Things to Do

Lamorinda’s outdoor spaces are a major reason people move here. Rolling hills, reservoirs, miles of trails, and weather that lets you enjoy them year-round. Here’s how to make the most of it.

The Must-Dos

• Lafayette Reservoir — The crown jewel. Walk, jog, kayak, or just sit by the water.
• Lafayette-Moraga Trail — Paved path connecting two towns. Great for bikes, strollers, and morning runs.
• Orinda Theatre — Catch a film in an 80-year-old Art Deco landmark.

Parks & Recreation

Lafayette

• Lafayette Reservoir — 2.7-mile paved loop, kayaks, picnics
• Lafayette Community Park — playground, sports fields, dog park
• Briones Regional Park — 6,255 acres of ridge and grassland, trailhead access from Bear Creek Road
• Lafayette Community Center & pool

Moraga

• Moraga Commons Park — concerts, playground, bandshell
• Rancho Laguna Park — quieter alternative, good for small kids
• Campolindo trails — open to the public outside school hours
• Saint Mary’s College campus — walking paths and historic chapel

Orinda

• Orinda Oaks Park — playground and picnic areas
• Wagner Ranch Nature Area — educational trails, demonstration gardens
• Siesta Valley — quiet hiking with Mt. Diablo views
• San Pablo Dam Road scenic routes — for cyclists and Sunday drives
• Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve (accessible via Skyline)

Trails

The East Bay Regional Park District and local trail systems offer everything from paved paths to serious hikes:

• Lafayette-Moraga Regional Trail — 7.6 miles, paved, flat, perfect for bikes and strollers
• Briones Regional Park trails — Mott Peak, Briones Peak, and the Old Briones Road climb from Bear Creek staging — real dirt and real elevation
• Briones to Mt. Diablo Trail — Connects regional parks, more serious hiking
• Reservoir rim trails — Both paved (2.7 mi) and unpaved (5+ mi) options
• Ohlone Point Trail — Climbs from the reservoir to Mt. Diablo views
• EBMUD trails — Permit required; quieter, more remote terrain

Dogs are welcome on leash on most paved Lamorinda trails. Always check trailhead signage.

Entertainment

• Orinda Theatre — First-run and independent films in an 80-year-old Art Deco landmark
• Summer Concerts at Moraga Commons — free Thursday-evening bandshell series, 2026 season opens Thursday, June 11 with Sun Kings (Beatles tribute); runs through August 20
• Farmers markets — Orinda Saturday and Moraga Sunday, both year-round 9am-1pm; second-weekend-of-June is graduation-party-prep peak

Sports & Active Recreation

• Pickleball in Lamorinda — Court locations, drop-in hours, and etiquette across Lafayette, Moraga, and Orinda
• Tennis — Public courts at Orinda Community Center, Moraga Commons, and Lafayette Community Park
• Cycling — The Lafayette-Moraga Trail and Tunnel Road climbs are the regional favorites

Seasonal Note: Solstice Weekend, June 20-21, 2026

The longest light of the year is here. Today, Saturday June 20, is the longest-daylight Saturday of 2026 in Lamorinda — sunset at 8:36 PM, civil twilight running past 9:08 PM, the western ridge backlit from roughly 7:38 PM through the deep blue at 8:50. The actual astronomical summer solstice lands at 9:24 AM Sunday morning — during the Moraga Farmers Market — but the practical solstice payoff is today and tomorrow’s evenings. Field report from today’s solstice Saturday. Sunset will hold within a minute of 8:36 PM through the first week of July before it starts pulling back.

Father’s Day is Sunday June 21. The marquee Sunday-brunch and Sunday-trail surfaces are at peak demand: book brunch by Thursday for the Lafayette, Moraga, or Orinda sit-downs, and expect the Lafayette Reservoir loop to be at June-Sunday-peak crowds from roughly 9:30 AM through 1 PM. The Moraga Farmers Market Sunday 9 AM–1 PM is doubling as a Father’s Day flower-and-cheese stop for many families and gets unusually busy by 10:00 AM — the gentle pre-9-AM arrival is the move.

