(Bending Energy / Visit Big Bear )
It’s time to explore Big Bear beyond the slopes. 9 things to do in the cozy alpine town
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As a kid born and raised in Southern California, the idea of autumn leaves and winter snow were novelties. Though just a three-hour drive from my family’s town, the wooded San Bernardino Mountains felt like another world, so much so that when a mountain guide once asked 10-year-old me where I was from, I told him “California,” as if we’d left the state entirely.
Cascading ponderosa pines and Douglas fir trees sweep the Transverse Ranges toward Big Bear Lake, which sits in a valley that the Indigenous Yuhaaviatam called Yuhaaviat, Place of the Pines. Big Bear’s tourism story starts in the 1860s, when a short-lived gold rush in Holcomb Valley left behind roads, cabins and a frontier myth that later drew tourists. In 1884, a dam built for irrigation flooded the valley and created the alpine lake that still defines the region.
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Angelenos have been making the drive to Big Bear for more than a century, chasing cooler air in summer and snow in winter. As early as 1912, day-trippers and film crews in Model-Ts wound up the mountain roads, using Big Bear’s forests as both a quick escape and a Hollywood back lot.
By the 1920s Pine Knot, now known as Big Bear Village, was filled with lodges and storefronts to greet Los Angeles motorists escaping summer heat. The region’s first ski lift arrived in 1938, while post-World War II highways, film shoots, and the Hollywood set turned the once-remote valley into a four-season resort through the 1960s. To this day, Big Bear maintains its small-town feel with a population of just 5,000 even though it sees more than 7 million visitors a year.
For my parents, who loved to ski, Big Bear was more affordable and closer than Tahoe (meaning less time in the car with two squirmy kids) and had just enough amenities to keep us warm, fed and happy. Over the years, locals have held tight to its character, resisting abject luxury development while defending the habitats of local wildlife. Thanks to those efforts, the place still carries a bit of Howard Johnson-era Americana charm.
Whether traveling solo or with friends and family, a weekend in Big Bear makes for a quaint but restorative winter getaway, whether or not you hit the slopes. Pack your sweaters and boots and be careful taking the curves of Highway 18.
Have a hearty breakfast at local institution Teddy Bear Restaurant
Big Bear Lake Restaurant
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
In the Village of Big Bear Lake, you’ll find Teddy Bear Restaurant, a local favorite that taps into the valley’s bear-themed identity (it’s bear country, after all) and dates back to 1944. Inside, the details feel refreshingly unchanged from its early days: log-cabin-style walls, wooden tables, big windows letting in the mountain light and the scent of freshly baked pies. The menu leans into homestyle classics, offering hearty breakfast all day, burgers and sandwiches, soups and chili made from original house recipes, and pies baked in house. Come early, bring cash (it’s cash-only; there’s an ATM onsite with a fee) and be prepared to wait up to 30 minutes for a table. To pass the time, you might as well share this bit of mountain-town lore with your fellow diners: It’s been said that during the building’s construction, an unknown woman showed up, walked the perimeter, blessed the business and then dropped a nickel into an exposed construction pillar and left. Some believe that little token has something to do with the fact that the restaurant has endured for more than 80 years.
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Challenge yourself with a hike on Castle Rock Trail
Forest Trail
Set in the San Bernardino National Forest, this is one of the most popular short hikes around town, known for its quick climb and sweeping views of the lake from a granite outcropping that really does look like a small castle. The trailhead sits just east of the dam on Highway 18, and though it’s less than two miles round-trip, the steep grade makes it feel like a workout. The path winds through Jeffrey pine and fir before opening onto smooth boulders and sunlit rock, where hikers scramble the last few feet to a lookout facing the water. The formation itself is part of the granite spine that runs through the mountains, a reminder of how this landscape was shaped long before cabins and Airbnbs. On weekends, the trail fills up quickly and parking is limited along the roadside, so go early, bring water and trekking poles and expect to share the view with a few other hikers catching their breath. Also, before you go, check the USDA Forest Service website for any road closures or hazardous conditions.
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Encounter the wildlife of the valley at Big Bear Alpine Zoo
Big Bear Lake Zoo
(Pandora Vasquez / Visit Big Bear)
Remember all the summer buzz about the Big Bear eaglets? The two chicks, streamed live from their nest above the lake, turned the mountain town into a small internet sensation and reminded everyone how much wildlife still calls this valley home. The surrounding San Bernardino Mountains are thick with black bears, bobcats, coyotes, hawks and mule deer, while smaller creatures — owls, raccoons and the occasional mountain lion — move quietly through the pines. To learn about these animals (and the people who care for them), make a visit to the Big Bear Alpine Zoo. The rehabilitation facility takes care of injured, orphaned or imprinted wild animals that are brought in by local residents, animal control officers and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, returning about 80% of its rescues to the wild. I watched a sassy, molting crow hop along its perch, a restless coyote pacing the edge of its enclosure and an enormous half-hibernating grizzly sprawled under the sun in torpor. The small zoo sits against the forest’s edge, feels unpretentious and open to the elements. It’s less of a tourist attraction and more of a small sanctuary keeping pace with the mountains around it.
