Galt is a small town in Sacramento County, California, at the northern end of the San Joaquin Valley.

Understand

Galt is a rural town created in 1869 when the Central Pacific Railroad Company built the first transcontinental railway across the US. While hardly a tourist attraction in itself, it has a pleasant enough old town and makes a convenient base for visiting the vineyards of Lodi only a few min south of town.

Libertarians will have to shrug like Atlas: the town was named after its founder John McFarland's Canadian home town of Galt, now a part of Cambridge, Ontario, and has no connection to Ayn Rand's character.

Get in

Galt is about 30 min south of Sacramento on California State Route 99.

Cargo trains continue to trundle through Galt, but there is no direct passenger service. Lodi, a few minutes south, has 4 Amtrak trains daily.

See

• 1 Brewster House, 206 5th St. Galt's top attraction (don't get too excited) is this two-story Italianate wooden house dating from the founding of the town in 1869, now listed in the National Register of Historic Places. No entry. (updated Oct 2023)

Eat

• 1 Nyla's Kitchen, 520 N Lincoln Way Suite 2. Pakistani food with a side menu of Mexican fusion. Tandoori chicken tikka quesadillas, anyone? (updated Oct 2023)

• 2 StreetZlan, 415 C Street. Funky restaurant serving up upmarket renditions of Mexican street food with a twist. The top seller is the Vaquero Tacos, made with meltingly soft beef birria soaking into flash-fried taco shells. Wash it down with a michelada flavored with their house spice mix and made on the spot. $10-16. (updated Oct 2023)

Sleep

• 1 La Quinta Galt Lodi North, 1080 N Lincoln Way. Opened 2022, almost certainly the nicest digs in Galt. Tastefully decorated modern rooms, indoor pool, solid breakfast included. Only downside is location right off Route 99, convenient enough for travel but a bit noisy and not walking distance to town (or anything, really). $150. (updated Oct 2023)