The best places to visit in California span from San Francisco & the Napa Valley wine country in the north to the glamorous beach towns of Santa Barbara, Malibu and Los Angeles in the south. California is one of the most diverse and beautiful states in the USA, so there is more than enough to visit in California to justify multiple trips just to this state alone!

Ancient redwood forests, dramatic coastlines, deep beaches, rugged mountains and world renowned wine country is just the beginning. Relax in glamorous seaside beach towns, explore powerhouse cities and wander through charming college towns as you make your way through the most famous state in the USA.

Planning a trip to California can be overwhelming, because there are so many beautiful places to visit and things to do see and do. When I was researching my own travel to California, I was surprised by how many places I found that I hadn’t heard of before – they might be locally known, but I’d never heard of them in Australia! To help you plan your own trip to this lovely part of America, I’ve rounded up the most beautiful places in California to visit.

Read More: The Best Places in the USA to Visit

Big Sur

With rugged coastlines, crashing waves and the rolling fog, Big Sur is easily one of the best places to visit in California. Big Sur is a stunning stretch of California’s Central Coast, between Carmel and San Simeon. Wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Lucia Mountains, it’s one of the most beautiful scenic drives in the world.

I travelled through Big Sur as part of a California road trip between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and can’t recommend it more!

Note: Big Sur and the Pacific Coast Highway are frequently impacted by landslides. Check the latest updates about closures here, before you travel as you probably won’t have cell service.

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How to get there

Big Sur is 2 hr 45 min drive south of San Francisco.

Read more: Itinerary – Big Sur Road Trip

Los Angeles

Los Angeles is one of the best places to visit in California, with iconic attractions like Hollywood & several movie studio tours, Runyon Canyon, the Griffith Observatory and Beverley Hills. Perched in the Hollywood Hills, the Griffith Observatory offers beautiful views over Los Angeles, and is especially beautiful at sunset. Runyon Canyon is a beautiful spot for a city hike, and offers loads of beautiful vistas over the city. I love the stark beauty of Los Angeles’ desert-like, rocky hills, and think it’s one of the city’s most attractive qualities.

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Carmel-By-The-Sea

Carmel is tucked away on the coast of Northern California, between San Francisco & Big Sur. This tiny, wealthy seaside town is kind of like NoCal’s version of The Hamptons, with the summer traffic to match! Despite the crowds, Carmel is one of the best places in California to visit, and is worth a detour. I particularly loved the beautiful Romantic Spanish Revival and Arts & Crafts architecture.

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How to get there

Carmel is a 2-hour drive from San Francisco.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara is California’s answer to the French Riviera. This chic seaside town is more glamorous than your average beach town, with the prices to match. Striking Mission Revival architecture, towering palm trees and the dramatic Santa Ynez mountains make Santa Barbara one of the best places in California to visit. The wide, sandy beach and the rolling Pacific Ocean are just the icing on the cake!

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How to get there

Santa Barbara is less than a 2-hour drive from Los Angeles, making it a perfect overnighter from LA.

Solvang

Solvang is unlike anywhere else in California. In a state scattered with Spanish names, Solvang stands out like a sore thumb. Most Danish immigrants to American in the 19th century flocked to the Midwest, where you can still find lots of Northern European heritage today. In the early 20th century, some of these immigrants decided to flee the brutal Midwestern winters, and settle in Southern California instead. In the 1940s, enterprising town planners decided to play up this heritage with windmills and Danish architecture. None of it’s authentic, but it’s surreal – and very pretty!

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How to get there

Solvang is 2.5 hours outside Los Angeles. There’s not enough to do and see here to justify a day trip in its own right, but you could pair it with a trip to wineries in the Santa Maria Valley or lunch in Santa Barbara to make a day of it.

Related: 6 Charming Small Towns in the USA

San Francisco

Once known for free love, the Beat movement and a visionary literary scene, today San Francisco is more closely associated with Silicon Valley and our super rich social media overlords. San Francisco is facing some big issues these days, but it’s still a beautiful city full of big ideas, making it one of the best places to visit in California. Do your research when booking accommodation and planning your days, as many of the city’s neighbourhoods are not very safe.

