r/travel • u/AutoModerator • Aug 16 '19
Advice r/travel Region of the Week: 'California'
Hey travellers!
In this new series of weekly threads we want to focus on regions that have a lot to offer to travellers: the towns, nature, and other interesting places whether they are lesser or more known. If more known provide more in depth suggestions like tours, things to do, places to eat, etc.
Please contribute all and any questions / thoughts / suggestions / ideas / stories / highlights about this travel destination, whether it be places you want to see or experiences you have had.
This post will be archived on our wiki destinations page and linked in the sidebar for future reference, so please direct any of the more repetitive questions there. Please click here for list and dates of future destinations. If you notice an area of a region is not listed it is likely it will be a future topic or it may have been a prior topic as a country or city. Please focus on the specific regions in the submission unless it was not a prior or future topic.
Only guideline: If you link to an external site, make sure it's relevant to helping someone travel to this city. Please include adequate text with the link explaining what it is about and describing the content from a helpful travel perspective.
Example: We really enjoyed the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. It was $35 each, but there's enough to keep you entertained for whole day. Bear in mind that parking on site is quite pricey, but if you go up the hill about 200m there are three $15/all day car parks. Monterey Aquarium
Unhelpful: Read my blog here!!!
Helpful: My favourite part of driving down the PCH was the wayside parks. I wrote a blog post about some of the best places to stop, including Battle Rock, Newport and the Tillamook Valley Cheese Factory (try the fudge and ice cream!).
Unhelpful: Eat all the curry! [picture of a curry].
Helpful: The best food we tried in Myanmar was at the Karawek Cafe in Mandalay, a street-side restaurant outside the City Hotel. The surprisingly young kids that run the place stew the pork curry[curry pic] for 8 hours before serving [menu pic]. They'll also do your laundry in 3 hours, and much cheaper than the hotel.
Undescriptive I went to Mandalay. Here's my photos/video.
As the purpose of these is to create a reference guide to answer some of the most repetitive questions, please do keep the content on topic. If comments are off-topic any particularly long and irrelevant comment threads may need to be removed to keep the guide tidy - start a new post instead. Please report content that is:
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u/The-Smelliest-Cat Aug 16 '19
My thoughts on it:
San Diego Zoo is awesome, but not worth a visit to the city alone
Los Angeles is a lot better than locals make out, and the public transport is pretty good for the tourist areas
The hike up to the Hollywood sign is an incredibly scenic and beautiful hike, especially if you stay through subset and watch the city light up
The drive from LA to San Francisco is sooooo pretty. Not sure how it is in a train or bus though
San Francisco is also great. Alcatraz is super super cool, and has the best audio guide I've ever used
Baker beach gives amazing views of the Golden Gate bridge
The giant redwoods are amazing to see, but you should combine it with a trip to somewhere else
Yosemite is the most immediately gigantic and impressive national park in the country, probably in the world. It is INCREDIBLE
Palm Springs and the Coachella Vallry is a great place, but only if you can rent a car
Salvation Mountain, Salton Sea, Bombay Beach, and Slab City are some of the most weird and interesting places in the entire country
Joshua Tree NP is very beautiful and unique. There's also a small Western Movie set town nearby called 'Pioneertown' which is fun to see. They have a small bar there, which has live music. It attracts some huge names for some reason, such as Pail McCartney and Lorde.
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u/ddgromit Aug 19 '19
The drive from LA to San Francisco is sooooo pretty. Not sure how it is in a train or bus though
FYI any SF->LA bus will go down I-5 in the central valley, not the PCH. It is fast (6 hours) but not scenic.
The Coastal Starlight train is kinda cool but I would not recommend it because it takes about 18 hours (it averages 30 mph) and only goes to Santa Barbara at which point you transfer to a commuter line the rest of the way to LA. Parts of it follow the coast and are wonderful, but other major segments travel inland through Salinas and San Luis Obispo. I probably wouldn't do it again. (unlike the 36 hour California Zephyr that goes Denver -> SF over the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas and was incredible).
The only way to do the Pacific Coast Highway is to drive, and take lots of stops along the way!
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Aug 16 '19
Wine country (Napa and Sonoma) is probably my favorite region to visit regularly in California. But something a lot of visitors don't realize is that this region is HUGE, and is made up of many sub-regions and small towns.
