Hire car Fresno

Discover Fresno by Hire Car

With just under half a million residents, Fresno is one of the larger cities in the heart of the Sunshine State of California.

With a total area of 271 square kilometers, Fresno is located in the San Joaquin Valley, surrounded on the east by the 4000-meter-high Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Fresno is separated from the Pacific Ocean, which is about 200 kilometres to the west, by the 2000-metre-high Coast Range.

Yet the cities of Los Angeles to the south and San Francisco to the north are also within reach by American standards, at 300 kilometres away.

City rights were granted to Fresno in 1885 during California’s great gold rush, after it was connected to the railroad system by a neighboring town in 1872. In fact, the fabled Santa Fe Express stopped here. So it’s understandable that the town developed in a checkerboard fashion around the station.

Today, Fresno is home to historic buildings from the founding era as well as contemporary architecture. This mix gives the city its own personal charm.

Worth seeing in this context is especially the Meux Home Museum, which was built in the Victorian style and provides a very good insight into the living conditions of Fresno residents in the late 19th century.

Today, Fresno’s abundant sunshine hours and fertile soil make it primarily a marginal spot for American wine growing. Only the scarcity of water necessitates an elaborate irrigation system. Picturesquely, numerous vineyards stretch skyward along the hillsides on the outskirts of the city.

Fresno also has a lot to offer in terms of leisure activities. Adventure parks, museums and galleries, a lively theatre scene and plenty of live music provide variety and it is an ideal starting point for excursions with a hire car into an incomparable natural landscape of the USA.