Shasta Lake · Sacramento River · Dam, visitor center and free tours
Shasta Dam
Walk across the top of a 602-foot concrete dam, take a free guided tour 400 feet down inside it, and look out at Shasta Lake and Mount Shasta, about 9 miles northwest of Redding.
Opens the Bureau of Reclamation’s tour page. Tours are free, first come, first served, and limited to 20 people.
Details checked October 2026
Type
Dam & visitor center
Free guided tours inside the dam
Admission
Free
Tour tickets handed out 1 hour ahead
Hours
Fri–Tue 8–4
Closed Wed & Thu. Call for tour times.
Time needed
About 1 hr tour
Plus time for the visitor center and views
Parking
Visitor center lot
Tours start at the visitor center
Dam height
602 ft
Concrete gravity dam, built 1938–1945
What you’ll see
Inside one of the West’s great dams
Shasta Dam holds back California’s largest reservoir, and Reclamation guides will take you across it and down inside it for free.
Photo: Ejnesser on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Start here
The free dam and powerplant tour
Reclamation guides lead the tour across the top of the dam, ride an elevator 400 feet down, and walk through the dam to a view of the spillway, then visit the Shasta Powerplant. Tours run Friday through Tuesday on a first-come, first-served basis, with tickets handed out an hour ahead and a limit of 20 people per tour.
RV tip: call (530) 247-8500 for the day’s tour times before you leave camp, then arrive early so you’re at the visitor center when tickets are handed out.
More to see
- Walk across the topThe tour starts with a walk across the crest, 3,460 feet long and 30 feet wide, with Shasta Lake on one side and the Sacramento River canyon on the other.
- The spillwayInside the dam you reach a view of the spillway, the massive center chute that helps manage lake levels for flood control.
- Shasta PowerplantThe tour includes the powerplant, which sends hydroelectric power into the western power grid. Reclamation lists its net generation at about 1.8 billion kilowatt-hours.
- The three ShastasFrom the visitor center area you can take in what locals call the three Shastas: the dam, the lake and Mount Shasta on the horizon.
Why go
A New Deal landmark you can tour for free
Built between 1938 and 1945, Shasta Dam is a 602-foot-high concrete gravity dam on the Sacramento River and a key facility of the Central Valley Project. Concrete placement began in July 1940 and ran day and night for four and a half years, fed by a 9.6-mile conveyor belt, then the world’s longest, that carried gravel from Redding. The dam was finished 22 months ahead of schedule.
For RVers it’s an easy half-day: the tour is free, the visitor center is the meeting point, and Mountain Gate RV Park is about 15 minutes away. Shasta Dam sits about 9 miles northwest of Redding in the city of Shasta Lake.
The reservoir behind it stores about 4.55 million acre-feet, around 41 percent of the stored water in the Central Valley Project, fed by the Sacramento, Pit and McCloud rivers. Plan your day around the schedule: the visitor center and tours run Friday through Tuesday and are closed Wednesday and Thursday.
Photo: Bureau of Reclamation on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Why it made our list
- Free guided tours inside the dam
- A walk across the 3,460-foot crest
- Views of Shasta Lake and Mount Shasta
- Visitor center exhibits on its history
- About 15 minutes from Mountain Gate RV Park
For RVers
Visiting Shasta Dam with an RV
The practical stuff we wished someone had told us before we pulled in.
Park at the visitor center
The Shasta Dam Visitor Center is at 16349 Shasta Dam Boulevard in the city of Shasta Lake, and tours start there, so park once and walk. Reclamation’s tour information has noted plenty of parking at the visitor center.
Skip Wednesday and Thursday
The visitor center and tours are closed Wednesday and Thursday. On the other days the visitor center is open from 8 am to 4 pm, and Reclamation asks visitors to call (530) 247-8500 for current tour times.
Get there early for tickets
Tour tickets are handed out one hour before each tour, first come, first served, and each tour is limited to 20 people. On summer weekends and holidays, plan to arrive well ahead of the tour you want.
