Big Bear Lake

Big Bear Lake is a mountain reservoir at about 2,000m, not a beach destination. You can swim in summer, but the water stays cool even in July and August, at around 19°C on average, and swimmers are expected to stay close to the shore or near a dock. The water is not patrolled except at the small swim beach at Meadow Park, the one supervised spot and the obvious choice with children. Most of the shoreline is rocky, with a few sandy patches and granite outcrops for a quick dip.

Out here, being on the water mostly means boats, kayaks and paddleboards. A swim is a short way to cool off on a warm afternoon, not what you plan the day around.

Food here is the comfort food of a mountain resort: big breakfasts in log-cabin diners, burgers, pizza, barbecue and Mexican plates, then a pint at a brewpub after a day on the slopes or the trails. The Village has the most choice, and a few restaurants by the lake have water views. There is no cooking you could call local, and nothing you would plan a trip around.

Many visitors rent cabins with kitchens and stock up at the supermarkets in town. On busy winter weekends, expect queues for tables and plain menus aimed at hungry skiers.

There is little to see in the way of sights. The Big Bear Discovery Center explains the forest and its wildlife, and a small local history museum covers the gold rush of the 1860s in Holcomb Valley, where a few mining remains and old cabins can be followed on a dirt-road drive. The Village is mostly modern buildings in a chalet and log-cabin style. Visitors who want museums or architecture will find almost nothing, and that is not why people come.

Evenings are quiet. In ski season there is some après-ski in the bars near the slopes and the pubs in the Village, and a brewpub or a sports bar keeps a few people out after dinner. Beyond that, the night usually means a hot tub, a fire in the cabin and an early start. There are no clubs and nothing runs late, so anyone after a night out should look elsewhere.

This is a genuine mountain base. The town lies along an alpine lake ringed by pine and oak forest in the San Bernardino Mountains, and in winter two ski areas above the south shore offer modest but reliable skiing and snowboarding, with plenty of snowmaking. In the snow months the slopes and sledding spots fill up at weekends with drivers from the lowland cities.

In summer and autumn the ski runs become mountain-bike trails, and the lake fills with fishing boats, kayaks, paddleboards and sailing boats. The Pacific Crest Trail passes along the north side, Castle Rock and Cougar Crest are short, rewarding hikes, and the San Gorgonio Wilderness, with Southern California's highest summit, is close by. Bald eagles winter around the lake. Summers are dry, warm and clear, and the thin air is noticeable on the steeper climbs.

Big Bear sits at the end of winding mountain roads, which makes most outings slow. The Rim of the World road leads to Lake Arrowhead, a smaller lake resort with a lakeside village, in about an hour. Driving down the eastern side brings you to the apple orchards and farm stands of Oak Glen, which are busiest in autumn. Redlands and Riverside, with its grand Mission Inn and old citrus-era streets, are about an hour and a half away.

Palm Springs, the Temecula wine country and Los Angeles are all around two hours or more, which makes for a long day, especially in winter traffic. Most visitors stay up the mountain.

Many families come here, and the town is built for them. For lowland Southern California children, snow is the main draw, with sledding hills, snow-play areas and beginner ski lessons. The Big Bear Alpine Zoo cares for injured and orphaned mountain animals such as bears, bobcats and eagles and is easy to see in an hour or two. The summer slopes add an alpine slide, mini-golf and go-karts, and pedal boats and fishing from the shore fill gentle days on the lake.

Cabin rentals with space and a kitchen make family stays easy. The downsides are the thin air at altitude, cold nights and long queues on the roads on busy winter weekends.

You need a car to get here and, in practice, to get around. The only ways up are steep mountain highways, and in winter snow chains may be required. On long weekends and in peak vacation periods the drive can crawl. Once you arrive, the Village is easy to explore on foot, and a local bus and a seasonal trolley link it with the ski areas and parts of the lakeshore. Most cabins are scattered through the forest on hilly roads, though, so ordinary errands and trailheads mean driving.

Shopping is limited to the Village, a few blocks of gift shops, fudge and candy stores, bear-themed souvenirs, a few antique and home-decor shops and outdoor outfitters selling and renting ski and lake gear. You can pass a pleasant hour browsing, but there is no fashion, design or market shopping to speak of. Bigger stores are down in the valley.

How much a trip here costs depends heavily on timing. Midweek and in the shoulder seasons, a shared cabin can be fairly economical, especially for a group or a family that does its own cooking. On winter weekends and in school vacation periods, rates rise sharply, lift tickets and equipment hire add up, and restaurant meals cost the same as in the Southern California lowlands. Hiking, lake views and sledding cost little, but this is not a budget destination.

There is not much on stage. A small community performing arts centre has local theatre, school productions and the occasional touring act, and summer brings free outdoor concerts by the lake. The town's long-running autumn Oktoberfest has a beer hall with Bavarian bands. Otherwise, live music means a guitarist in a bar on a weekend night.

Here, relaxing mostly means the cabin itself: a wood stove, a deck among the pines, and the private hot tub that is standard in many rentals. On quiet midweek days the pace is slow and the mountain air is clear. There are a few day spas and massage studios in town, but there are no thermal springs, no bathhouse tradition and no destination spa, and on busy winter weekends the crowds make the town far from peaceful.