You can drive for 45 minutes and still be in Napa Valley, or drive for an hour and still be in Sonoma County. Considering that wine tasting + driving is not a good combination, it's a good idea to choose the right area for you in terms of both wineries you want to visit and towns you want to explore.
You could definitely base yourself in the towns of Napa and/or Sonoma if you wanted to, but there are other towns that I personally would recommend to my friends and family over those two.
Healdsburg is my favorite town in Sonoma County, and is close to some of my favorite wineries in the region. Sebastopol is awesome too, especially if you have beer drinkers in your group. Very hip! I probably wouldn't base myself near Kenwood/Glen Ellen because it's a bit too quiet for me, but the area is really nice and there are some gorgeous wineries. Worth visiting if you do base yourself in the town of Sonoma...which I did enjoy, but less so than the towns mentioned above.
In Napa Valley, I find Calistoga to be a bit more quaint and charming than the town of Napa. But if you want a wider variety of restaurants and downtown tasting rooms, Napa is a good choice. The Oxbow Public Market is a cool spot to grab food! A lot of people love St. Helena too.
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u/swollencornholio Airplane! Aug 19 '19 edited Aug 19 '19
Adding a couple of things to your awesome write up:
There are regional differences in wines. Sonoma Valley more known for it's Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio - more coastal climate. Napa is best known for their Cabernet Sauvignon. Healdsburg also does a lot of Cab. You will find all those varities in both areas though however you'll find they generally do those varieties the best. You'll actually find that cerain AVA regions within the valley's do certain wines better. For instance Carneros in Napa is a more coastal climate so you'll find more white's and Pinot Noirs.
Another little town in Napa Valley is Yountville or Flauntville as I call it. The restaurant scene there is amazing: R+D, Redwood, French Laundry, Bouchon, Bottega, Ottimo, La Calenda, Ad Hoc. Great place to stop for lunch on a tasting outing, there's also several tasting rooms in Yountville. Going to wineries is a better experience though. Downtown Napa has added a lot of nice restaurants as well over the past 10 years: Oenotri, La Taberna, Bounty Hunter, Morimoto, Kenzo to list a few good options. And I will also vouch for the Oxbow and Gott's next door, especially if you want good food that is more budget friendly.
Majority of the dwellings listed on Airbnb in Sonoma and Napa valley are illegally listed and could get taken down. There are legal Airbnb options that you would need to back check on each cities permit list. Here's Napa's for reference. This strict regulation and/or ban (Calistoga) includes Sonoma, Calistoga, St Helena, and Yountville. All permitted Airbnbs are 30-31 days or less rentals per year.
Uber and/or Lyft is totally doable as a driving option in the valley. Lot's of drivers in the valley. You'll probably wait around 10 minutes for each pick up. It does get tough extremely late like after midnight, but highly doubtful you'll be out that late unless you go to a wedding or are at bars in one of the small downtowns...stay close to the bar if you are planning on a bender.
As for wineries...there's so many options it's hard to pick. It's intimidating as a first timer for sure. A few tips for planning your own tour:
- If I'm a first time visitor I would do 3 wineries in a day MAX...I've seen people try to shove in 4 or even 5...that will be speed drinking and rushing into the car to get to the next one. The perfect amount is 2 with lunch in between imo.
- At this point there aren't too many wineries that accept walk ins in Napa or Sonoma. Many utilize platforms similar to open table to book time slots which makes that easy. During more popular times and at more popular wineries you may want to book a 2-3 weeks in advanced. Generally you can find places a week before or even the same week.
- If you're doing uber/lyft a good rule of thumb is giving yourself 15 minutes for pick up. Usually an hour in between tastings is sufficient depending on how close the next winery is. If you have a hired driver you can eliminate uber/lyft wait time.
- I would suggest 1 big winery and a small winery.
- Try to do a tour in your first location before you have too many sips. Your attention span will probably decrease as you go through the day.
- Bubbles (champagne) in the monring if you would like. Good tour at Mumm. Trying Shramsberg next week, I've heard good things.
The big wineries are easy to look up and have recognizable names. Try to add a smaller winery something like Ashes & Diamonds, Honig, CADE, Odette, Silver Oak, Caymus etc. Of the big ones Hall is definitely my favorite, cool grounds with good wine. My favorite caves thus far are CADE, Del Dotto - Saint Helena and their historical caves are great, Castelo di Ameroso is a good one time thing...I call it Napa Disneyland however. I've been to probably over 50 wineries in Napa and Sonoma and still haven't really even scratched the surface.
