California Here I Come
To begin with, getting there could not be easier, with direct flights from London to San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego. It is just as easy to include an ‘open jaw’ option, allowing you to fly in to one airport and back out of another, giving you great flexibility for your plans.
A couple of years back, myself and my wife headed off to experience what this great state has to offer. We began with a few nights in one of my favourite cities in the world, the ‘city by the bay’, San Francisco. With its magnificent hilly setting around on the northern Californian coast, this city is a melting pot of different cultures and beliefs. From Little Italy, through China Town to the eclectic neighbourhood of Nob Hill, there is so much to take in here.
And then there are the views, especially on days when the fog rolls in from the Pacific under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. Was three days going to enough? The highlight for us was hiring bikes in Fisherman’s Wharf, cycling over the bridge to Sausalito, sampling a clam chowder washed down with a craft beer, and then hauling our bikes on to the ferry back across to the city. A blissful day.
From San Francisco it’s an easy 4-hour drive to the magnificence of the Yosemite National Park. To save a bit of money it is worth staying outside the park gates and driving in to the park to view the stunning mountains and rock formations, such as the Half Dome or the daunting El Capitan. The fun way to see the park is to leave the car in the car park and hire one of the peculiar old-fashioned rental push-bikes. There are loads of walking and biking trails, and again, a couple of days is never quite enough.
After a couple of days there, however, the Pacific coast was calling us, so we headed back west, to Monterey. This area is famous for breath-taking ocean views, fantastic restaurants, especially seafood, and Cannery Row, a redeveloped collection of fish canneries, and the setting for John Steinbeck’s eponymous literary classic. This is now home to museums, a superb aquarium and yet more great eateries.
And whilst we had a car we had to visit nearby artsy Carmel, whose mayor was once Clint Eastwood, and the beautiful 17mile drive around Pebble Beach. Stunning!
We now really start our big drive down the legendary Highway 1, also known as the Big Sur. There is so much to see and do on this long, meandering tarmacked icon. You could make the journey between Monterey and Santa Barbara in one day, but if time allows, go a little slower and have an overnight stay somewhere, allowing time to take in the scenic beaches, cliffs and rocky outcrops.
Accommodation along Highway 1 ranges from cheap chain motels, welcoming guest houses and cosy inns, through to large resorts and top-end luxury hotels, like the Post Ranch Inn high up on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. This windy road has loads of convenient pull-over points to stop and stare. There’s the extraordinary Elephant Seal colony at Piedras Blancas, the amazing wines to sample in the Santa Ynez Valley, made famous by the 2004 Sideways, and if you stop, like we did, in San Luis Obispo, then a must-see is Hearst Castle, the former home of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst. It’s an amazing collection of 165 rooms, terraced gardens and over-the-top swimming pools. Well worth a look.
Finally, we arrived at the elegant city of Santa Barbara, with its distinctly Mediterranean atmosphere and Spanish colonial buildings. It’s a perfect setting to unwind, with a lovely beach, and excellent shops and restaurants. A great place to re-charge to batteries before hitting the action-packed city of Los Angeles and all that La-La Land has to offer.
It’s a big place LA, and it can be confusing. We chose to stay near Universal Studios, but there many other options. If the beach is your preference, then there are plenty of hotels and motels around the Santa Monica and Venice Beach area. Stay in the Hollywood area and visit the homes of the stars, Sunset Boulevard and take photos of the iconic Hollywood sign high up on the hills. If budget allows, stay in upmarket Beverley Hills. And if fun and games is your thing, then why not stay at Anaheim and spend a day or two at the original Disneyland. There really is so much to see and do in this vast area, you could never be bored.
Our highlight was the Universal Studios Tours, which I had experienced previously when just a teenager. Somehow, I still get surprised when Jaws comes out of the water and attacks the tour bus. Finishing that off with a great evening enjoying the entertainment on the Universal Boardwalk, was perfect.
A few days in LA and you feel like you need another holiday. It’s a full-on experience, so I would recommend driving an hour south and chilling out for a few days in San Diego, but our great adventure was over, and it was time to fly home from Los Angeles overnight back to London.
California has a great climate all year round, so any time is a good time to visit. You may want to avoid Yosemite in the winter months, but then again, if winter sports are your thing, then why not visit then?
Two weeks is enough, but not enough really. There are so many other places to visit, I could never list them here. I’ve been lucky enough to visit this area three times and can give some great tips and advice on when, where and how to visit incredible part of the world, so please get in touch and California here you come!