Pair it with a ride
The paved Sacramento River Rail Trail ends at the Shasta Dam Trailhead on Coram Road, about 2.8 miles south of the visitor center, so cyclists can combine the dam with a ride along Keswick Reservoir.
What visitors say about Shasta Dam
The visitor report card
We don’t copy other sites’ reviews, but the published scores are worth reading together. Scores checked October 24, 2026.
A destination not to be missed if you’re in the area.
Kimberly Niemer, City of Redding, via Rails to Trails Conservancy · railstotrails.org
What the free tour includes
From the Bureau of Reclamation’s tour page
Top of the dam400-ft elevator rideSpillway viewPowerplant
Reclamation’s free tour walks across the top of the dam, rides an elevator 400 feet down, passes through the dam to a spillway view and includes the Shasta Powerplant. Checked October 24, 2026.
How tall is Shasta Dam?
Dam figures from Reclamation’s Shasta Dam data; the Sundial Bridge pylon, from Turtle Bay, is shown for scale.
Good to know
Visitor centerFree Fri–Tue, 8 am–4 pm
Guided tourFree up to 20 people
Tour tickets1 hr ahead first come, first served
ClosedWednesdayThursday
From the Bureau of Reclamation’s Shasta Dam and tour pages, checked October 24, 2026. Tour times change, so call (530) 247-8500 for the day’s schedule.
Know before you go
Plan your visit
Shasta Dam
- Address16349 Shasta Dam Blvd., Shasta Lake, CA 96019
- HoursFri–Tue 8–4
Closed Wed & Thu. Call for tour times. - Phone(530) 247-8500
- ToursFree. Tour details; tickets at the visitor center
- Getting thereFrom I-5 north of Redding, take the Shasta Dam Boulevard exit and follow Shasta Dam Boulevard west through the city of Shasta Lake to the visitor center.
- ParkingPark at the visitor center, where tours begin.
Reclamation can change tour times at short notice, so call (530) 247-8500 on the day you plan to go.
Where to stay nearby
RV parks near Shasta Dam
These are the Redding-area parks we have visited and written up, closest first, with drive times to the visitor center.
Mountain Gate RV Park
Pull-thru sites, a pool and a dog park just off I-5 north of Redding, handy for Shasta Lake.
Boulder Creek RV Resort
Formerly Premier RV, with 65-ft pull-thrus, a pool and dog parks on Redding’s north side.
Redding RV Park
Paved 20/30/50-amp pull-thrus and a pool at I-5 Exit 680, an easy on-and-off stop.
Helpful answers
Frequently asked questions
The questions RVers ask most before pulling in.
Fri–Tue 8 am–4 pm · Free
Ready to go inside the dam?
Call ahead for tour times, arrive early for tickets, and leave time for the views of the lake and Mount Shasta.
Thank you to the people behind these photos and this video. Please support them by giving their work a look. Photos: Ejnesser (vista) under CC BY-SA 3.0, Oleg Alexandrov (spillway) and Leijurv (penstocks) under CC BY-SA 4.0, the Bureau of Reclamation (water release, aerial view) under CC BY-SA 2.0, JonMallard10 (sunrise) under CC BY 4.0 and Russell Lee (1942 construction; public domain), via Wikimedia Commons; the images were resized. Video: Pat Pattison’s Best of California on YouTube. Review-site logos are trademarks of their owners.
Disclaimer
RV-Roundup is an independent, community-based resource created to help RV travelers and to support and promote the places we feature. RV-Roundup is not owned by, operated by, or officially affiliated with Shasta Dam unless otherwise stated.
The information on this page was prepared using the most current details available at the time of publication, including the Bureau of Reclamation’s published materials and publicly available sources. Hours, tour schedules, access and other details are set by the Bureau of Reclamation and may change at any time without notice. Before you travel, please confirm details directly with Reclamation at usbr.gov or (530) 247-8500. RV-Roundup is not responsible for errors, omissions, or changes made after publication.
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