I end up relying on my friends in industry for recommendations on new places a lot of the time but to any person viewing this in the future feel free to PM me for recommendations.
Another great wine drinking area in California is Paso Robles/Central Coast area. About 3 hours south of San Francisco but it will be lighter on the wallet than Napa and even Sonoma.
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u/Sumjonas Aug 16 '19
My husband and I recently went on our honeymoon to California. We drove highway 1 from LA to Monterey. We spent one night in LA, one in Santa Barbara, one in Pismo Beach, one in Big Sur, and one in Monterey. We then went to Yosemite for three days and went back to LA for our flight. The drive was BEAUTIFUL and I’d totally recommend it. I also wouldn’t want to have sped it up anymore than that-but I am a slow traveler.
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u/swollencornholio Airplane! Aug 19 '19
Did you make any stops in between each of those destinations on the coast?
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u/Sumjonas Aug 19 '19
Not anything major-we stopped in Malibu the first day just to sit on the beach a little bit, and on our drive from Pismo to Big Sur we stopped near Cayucos at a really pretty beach to sit for a little bit, and then to see the elephant seals in San Simeon.
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u/TheBurbs666 Aug 21 '19
Shot in the dark here but did you guys happen to talk to a dude in a Neil Young shirt ?
I met a really cool couple facing this amazing mountain view tucked away in Kings Canyon and your trip sounds pretty similar to the people I met.
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Aug 16 '19
I’m a LA native, people hate this city but it’s great if you avoid certain places. Hollywood itself is a terrible tourist trap full of people trying to take your money, same with Venice Beach. Griffith park is great to visit early morning before the tourist rush. If you want to see celebrities (serious) go to one of the main improve/comedy shows. Being part of a Live studio audience is also really fun. LA also has tons of great food! Mexican, Korean, Thai, Central American you name it we got it.
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u/cheeseburgerbeav Aug 18 '19
What would you recommend to do for a leisurely three day weekend for someone who likes good food, beaches, scenery and maybe wants to see the most famous part(s) of LA? What area would you recommend to stay if you have a large budget for hotel and can rent a car?
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Aug 18 '19
Stay in downtown, there are tons of new restaurants and also great street food. You can take the train to Santa Monica beach from downtown.
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Aug 18 '19
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Aug 18 '19
Hollywood really, really sucks. Santa Monica is fine but traffics getting out of there sucks.
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u/tee2green United States Aug 19 '19
I live in Santa Monica. I think that itinerary is perfectly fine. Traffic and parking will be the biggest hassles, but once you get past the psychological impact of paying $15 for all-day parking, you’ll be ready to have a good time.
There’s a lot of good eating to be done in SM, Venice, K town, West Hollywood, etc. Check out Eater LA. They have really useful maps and their recommendations are decent enough. The Michelin Guide has finally come back to California this year, so those picks are also useful (if sparse....Michelin only put 13 SM/Venice restaurants in their guide which is very picky in my opinion).
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u/swollencornholio Airplane! Aug 20 '19
Stay in Hermosa or Manhattan beach. Rent a car. Santa Monica isn't a bad spot either and closer to the action, just will be less relaxing since there 's going to be a ton of people.
If you want a resort experience Terranea is a good spot, but it's not really that close to anything.
8
u/prosocialbehavior Aug 17 '19
Surprised nobody here said Yosemite or Sequoia National Park. Do some of the John Muir Trail. Just go during the off season because Yosemite Valley gets packed in the summer months.
Or go up to Lake Tahoe or anywhere in the Sierra Nevada mountains really.
5
u/notimetosleep8 Aug 17 '19
Last April we took a road trip from Seattle to Disneyland. California is a wonderful and diverse state. Here are my thoughts on what we saw from north to south:
The drive from Oregon to Redding is gorgeous. The thing we noticed was how serious California is about agriculture when we stopped at the produce inspection. This area of California is forested and mountainous. Mount Shasta is massive. The recent wildfires were very destructive. One of my few regrets from the trip is I never got a picture of one of the Jefferson 51st state signs.
