Monterey
Find out what's currently open at Monterey State Historic Park, grab a free map and buy tickets for guided walking tours inside this 1847 adobe building,…
Must-see attractions in California
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Fisherman's Wharf – the Embarcadero and Jefferson St waterfront running from Pier 29 to Van Ness Ave – includes Pier 39, the Musée Mécanique, the Maritime…
Santa Barbara
The southern end of State St gives way to Stearns Wharf, a rough wooden pier lined with souvenir shops, snack stands and seafood shacks. Built in 1872, it…
Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks
Tragically, Converse Basin once contained the world’s largest grove of mature sequoias, but it’s now an unsettling cemetery for tree stumps. In the late…
San Diego
Just north of the pier, near the end of Newport Ave, is the beach scene’s epicenter, with volleyball courts and sunset barbecues. Further north on Dog…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Like a fossilized party favor, this romantic, ersatz Greco-Roman ruin is the city's memento from the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The…
San Diego
Pride of place in SDMA's permanent collection goes to its Spanish old masters (El Greco, Goya) and a respectable selection of works by other international…
Santa Barbara
On the harborfront, this jam-packed two-story exhibition celebrates Santa Barbara's briny history with nautical artifacts, memorabilia and hands-on…
North Coast & Redwoods
It’s hard to miss the giant statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox towering over the parking lot at Trees of Mystery with a gondola running through…
San Diego
Housed in the iconic 1915 California Building, this anthropological museum is packed with exhibits hopscotching from ancient Egypt to local Kumeyaay…
Santa Barbara
Take a soul-satisfying jaunt around this 40-acre botanic garden, devoted to California’s native flora. Miles of partly wheelchair-accessible trails…
San Diego Natural History Museum
San Diego
The 'Nat' houses 7.5 million specimens, including rocks, minerals, fossils and taxidermied animals, as well as an impressive dinosaur skeleton and an eye…
San Diego
A top pick in Balboa Park, this hands-on science museum features interactive displays, including a room geared to the milk-tooth set. Look out for…
San Diego
This old-style family amusement park has been a Mission Beach fixture since 1925. The star attraction is the Giant Dipper, a classic wooden roller coaster…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
Like surviving members of the Grateful Dead, this purple Victorian sports a touch of gray – but during the Summer of Love, this was where Jerry Garcia and…
San Diego
Take a walk on the 'wild' side at this 1800-acre open-range zoo, sibling of the San Diego Zoo, in the suburban San Pasqual Valley. Giraffes graze, lions…
Joshua Tree National Park
Looking like an 1870s frontier town, Pioneertown was actually built in 1946 as a Hollywood Western movie set. Gene Autry and Roy Rogers were among the…
Oakland
An urban respite, Lake Merritt is a popular place to stroll or go running (a 3.5-mile paved path circles the lake), with bonsai and botanical gardens, a…
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz
Check it: the school mascot is a banana slug! Established in 1965 in the hills above town, UCSC is known for its creative, liberal bent. The rural campus…
North Beach & Chinatown
Enter through the Dragon archway donated by Taiwan in 1970, and you'll find yourself on the street formerly known as Dupont in its notorious red-light…
Santa Barbara Historical Museum
Santa Barbara
Embracing a romantic cloistered adobe courtyard, this peaceful little museum tells the story of Santa Barbara. Its endlessly fascinating collection of…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Explore that splotch of green on the map between Baker Beach and Crissy Field and you’ll find parade grounds, Yoda, a centuries-old adobe wall and some…
The Haight & Hayes Valley
The social center of hip, walkable, tree-lined Octavia Blvd is this pocket park, featuring Burning Man–inspired temporary sculpture installations, picnic…
Santa Cruz
A kitschy, old-fashioned tourist trap, Santa Cruz's Mystery Spot has scarcely changed since it opened in 1940. On a steeply sloping hillside, compasses…
California State Railroad Museum
Sacramento
Train buffs will delight in this incredible collection of vintage locomotives (even if history buffs will question the candy-coated presentation about the…
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
The focal point of Fisherman's Wharf isn't the waning fishing fleet but the carousel, carnival-like attractions, shops and restaurants of Pier 39 – and,…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Strange fascination is showcased at Jack Fischer Gallery – for example, sketches made by Agelio Batle's graphite skeleton as it jitters across a lab table…
San Diego
A quick stroll southeast of the Gaslamp is the home of the San Diego Padres baseball team. The stadium has beautiful brick construction and skyscraper…
San Diego
The Botanical Building looks lovely from El Prado, where you can see it reflected in the large lily pond that was used for hydrotherapy in WWII when the…
Monterey
Old Monterey is home to an extraordinary assemblage of 19th-century brick and adobe buildings administered as a state park and linked by a 2-mile self…
San Diego
The San Diego Historical Society operates this center, with permanent and temporary exhibitions on city history. Previous exhibitions have included the…
South Lake Tahoe & Stateline
Heiress Lora Knight's quirky mansion on the bay, Vikingsholm Castle is the focal point of Emerald Bay State Park, and a rare example of ancient…
San Francisco
The sun sets over the Pacific just beyond the fog at this blustery beach. Most days are too chilly for bikini-clad clambakes but fine for hardy…
Maritime National Historical Park
The Marina, Fisherman’s Wharf & the Piers
Five historic ships are floating museums at this maritime national park, Fisherman's Wharf’s most authentic attraction. Moored along Hyde St Pier, the…
Yosemite Conservation Heritage Center
Yosemite National Park
Built by the Sierra Club in 1903, this small, rustic, granite-and-wood lodge offers a glimpse of a relatively unknown chapter of California architecture…
Joshua Tree National Park
Behind the park HQ and Oasis Visitor Center, this natural oasis encompasses the original 29 palm trees that gave Twentynine Palms its name. They were…
Berkeley
Officially called Sather Tower, the Campanile was modeled on St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. The 307ft spire offers fine views of the Bay Area, and at the…
San Diego
No hotel in the region can compare to the Hotel del Coronado for history, but US Grant, built in 1910, comes close. It’s on the National Register of…
The Mission, Dogpatch & Potrero Hill
Welcome to paradise in a parking lot. When the local Pepsi bottling plant closed in the 1970s, neighbors wouldn't let urban blight take over the block –…
San Diego
This museum stands atop Presidio Hill, the site of California's first settlement and its first mission, known as Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded here…
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