sier­ra Neva­da Brew­ery. Choose between dif­fer­ent top­ics, lengths and beer sam­plings at this state-of-the-art, envi­ron­men­tal­ly sus­tain­able oper­a­tion. Enjoy tours geared toward beer geeks, hop heads, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, gar­dens, edu­ca­tion­al tast­ings and more. You can also take a self-guid­ed tour, and taste spe­cial­ty brews and foods, at the brew­pub. Tours fill up quick­ly, so it’s a good idea to make online reser­va­tions in advance.

Tours & Admis­sion: Vis­it the web­site for dif­fer­ent tour details, costs, and hours.