Within an hour’s drive of the city, you can enjoy hiking trails that lead to an innumerable number of waterfalls. You can fish the Rogue River, one of the nation's first Wild & Scenic rivers for steelhead and salmon, or one of our lakes with natural and stocked trout, bass, bullhead, and crappie. You can raft or kayak on one of four world-class rivers, the Rogue, Klamath, Umpqua, or Illinois Rivers, just an hour from Medford. We also have Mount Ashland, a local mountain playground where you can ski or ride within this hour radius. Further afield, you can surf, explore the Redwoods, visit the Mt Shasta ski area, or visit Crater Lake, all within two hours. For the outdoor enthusiast, the Rogue Valley is a mecca of activity.

The Rogue Valley also features 39 wineries spread over four distinct wine trails. 70+ varietals of wine are spread throughout the valley. Some of the area’s finest boutique wineries can be found within the Medford city limits. You can’t have wine without cheese. The Rogue Valley boasts the only cheesemaker in America, The Rogue Creamery, won the coveted World Champion crown at the World Cheese Awards in Bergamo, Italy. We’ve got wine. We’ve got cheese. We also have chocolate. Lillie Belle is one of America’s top-ten chocolatiers and is known for its unique chocolate confections.

Within this beautiful valley, the performing arts thrive. One of the country's largest non-profit theatres, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, conducts world-class classics and contemporary works. It has three unique theatres, including a scale recreation of the open-air Elizabethan theatre in which Shakespeare’s plays were initially performed. The Britt Festival is an outdoor summer venue that hosts nationally and internationally known recording artists throughout the summer. The stage rests in a naturally formed amphitheater and combines stadium and lawn seating on the beautiful hillside estate of the 19th-century photographer Peter Britt.