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Find a cozy alpine retreat at the lakefront Hotel Marina Riviera
Big Bear Lake Hotel
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
First built in 1968 and renovated by Casetta Group last May, Hotel Marina Riviera is one of the few truly lakefront hotels in Big Bear. Inspired by Viking lodges, original architect John Woods designed the three-story structure with open-air corridors, timber cladding and steeply pitched Alpine-style roofs. Today it’s is well-suited for families, couples or solo travelers, with 42 freshly updated rooms, a swimming pool, saunas, outdoor fire pits and, of course, sunset and sunrise views of the lake. Though the hotel is nestled in the center of the bustling ski town (where businesses often blast music from the streets), the rooms offer a quiet and cozy reprieve — think plush carpet, stovepipe woodburning fireplaces and vintage artwork featuring local landscapes. I spent each morning of my stay bundled up on one of their shoreside deck chairs facing the water before clocking into the lakefront barrel sauna. It was glorious.
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Bite into the signature crackly crust at pizzeria De La Nonna
Big Bear Lake Italian Restaurant
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
I may or may not have fallen in love with the general manager at De la Nonna Big Bear, attached to Hotel Marina Riviera, as he brought me one dish after the other from Chef Patrick Costa’s newest menu. Facing the lake and nestled under an outdoor heater, the woodsy satellite location of the original Italian hot spot in the Arts District is just as cozy, its food just as comforting. De La Nonna, which translates to “From the Grandma,” is a take on the traditional family pizzeria with a menu featuring both tried-and-true recipes and adventurous twists on old classics. The bar features a suite of natural wines that rotate seasonally and an Italian-influenced cocktail menu with creative offerings like the Negroni Strawbaggio and the Ol Fashie, a mix of bourbon, rum, banana, amaro and a dusting of nutmeg. Try the eggplant carbonata with spicy agrodolce and the Sicilian pizza made with the restaurant’s crispy, crackly crust and topped with capers, olives, tomato and pine nuts. And don’t miss the tiramisu. I’m still thinking about it now.
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Have a ball at the charming Bowling Barn
Big Bear Lake Bowling Alley
(The Bowling Barn / Visit Big Bear)
The Bowling Barn is Big Bear Lake’s only bowling alley, a low-lit hangout on Big Bear Boulevard that mixes family nostalgia with a touch of mountain-town kitsch. Inside are 16 lanes, a small arcade stocked with claw machines, driving games and a virtual-reality setup, plus a sports bar called Alley Oops serving burgers, wings, pizza and beer. It’s cash or card, and bowling runs around $50 an hour per lane — about $10 a person if you’re sharing — with shoe rentals extra. You can’t miss the building, which is undeniably on brand: It’s big, red and shaped like a barn.
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Pour your own witchy candle at Mystic Moto
Big Bear Lake Gift Shop
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
In Big Bear Village, Mystic Moto is the kind of shop you wander into out of curiosity and end up staying for an hour. The space, run by duo Molly Williams-Sunday and Steve Melahn, smells like cedar and sage, its shelves lined with crystals, tarot decks and handmade candles in glass jars. On weekends, they host small workshops where you can make your own witchy candles — pouring soy wax, choosing scents like pine, lavender or smoke, and adding herbs, dried flowers or crystals. These programs are walk-in-friendly though spots fill up quickly. Who wouldn’t a handmade candle that smells like the San Bernardino forest around them?
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Step into a different era on a Big Bear historic architecture tour
Historical Landmark
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(Visit Big Bear)
If it’s historic architecture you crave, Big Bear has plenty of significant ruins, cabins and storefronts to fill an afternoon. Start at the Dam Keeper’s House (marked on this map), which are well preserved ruins of a granite-block residence from 1890 that once housed the families who maintained the original dam — one of the few remaining traces of the valley’s early engineering era. From there, stop by the Knickerbocker Mansion, a 1920s estate turned bed-and-breakfast with wide porches and timber framing that capture Big Bear’s early resort days. Up in Holcomb Valley, the Belleville Cabin marks the last remnant of the 1860s gold-mining settlement that came before the lake. In the Village, the heart of town, several storefronts date to 1923 and still show off the false-front façades that gave the mountain settlement its Western frontier look.
And I can’t leave out the Big Bear Solar Observatory, a mysterious structure I was fascinated by as a kid. Built in 1969 by Caltech and operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the BBSO sits on a narrow peninsula and houses the Goode Solar Telescope, one of the world’s most advanced solar telescopes. Though it’s rarely open for tours, which happen only in the summer, the pale dome of the observatory can be seen across the lake in all directions, gleaming in the sun and snow as it captures images and data of the earth’s sun.
And I can’t leave out the Big Bear Solar Observatory, a mysterious structure I was fascinated by as a kid. Built in 1969 by Caltech and operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology, the BBSO sits on a narrow peninsula and houses the Goode Solar Telescope, one of the world’s most advanced solar telescopes. Though it’s rarely open for tours, which happen only in the summer, the pale dome of the observatory can be seen across the lake in all directions, gleaming in the sun and snow as it captures images and data of the earth’s sun.
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Stroll on the Stanfield Marsh Wildlife and Waterfowl Preserve Boardwalk
Nature Preserve
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(Angella d’Avignon)
On the eastern edge of Big Bear Lake sits Stanfield Marsh, a quiet stretch of wetland that feels far from the souvenir shops, lake traffic and the EDM blasting from viral poke restaurant Tropicali. Take a walk on the bridge, a wooden boardwalk that slips through cattails and pine shadows before opening onto wide views of water and sky. Pelicans swoop low over glassy water, herons and egrets toe through the reeds. And if you’re lucky, you might spot Jackie or Shadow, the resident bald eagles. The loop is short — about a mile and a half round-trip, mostly flat and dog-friendly — an easy stop for a slow afternoon stroll. I recommend a sunset jaunt across the marsh, which yields gorgeous views in both eastern and western skies, capped off with a moment on the rocks to watch the sun slip below the lake.
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