Must-SeeBig Sur and the Pacific Coast Highway
California
Highway 1 clings to cliffs above the Pacific for 90 miles, with redwood groves and coves along the way.
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California
33 places and 141 sights on our lists.
Places in California
Must-See
Must-SeeLos Angeles
California
Hollywood, the Getty, Santa Monica and Venice beaches, and a food scene from every corner of the Pacific.
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Must-SeeNapa and Sonoma Valleys
California
America's most famous wine country, with vineyards and fine dining an hour north of San Francisco.
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Must-SeePacific Coast Highway
California
California's Highway 1, one of the world's great road trips: redwoods, cliffs, sea lions and surf from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
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Must-SeeRedwood National and State Parks
California
The tallest trees on Earth, some over 370 feet, in misty groves along California's far north coast.
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Must-SeeSan Francisco
California
Hills, fog, the Golden Gate and one of the country's best food cities.
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Must-See
Worth a DetourChannel Islands National Park
California
California's Galápagos: five wild islands off the coast, with sea caves, foxes and whales, reached only by boat.
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Worth a DetourCoachella
California
Two weekends in April
One of the world's best-known music festivals, in the desert near Palm Springs. Passes sell out fast.
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Worth a DetourDeath Valley National Park
California and Nevada
Salt flats, dunes and colored canyons in the hottest, lowest place in North America. Go between November and March.
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Worth a DetourDisneyland
California
Walt Disney's original park in Anaheim, an hour from central Los Angeles.
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Worth a DetourHearst Castle
California
Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst's lavish 165-room hilltop palace, with a Roman-style pool and zebras on the hillside below.
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Worth a DetourJoshua Tree National Park
California
Spiky Joshua trees and giant boulder piles where two deserts meet, near Palm Springs.
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Worth a DetourLake Tahoe
California and Nevada
A deep blue alpine lake ringed by peaks: beaches and hiking in summer, ski resorts in winter.
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Worth a DetourMonterey and Carmel
California
A world-class aquarium, the 17-Mile Drive past Pebble Beach and a fairy-tale village, at the north end of Big Sur.
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Worth a DetourMount Shasta
California
A lone snow-capped volcano held sacred by local tribes and a magnet for seekers of every kind, with alpine lakes, wildflower meadows and the springs of the Sacramento River.
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Worth a DetourPoint Reyes
California
A wild peninsula an hour north of San Francisco, with a cliff-side lighthouse, tule elk, and a tunnel of cypress trees.
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Worth a DetourRose Parade
California
January 1
Floats covered entirely in flowers roll through Pasadena every New Year's Day, followed by college football's Rose Bowl.
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Worth a DetourRoute 66
Illinois to California
The old Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway; its best-kept stretch of diners and neon runs across Arizona.
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Worth a DetourSan Diego
California
Mild sunny weather all year, Balboa Park and its famous zoo, and a string of laid-back beach towns.
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Worth a DetourSanta Barbara
California
The 'American Riviera', with red-tiled roofs and a Spanish mission between mountains and the Pacific.
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Worth a DetourSequoia and Kings Canyon
California
Groves of giant sequoias, including General Sherman, the largest tree on Earth by volume.
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Worth a DetourThe Eastern Sierra and Mount Whitney
California
Highway 395 along the Sierra's wall, past the highest peak in the lower 48, Mono Lake's towers and Mammoth Lakes.
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If You're NearbyChrist Cathedral (Crystal Cathedral)
California
Philip Johnson's Crystal Cathedral, a church of more than 10,000 panes of glass, reborn as the Catholic cathedral of Orange County, near Disneyland.
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If You're NearbyGrace Cathedral
California
A Gothic cathedral on San Francisco's Nob Hill with gilded doors cast from Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise and two labyrinths, one inside and one out, to walk in quiet.
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If You're NearbyLassen Volcanic National Park
California
A little Yellowstone in Northern California, with steaming vents, mud pots and all four kinds of volcano.
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If You're NearbyMission San Juan Capistrano
California
The "Jewel of the Missions", with the ruins of a great stone church toppled by an 1812 earthquake, quiet gardens, and the return of the swallows celebrated each March.
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If You're NearbyMission Santa Barbara
California
The "Queen of the Missions", the best loved of California's 21 Spanish missions, with twin bell towers, a rose garden in front and the Santa Ynez Mountains behind.
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If You're NearbyMojave National Preserve
California
A huge, empty desert between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, with singing sand dunes, volcanic cones and a restored train depot.
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If You're NearbyPalm Springs
California
A desert playground of mid-century modern homes, poolside hotels and a tram up into the mountains.
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If You're NearbyPinnacles National Park
California
Spires of old volcanic rock, talus caves with bats, and a chance to see California condors, two hours from San Francisco.
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If You're NearbySacramento
California
California's capital, with Gold Rush-era Old Sacramento on the river and Lake Tahoe two hours east.
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If You're NearbySan Jose and Silicon Valley
California
The heart of Silicon Valley, with the Computer History Museum, the Winchester Mystery House and Stanford nearby.
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