Graduation week is behind us; the camp-and-concert rhythm is in. Acalanes graduated June 5; Miramonte June 12; Campolindo June 13. Lamorinda K-8 sites wrapped the week of June 8-12. Summer camps have been running since Monday June 8 at the Lafayette Community Center, Moraga Parks & Rec, and Orinda Community Center, with the morning drop-off spike now a steady weekday rhythm. The Lafayette Reservoir is in full summer-pressure mode — arrive before 9 AM or after 5 PM for parking.

Moraga Commons concert series is mid-stream. Week 1 (Sun Kings, Beatles tribute) ran June 11. Week 2 (Purple Ones, Prince tribute) ran Thursday June 18 — the bandshell’s solstice-adjacent show, with the western-ridge cool-down landing at 7:38 PM exactly as the survival guide called it. Week 3 — Refugees (Tom Petty tribute) — runs this Thursday, June 25, 6:30–8:30 PM, free. The pre-concert errand loop reopens Tuesday afternoon when the chairs come out of the garage again. Series runs Thursdays through August 20, plus the special Saturday July 4 double-bill. See the Moraga Commons concert page for the full lineup and the survival guide.

June Gloom is mostly over. The marine-layer push that ran through the second week of June has surrendered to inland heat. Most Lamorinda mornings now open clear by 8 AM; the layer occasionally sneaks back over the Caldecott on cool nights but burns off by 10 AM. Oakland, Berkeley, and the city are still getting morning gray well into July — the practical effect on your weekend plans is unchanged: the Lafayette Reservoir and Lafayette-Moraga Trail read as sunny mid-morning even on days the East Bay flats are socked in. (Field report on the geography of this.)

Hills are gold; dry season is on. The two-tone watercolor moment closed in late May. The ridges are now full summer gold and will hold through October. Best ridge views: the Lafayette Reservoir rim trail and the high stretch of the Lafayette-Moraga Trail between the Olympic Boulevard staging area and Moraga Road. Fire-season awareness is appropriate — check Cal Fire and EBMUD advisories before any unpaved trail outing.

Pool clubs are deep into regular season. Lafayette Community Pool, Orinda Park Pool, Soda Aquatic Center at Campolindo, and the swim/tennis clubs (Burton Valley, Orinda Country Club, Moraga Country Club) are in full summer hours. Lap swim opens as early as 5:30 AM at the Soda Aquatic Center; family swim runs through 8 PM at most clubs through Labor Day. Solstice weekend is the unofficial peak family-swim weekend of the year — Father’s Day Sunday family swim is reliably the busiest single session at most clubs. Arrive 15 minutes before the session opens for a shaded deck chair.

Farmers markets at peak stone fruit. The Orinda Farmers Market (Saturday 9 AM–1 PM, Orinda Way, in front of Rite Aid) and the Moraga Farmers Market (Sunday 9 AM–1 PM, Moraga Center) are at the peak stone-fruit weekend of the early summer. Brentwood peaches and apricots are in full supply, the first real summer nectarines are arriving, and the cherry tail-off is essentially complete. Strawberries are in their concentrated June flush — smaller, darker, sweeter than the May-flush berries. Flowers are at solstice peak: peonies, ranunculus, the first dahlias of the year. (Note: there is no Lafayette Farmers Market — it closed in 2013 — so Lamorinda’s two farmers markets remain Orinda Saturdays and Moraga Sundays.) See the Farmers Markets guide for the full rundown, or Farmers Market Theater for the local etiquette.

Looking ahead — rest of June and into early July 2026: Sunset stays within a minute of 8:36 PM through about July 5 before retreating noticeably. Thursday June 25 is Petty week at the Moraga Commons (Week 3 of the concert series). The week of June 29–July 3 is the run-up to the only Saturday concert of the season — Saturday July 4, 2026 — Wayhighs open, Neon Velvet headlines; pair it naturally with downtown Moraga before and a short walk home after, and expect Lamorinda’s Fourth-of-July household-party gravity to peak in mid-afternoon. First 90°+ inland heat waves typically land the first week of July. Reservoir and pool-club crowds hold at summer-peak through Labor Day.

The Lifestyle

Living here means integrating outdoors into your routine. Morning walks at the reservoir, bike commutes on the trail, post-dinner strolls through downtown. The infrastructure makes it easy.