California - Beaches, Nature and Wine

Los Angeles – the land of Hollywood, Disneyland and Universal Studios, where life is as carefree as can be. With its ever-shining sun, palms in the breeze, movie stars with their fancy houses in Beverly Hills, wonderful museums, futuristic buildings, and surfing spots, Los Angeles truly makes for an unforgettable destination.

Along the Pacific coast, one encounters several iconic locations: Malibu, long famous for its long sandy beaches, perfect waves for surfing, luxurious hillside mansions, and spa culture; Ventura, where one can stop to visit the beautiful old town and stroll along the pier that stretches out over the ocean; luxurious Montecito, residence of many international jet set stars. Santa Barbara has a beautiful location on the hills overlooking the ocean, about 150 km north of Los Angeles. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1925, it was completely rebuilt in a Spanish style with red tile roofs and lime walls. To find what remains of the original colonial buildings, you must visit the 200-year-old Presidio de Santa Barbara or the beautiful Mission Santa Barbara on the hills. The main street, with shops, restaurants, and nightclubs, is State Street: from here you can reach the old Stearns Wharf (1872), with more restaurants and the fish market, in the center of a beautiful stretch of beaches.

Welcome to Big Sur, one of the world’s most unforgettable stretches of coastline. This roughly 90-mile-long stretch of redwood- and fog-trimmed waterfront between Carmel-by-the-Sea and Hearst Castle has no specific boundaries, no urban core, drawing you (and writers like Henry Miller and Beat Generation darling Jack Kerouac) in with a magic allure that is almost palpable. This is, quite simply, a place you want to be—bluffs, sea, and sky. Drive Big Sur’s length via twisting Highway One, with plenty of pullovers at places like Bixby Bridge. Another favorite photo op: McWay Falls, a silvery cascade that falls some 70 feet from the sea cliffs to a remote beach below in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. You can see it from the open sections of the park’s Overlook Trail. Look up to see endangered California condors, North America’s largest birds, or look down to scan the swells for migrating whales or sea otters floating among dense beds of kelp, California’s signature seaweed. Try the famous Ambrosia burger on the deck of Nepenthe, then nurse your beer to watch the sunset.

The centerpiece of Monterey is its magnificent harbor, Monterey Bay. The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary provides homes for seals, sea lions, dolphins, otters, and many more marine species. To learn about these denizens of the sea you can't miss the Monterey Bay Aquarium: to avoid the big lines at the main gate, buy your tickets online and get in by the Advance Ticket Holder entrance, which, as you're facing the building, is down an alley about one hundred feet to the right of the main entrance. Monterey County is known for its wines: stop by the Cannery Row tasting room for A Taste of Monterey, which serves wines from a number of different area wineries and has a breathtaking view of Monterey Bay. Don't miss Old Monterey. This historic district isn't just there for looks; it's still a thriving downtown. Many of the historic adobes are now home to fabulous restaurants and bars.

Roughly an hour’s drive north of San Francisco and boasting more than 400 wineries, Napa Valley is a connoisseur’s paradise, inviting visitors to explore beyond the region’s signature Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Don’t miss, for instance, the rediscovered Merlot, whose plush texture and earthy cherry flavor are appealing to a new generation of red wine fans. Long considered California’s most famous wine region, Napa Valley exploded into the global spotlight following the 1976 Judgment of Paris, when a Chateau Montelena Chardonnay from Calistoga trounced nine other Chardonnays in a blind tasting in Paris, including extremely prestigious bottles from France. At the time, France was considered the world’s forerunning wine region, but this triumph forever changed the international perception of Northern California’s wines. Today, the region boasts some of the most coveted wine grapes anywhere, including To Kalon Vineyard, planted in the 1860s, plus contemporary cult bottlings like Screaming Eagle and Harlan Estate. Napa Valley cuisine has come into its own as well, with dozens of world-class restaurants offering meals on a par with the vintages served up alongside them. When to visit Napa Valley? Each season has its charms. Spring’s emerging grape leaves turn hillsides brilliant green, plumed with golden swaths of mustard blossoms. Summer warms up with events and festivals (and their attendant crowds), so plan on packed schedules. Fall brings the crush, as vineyards and wineries bustle with workers. Winter settles into a cool hush: Insiders know this is a time to snag reservations at the area’s galaxy of Michelin-starred restaurants, shop for holiday gifts in gaily decorated but quieter towns, get a seat on the Napa Valley Wine Train, and relax in greater intimacy at posh spas.

The coastal Sonoma County villages of Bodega and Bodega Bay exude a sense of lonely isolation—and that’s part of the reason Alfred Hitchcock liked them. When he filmed 1963’s The Birds, based on Daphne du Maurier’s gothic tale, the towns stood in for a few scenes in the English village besieged by the film’s namesake feathered tormentors. As it turns out, Bodega is indeed a natural bird magnet that regularly makes Audubon Society rankings for great bird-watching, thanks to the plethora of hawks, egrets, herons, and pelicans to be seen there. While much of the area was re-created for filming in a studio, a few physical locations remain. In Bodega, for instance, you can see the two-story Potter Schoolhouse, where the birds first menaced the town’s children (though you can see it only from the outside—it’s now a private residence). To get inside a location from the movie, book a table at The Tides Wharf Restaurant, part of Bodega Bay’s The Inn at the Tides. Come for the Dungeness crab and views over the water—featuring happy (and non-homicidal) shore birds.

San Francisco’s iconic streets twist up and down its many hills and scenic bridges connecting it to the mainland – chief among which the red Golden Gate. San Francisco is a charming, multi-faceted city, regarded as a liberal, enlightened oasis in a rather conservative America.