What are the best places to visit in California?

38 comments

  3. Depends on what you’re looking for. Tourist stuff is pretty obvious, Hollywood, Catalina, Beverly Hills, Big Sur, Carmel by the Sea, etc ….

  6. Yosemite, Wine Country (any of them), San Diego, The Sierras, Mammoth Lake, The Deserts, Death Valley…..i also hate the big cities so yeah…but if you like city stuff, have fun.

  7. I lived in Santa Barbara (and some surrounding areas) 2000-2018. It’s beautiful but expensive. The Palace was a favorite place for lunch or dinner (Cajun food). Carpinteria is nearby and cute. Not sure if it’s still open, but The Workerbee Cafe (assorted American diner food, but well done) was one of our favorite breakfast places and we went there for dinner the day I proposed. A little further away is Ojai. A little too hippy for me, but you might enjoy that sort of thing. That whole area has a lot of natural beauty with the beach and mountains.

  8. personal favs, mostly good for surfing, food, women, beautiful scenery & chill people, dont know much about ‘going out’ nightlife stuff – San Diego, Encinitas, Santa Barbara, Pismo, Morro Bay, Santa Cruz, San Francisco

  11. For beauty:

    – Big Sur area
    – Catalina Island
    – Balboa Island Newport Beach

    Cities:

    – San Francisco
    – San Diego,
    – Newport Beach area
    – Santa Barbara
    – Malibu
    – San Luis Obispo
    – Santa Cruz
    – Monterey/Carmel

  16. As a visiting Australian I enjoyed San Francisco. Did plenty of walking tours, cruise around the bay, visited Alcatraz etc – and got a good daily quad workout…. I thought Yosemite was fantastic too.

    Would like to see more of the state one day before a quake, drought, or wildfire wipes it out.

  17. The ones that aren’t on fire. Balboa island is quaint, basically you can’t go wrong with a trip down the 101 freeway, especially in SOCAL.

  18. Theme parks for sure including Disneyland & Universal of course

    Also Griffith observatory is beautiful

    Mammoth mountain if you like snow trips is amazing as fuck

  19. Outdoorsy stuff the areas around Shaver Lake are very pretty. Redwood forest is another one. Shasta up north.

    Wine country stretches from the bay to the foothills.

    Tahoe and the mountains around it are popular.

    If you like offroad exploring theres Mojave and Death Valley.

    When I travel by car I try to avoid big cities and hit up smaller towns instead. If I am in a hurry I fly on an airliner not drive a car lol.

  20. Before you go get the app that tracks all the human shit on the roads and sidewalks. Also look out for used needles

  23. California is huge and diverse. You could easily spend months exploring California and barely get a taste of everything.

    I’ve lived here nearly 60 years. If you want to PM me for more specific information, feel free.

  25. As a man, or just as a human being? Because as a man, the best place to visit in California is yo mama.

  26. After living in Southern California for 4 decades, my most favorite place to visit by far is the Arizona border on my way out of that crappy state.

  34. I really enjoyed Santa Cruz. They do a great job of maintaining that chill small beach town vibes but they still have a decent night life.

    Santa Barbara was ok depending on how old you are / how much money you have. As I recall, one part of town was all college kids and the other part was rich yuppies’. I didn’t fit in at either.

    Anything farther south than that is a no go though. LA and its suburbs is the worst that humanity has to offer and I shall never return. San Diego is great but not worth having to go through LA to get there. Maybe fly in?

  35. Grew up in Santa Cruz, went to college in Santa Barbara, now live in the east SF Bay Area. For all it’s faults CA is a great state! Heavily depends on who you are and what you want to do, feel free to PM!

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