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Napa Valley

The Napa Valley is one of the best places to experience California’s wine country, just a couple of hours outside San Francisco. A day tour from San Francisco makes it easy to visit several wineries without worrying about who will be the designated driver.

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How to get there

The Napa Valley is a 1 hr 40 min drive from San Francisco. I recommend booking a Napa Valley winery day tour, so you can enjoy more wineries.

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Monterey

Monterey is a seaside town in Northern California that has had it’s fair share of the pop culture spotlight. John Steinbeck’s Depression-era novel Cannery Row was set in Monterey, when it had a thriving fishing industry. Reese Witherspoon’s recent adaption of Big Little Lies put Monterey on the map once again, but now as an enclave of wealth and privilege. Monterey still has a beautiful harbor, and a rickety old pier with a retro seafood shack and wholesale seafood. From the pier, you can spot seal lions splashing in the water and sunning themselves on the rocks, or under the pier.

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How to get there

Monterey is a 2.5 hour drive from San Francisco

Sonoma

The Napa Valley’s little sister used to get overlooked in favour of prestigious Napa vineyards, but today Sonoma is recognized as one of the best wine regions in America too. Sonoma, which includes the Sonoma wine region and the town of Sonoma, is one of the prettiest small towns in California and a perfect day trip from San Francisco. It’s right near Napa, so you can visit both in the same day or on the same weekend trip.

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How to get there

Sonoma is a 1hr 15 min drive from San Francisco

Malibu

Malibu is one of the most iconic beach towns in California. Just outside of Los Angeles, Malibu is known for glamorous, multi-million dollar celebrity homes and a chic SoCal lifestyle. We stopped by on the drive into Los Angeles, coming from Santa Barbara. Don’t miss Malibu Pier & El Matador Beach.

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How to get there

From the heart of Los Angeles, its a 1 hr 50 min drive to Malibu due to traffic. From the edge of LA in Santa Monica, its a 25-50 minute drive depending on traffic.

Santa Monica

I wasn’t expecting one of the most beautiful places in California to be what must be the state’s busiest beach. Santa Monica is just outside Los Angeles, and thanks to urban sprawl it’s basically part of the same city now. I was totally unprepared for how gorgeous it would be! The Pacific Ocean, the mountains and the palm trees are almost too much.

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Santa Monica Highlights

• Santa Monica State Beach
• Pacific Park
• Santa Monica Pier

How to get there

Santa Monica is a 40 minute drive from LAX.

Santa Maria Valley

California is full of wine regions, beyond the household names of Napa and Sonoma. Just outside Santa Barbara, the beautiful Santa Maria Valley is a lot less touristed and has a very cool, down to earth feel. It reminded me of Australia’s Yarra Valley wine region!

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How to get there

Santa Maria Valley is 45 minutes from the college town, San Luis Obispo, or a 3.5-4.5 hour drive from Los Angeles (the joys of traffic!).

San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, or SLO, as its nicknamed, is a major college town on California’s Central Coast. It has a charming downtown area, with pretty heritage architecture with a Spanish influence, as well as a gorgeous art deco theatre. We stopped here overnight on our road trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and it was a great overnighter.

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How to get there

San Luis Obispo is a 4-5 hour drive from both San Francisco and Los Angeles, if you take the scenic route along the Pacific Coast Highway.

Natural Bridges State Beach

Natural Bridges State Beach is a national park, and landmark beach in Santa Cruz. The vantage point here gives a great view of the beach & its namesake, the natural bridge, as well as a view of migrating whales, as well as otters & seals playing offshore.

It was one of our first stops along our Pacific Coast Highway road trip, which started in San Francisco

How to get there

Natural Bridges State Beach is in Santa Cruz, and is a 2-hour drive from San Francisco.

Morro Bay

Morro Bay is a sleepy, super chill beach town in Central California, just off the Pacific Coast Highway. It’s best known for the landmark Morro Rock, which is an ancient volcanic plug, rising out of the water just offshore. The sunsets in Morro Bay are a drawcard, unfortunately the evening we arrived, we missed sunset and the town was shrouded in fog.

This is a great stop if you’re driving the Pacific Coast Highway!

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