I had never thought of Redding as a tourist destination, we really enjoyed our time there. Redding is known for its sunshine, but it rained while we were there. We really enjoyed the sundial bridge and Turtle Bay Exploration Park. The bridge is fun and unique. The garden area is beautiful. The area is full of families enjoying the park and people getting exercised running and riding their bikes on the regional trail system. West of Redding is Shasta State Historic Park. It is a 19th century gold mining town. Originally the buildings were built out of wood and after a fire in 1852 the town was rebuilt with fire proof bricks, which was a good thing because last year fire burnt right up to the historic town. When we visited Shasta, it still smelled like smoke.
Sacramento has a lot to offer visitors and is affordable. We parked at the Tower Bridge parking garage. It is a great location for seeing old town and the California Railroad Museum. Old town is a vibrant touristy Wild West town. We walked it and didn’t go into any of the shops. There are many great shops and places to eat there. On the other end of old town (from Tower Bridge) is the railroad museum. It is world class and a must see for people who are into trains. The railroad museum is inside a large building with steam locomotives from 1862 to 1994 and and the lost golden spike.
The Central Valley is an agriculture power that feeds the world. I was excited when I saw my first almond tree. 10 million almond trees later it was still cool, but the excitement wore off. We drove highway 99 and enjoyed the sights. The mountains east of Fresno looked amazing. Last spring California got a lot of rain and it was green almost to Bakersfield. We had planned to visit the Kern County Museum. The website recommended calling ahead in case it was closed for an event. I too recommend calling ahead because we didn’t and it was closed for a car show. Around Bakersfield are oil pump jacks, which I had never seen before.
LA is a city of freeways. With LA’s legendary traffic congestion I was surprised that I did not see more innovative solutions like bus lanes, 3 person carpool lanes, and tolls. I wish we would have had more time to explore LA and eat Korean food.
We stayed at the Sheraton next to Universal Studios. I do not recommend this hotel. The room was small, expensive, bathroom layout was poor, and dry cereal cost $10. We stayed there because it was next to Universal Studios. If I could do the trip again I would stay next to a subway station or drive and park at Universal Studios. We had a fun time at Universal Studios. The Harry Potter area is really well done. They feature many 3D rides, which made me dizzy. I recommend express tickets to avoid lines. When we bought our tickets a second day would not have cost much more additional money, but a second day isn’t worth it when there are so many other things to see and do in California.
We went to the Santa Monica Pier. This is a very touristy area. Saw lots of scooter rentals and a scramble crosswalk. A scramble is a crosswalk where pedestrians can cross any direction. We walked the pier and hung out on the beach. I am glad we went there once and I don’t ever need to return there. It was too touristy.
After Santa Monica we drove up to Malibu. We got pizza from D’amores and took it to the beach for dinner. I recommend them. Between D’amores and the beach we passed many burnt down houses from their recent fires. We went to Point Dume where we ate our pizza and watched the sunset. I didn’t realize it until later, but this was the beach at the end of Planet of the Apes with the Statue of Liberty. Point Dume is an amazing beach and worth the time to drive out there.
Disneyland was a blast. We stayed at the Residence Inn next to the convention center. It is an amazing hotel. Our room had a kitchen and we used Instacart and had groceries delivered. We chose a room with a view of Disneyland thinking we would watch the fireworks. We did once and were too tired the other times. Disneyland is a magical place and my kids look so happy in the photos while there. My oldest son has autism and Disney’s Disability Access Service made it so my son could enjoy his experience there magical. It allowed him to wait for a ride and not stand in a line. We would check in for a ride and would be given a return time where we would often enter through the exit.
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u/GullibleTacos Aug 19 '19
A tip for Universal (and Disney for that matter) is to do your research heavily beforehand to really know your routes, which lines to get in early and what to skip. If you get to Universal right when it opens, it's quite easy to complete most of the park by 1pm.
3
Aug 16 '19
My favorite memory of Los Angeles was attending a taping of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Instead of touring the Warner Brothers Studios lot, why not take a part in the action? The best part is that most tapings for shows in LA are FREE! Makes for a good fun and relaxing way to spend an afternoon. For Conan, there's usually things going on before and after the show. When I went, there were audience member games before the show, and after the show they did a 'test screening' of a skit for next night's show.
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u/swollencornholio Airplane! Aug 19 '19
Instead of touring the Warner Brothers Studios lot, why not take a part in the action?
I do want to say that touring the warner brothers lot is pretty awesome. If you go on the weekend they sometimes will let you walk on some sets.
3
u/ZigZagin Aug 19 '19
I always find myself escaping to Manhattan beach when going through LA. It's a lot more peaceful than the hustle and bustle of Venice or Santa Monica.
