Where's the best place (city) to visit in California?

Question

The only requirement is that it has a beach!

Please tell me why it is the best too! Thanks!!

Answer 1

How about a driving vacation along the beach?
Pacific highway #1- rent a convertible and stop/go as far as you want and enjoy the incredible shoreline, not just one beach.

The state has wonderfully diverse beaches north to south. Its worth the trip-I can't name just one! Its fun all over and not cheap so be prepared with a credit card and some cash.
Live frugal with state parks if you like rustic and above all have an adventure and have fun!

In my twenties, we did road trips all the time! Our rules, eat one meal out at day and ice chest it the rest, sleep cheap or free and make the most of all daylight hours. Take turns driving, if the road was fun, turn around and do it again with another person!

Answer 2

I live in the SF area and think it's a great city to visit and walk through, but I wouldn't recommend it as a great beach city. For that the others who recommended Santa Barbara and the beaches at the southern end of the state would probably be nicer and more consistently a warmer (that SF) climate. Carmel By The Sea is a wonderful area too.

Answer 3

There are about 20 best places...and many mentioned above. I would add to the list North County San Diego...Del Mar, Solana Beach, & Cardiff-By-Sea.

North Orange County...Seal Beach, Sunset Beach, Huntington Harbor

Sunset Beach is a party. Seal Beach is too but less 'wild'. Lot's of fun

Go to Taco Surf on PCH. After the sun it has great fun. Younger crowd mixed with locals. Music. Then you can shuffle by foot to a number of other spots.

Answer 4

San Diego by far is the best destination. It has Mexico at one end, the zoo, Balboa Park in the middle, and some spectacular beaches and mountains on the other sides. Truly it's one of the most fun places on the planet and the weather is great most of the time.

www.highnoontravel.globaltravel.com

Answer 5

a million. Badwater, lack of life Valley nationwide Park, Inyo County. 2. Carmel, Monterey County. 3. Disneyland, Anaheim, Orange County. 4. Hearst fortress, San Luis Obispo County. 5. Lake Tahoe, El Dorado and Placer counties. 6. the city of l. a. and only about each thing in it, which include Walt Disney live performance corridor, both Getty Museum places,

Answer 6

I would say that San Francisco, it has beaches, tourist spots, and lots of night life. I prefer Half Moon Bay, altho it doesn't have to much tourist spots it has the most beautiful beaches. One thing I would say make a trip down highway 1 make it a week long trip. You can't believe the views, all the things to do and the SHOPS.

I love living in CALI!!!

Answer 7

San Francisco for the beauty and varied forms of entertainment. I have heard Half moon bay is good. If you like quite places go to Bodega Bay.
Big Sur has awesome beaches and has all kind of outdoor activities you can dream of and it is also very beautiful.
LA has lots of beaches and is very crowded too, if you like busy places and like meeting people then LA is the place to be

Answer 8

I guess that it depends what you are into. I agree that Santa Barbara it's beautiful, but it’s a small down and you’ll run out of this to do in a very short time. So it would depend on how long you are staying. Now matter how long, you should at least try to vitsit it. It actually is more than an hour from L.A. It’s more like 2. I’ve been there so many times it’s not funny!

San Diego it’s beautiful as well, with a greater selection of restaurants and shopping stores. You can also visit Sea World, San Diego’s Wild Animal Park, Legoland, and Mexico is literally next door.

But like I said, it depends what you are looking for, if you are into nature, than Yosemite will do nicely. From Yosemite , you can take a drive through the Mono Lake Area. Death Valley it’s beautiful in it’s own special way. Hot like hell though. Huntington Lake up North by Fresno it’s gorgeous! From there, the giant tree forest is about an hour from there. Yosemite it’s not for from there either. Another great nature place to visit is the Red Wood Tree Forest, about an hour North from San Francisco. Lake Tahoe is a great place to visit too!

If you want a little of everything, you can go up north from LA on the Pacific Coast Highway. That’s a great trip to do. You’ll pass Santa Barbara and beautiful scenery on your way to Monterey Bay. From there you can keep traveling north through San Francisco up to the Red Wood Forest. On your way back, you can detour through Sacramento on your way to Yosemite, out the back of Yosemite (on the opposite side of the park that went into Yosemite) to visit Mono Lake, take US 395 south to head back to L.A. or north to head to Lake Tahoe. If you head back to LA, you can stop at Mammoth Lake, then back down on US 395 and stop at lake Isabella, then the desert Pinnacles, than back to LA.

I’ve done trip like that several times. I’ve been on just about every little highway and small down in California. Except for down above Sacramento. In fact, I don’t know where else to go anymore. I just about seem it all. Well, I hope I gave you some ideas, good luck!

Answer 9

Santa Barbara is great-great beaches , restaurants, shopping only an hour from L.A.

Answer 10

If it is just for an afternoon of touring Solvang. It is actually about 4 hours north of LA but it is a beautiful Danish town.