San Francisco, city tour is fun, see Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park with art garden and botanic garden, the famous postcard row (cute colorful Victorian houses in a row) and Fisherman’s Wharf. Do Alcatraz tour at the end of the day, great sunset views of the Golden Gate Bridge. Alcatraz is of course the former prison, now national park. Take a ride on one of the cable cars. Great views of the city from Twin Peaks. Try to find the steep street where the cars are zigzagging down.
Sacramento, capitol of California, great restaurants, bars and coffee places. Good music scene too, lots of performances in bars and clubs from good but maybe unknown bands you should get to know. See Old Sacramento and the well known yellow metal bridge.
Napa: expensive, but beautiful region with lots of vineyards.
Sequoia National Park great to drive through, big trees, not a lot of parking for a the busy summer season, so better to go early.
Yosemite N.P. Beautiful no matter what time of year, small hikes to do, but also longer ones. See the Bridal Veil Falls, the Half Dome, the Yosemite Falls. Stay at Yosemite Bug, a nice hostel. Beware of coyotes in the area.
Death Valley, can be very hot in summer, so you may want to go there between September and April. Stay in Beatty, close enough to go into the park at any time of day. Death Valley has a very interesting landscape, lots of different things to see: Fill your shoes with sand by hiking the sand dunes (beautiful by sunset), the salt flats which are called the Devil’s Golf Course, because nobody else could play golf there, go to Badwater Basin, which is 282 m / 855 ft below sealevel, see the ‘Artist’s palette’ with all different colored rocks, go for a hike at ‘Cathedral’ (what is it called?!?).
Los Angeles, you definitely need a car (and definitely will get stuck in some traffic jam, but it is simply not easy to get around by public transport). Since it’s such a big city, a city tour will get you to many places to see. Hollywood (when there with Oscars, go to the theater about an hour afterwards, then lots of celebs leave and get into their limo, with a camera with a good zoom you can snap a few cool shots), you may even want to go for a drink at Chateau Marmont and spot come celebs. Browse around Rodeo Drive, though the prices may be a bit out of your budget… Warner Bros Studios cool tour, see the Friends-set, also tours at Universal Studios with bigger sets etc.
Mulholland Drive for some great views over the city
Hike up from The Trail Cafe to the Griffith Observatory.
Ask some locals for a great hole-in-the-wall restaurant. That are places that don’t look like much from the outside, and are squashed in between a laundromat and a shoe repair place, but have amazing food. Great shopping on Melrose Ave (nice boutiques), The Grove Farmer’s Market, Santa Monica Pier (also fun are to go out at night ans have some cocktails), Silver Lake, LaMill Coffee amazing chocolate chip cookies. Venice Beach great to walk around along the water. Some very funny souvenirs here, like pieces of cardboard with ‘Please give me some money’ written on it. And that for just $1!
Highway 1 – Coastal roadtrip from North to South (but you can do it in reverse of course ~ do check if the whole road is open before you go, there may be some road work happening, and you may have to plan a detour via the 101 which is more inland).
Monterey, there’s a great Aquarium. Walk around on Old Fisherman’s Wharf, try the clam chowder at Old Fisherman’s Grotto, it’s so creamy and filling so no need to order anything else with it.
17 Mile Drive, beautiful coastal drive from Monterey to Carmel, with Pebble Beach and Lone Cypress. Carmel lovely little town, great for browsing around in cute little shops.
Interesting waterfall onto a beach at Julia Pfeiffer State Park (Big Sur).
Hearst Castle, the ‘Casa Grande’ of William Randolph Hearst. To visit the castle, you must make a reservation, since there are only scheduled, timed tours. Beverly is a lovely guide. After the tour you’ll have some time to walk around on the premises, see the Neptune Pool outside and the indoor pool as well.
San Luis Obispo, a fun student town. Firestone great fast food grill restaurant. Try the special called tri tip. Don’t get stuck on Bubble Gum Alley, which is, you may have guessed it, an alley way with the walls covered in chewing gum. Kinda funny and gross at the same time.
Los Olivos, a town known for the wine tastings. The main street has all little ‘shops’ next to each other from different vineyards, so instead of having to drive to all those vineyards, you can do the tastings door-to-door. Make sure you definitely go to Carhartt, which has the world’s smallest tasting room, with the lovely Robin behind the bar. Plus the wine tastings are so much cheaper here than in Napa.
Solvang is an interesting Danish town with cute houses in Scandinavian style and even a wind mill. It also has a great Danish bakery, get your breakfast pastry here and receive a free cup of coffee. Solvang Beer Brewery Bar has great beers and some interesting shots like one that tastes like pancakes with a strip of bacon on the side.
Just outside of Solvang is Buellton with Figueroa Mountain Brewery where you can do some beer tasting. You may want to do that on a different day than the wine tasting at Los Olivos… (tried and tested, did not feel well the following morning)
Santa Barbara is great to walk around on the beach and check out the Spanish style buildings along the streets. It has a great restaurant called Opal on one of the streets from the beach directly land inward. It looks fancy with all the silver and stem ware set out on the elegantly decked tables, but it has great lunch for cheap.
Go to a fun park for some roller coaster rides, like Six Flags Magic Mountain. It may be worth it to pay a bit extra and get a quick pass to get to the front of every line, and not have to wait for over an hour for a 3 minute ride.
Lake Tahoe, on the border of California and Nevada. Literally, the state border goes across the town. Feel free to do some gambling on Nevada side, but be responsible. There is a nice drive all the way around lake, if the weather is good, north side also nice restaurants, great for a little lunch stop. In the north of the lake is Incline Village, have something to eat at Wallflower Cafe which has very nice sandwiches. Check out Emerald Bay and the Viking Castle. Capri Motel is nice place to stay.
San Diego, Torrey Pines, beaches, Sunset Cliffs, Viewpoint Brewery, Balboa Park