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u/SuicideNote Lots and lots of kebabs. Aug 18 '19
Los Angeles is a great vacation if you can befriend an Angeleno that can show you around. Whenever I'm in LA and meet up with one of my international friends I make sure to rent a car (convertible even better) and hit up a lot of local favorite spots plus some tourist things mixed in. Otherwise LA can seem like a hostile concrete jungle.
I recommend looking up the local Couchsurfing community!
2
u/2paymentsof19_95 Aug 19 '19
Wow what a coincidence. I’m heading up to Fresno in a couple weeks to check out Yosemite National Park. I’ll be spending 2 days in Fresno for hiking Yosemite and 1 day in San Francisco exploring the city.
If anyone has suggestions for San Francisco (restaurants especially) I’d love to hear them. I’m planning on checking out Marshall’s Beach early for a shot of the Golden Gate Bridge and visiting a Japanese Tea Garden in the city.
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u/swollencornholio Airplane! Aug 20 '19
There was a SF specific thread on here. I recommend reviewing the posts in there. It's still pretty relevant, lot's of good food and things to do recommendations.
By the way Fresno is almost 2.5-3 hours to Yosemite Valley and there can be terrible traffic into the park (delays of multiple hours in peak season). I would highly recommend staying closer. Look into places in Yosemite West or El Portal. I suggest reading through this for the traffic situation as well: https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/traffic.htm
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u/muffinwench Aug 19 '19
Another native here! IMO, these are the best places to camp/hike/backpack in California that people rarely hear about:
- Trinity National Forest near Mount Shasta
- Hetch Hetchy Reservoir near Yosemite
- Lost Coast beach trail (and surrounding area)
- Russian River (two hours north of San Francisco!)
- Silver Lake near Lake Tahoe
- Lake Alpine in Alpine County
- Mount Whitney
2
u/ExpatEcho88 Aug 19 '19
Born and raised in Cali, in the Napa Valley region. I also spent 3 years in San Diego. Southern California and Northern California are both charming but can be substantially different in culture, climate, and scenic views. Some of my favourite places in Northern California include Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay, and the coastal and Sequoia Redwoods. In San Diego, there are too many amazing things to mention, but Coronado Island is beautiful and fun. I've also driven the coastal highway 101 from San Diego all the way through Oregon and Washington. The whole drive is breath taking. Lodi is a little town in Napa Valley which is famous for it's old vine Zinfandel. It comes from vineyards there, some of which are well over 100 years old. The countryside is beautiful, especially in the fall, and has a lot of wineries.
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u/tackjerry Aug 16 '19
Northern or southern? Or central for some reason?
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Aug 16 '19
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/tackjerry Aug 16 '19
Nothing at all. I’ve lived here my whole life, great people in the Central Valley but not much to do.
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u/giuliamd Aug 22 '19
So much to do in California. Some must visits in California: San Diego, Big Sur, San Francisco, & Los Angeles! I actually have a whole section of my website devoted to this with detailed itineraries. Here are some that I think you all will find helpful!
- Petaluma Weekend Itinerary (near Napa- details on where to stay, where to eat, and what to do)
- San Diego City guide ( a whole list of everything you need to see, eat, and do from a local)
- You can also visit the general California section that covers the following cities:
- Sacramento
- Newport Beach
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- Napa and more!
0
Aug 19 '19
From Nova Scotia, there's a lot to see. The obvious places are Sydney and Fort Louisburg in Cape Breton, Halifax (citadel hill), Lunenburg, Digby, Bay of Fundy, and the Annapolis Valley. But there's way more, I could recommend some great hikes around the Annapolis Valley, and Lunenburg, I could recommend some Urban exploring around Halifax, and just some great coastal routes around the province. My point is there's so much, but Atlantic Canada also has PEI and New Brunswick. Those two add more coast, more bay of fundy, more french, etc.
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u/krkrbnsn Aug 16 '19
As a native Californian, I often see tourists on this sub and others attempting to hit everything in one trip. Most visitors underestimate the real size of the state (it's nearly twice as big as the entire UK). The PCH from SF to SD is a desirable drive, and while you can do it in two days, I always recommend people to take their time and really appreciate the spectacular geography, culture, food and and sights that the drive offers.
Here's my recommendations for stops along the way. And I always recommend going north to south as you'll be on the ocean side, making it much easier to pull over for pictures.