CALIFORNIA

ROAD TRIP

Our guide to an awesome tour of California. Routes, hotels, restaurants and travel tips.

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LOMPOC (Pop 40,000).

Arriving in the afternoon it was too late for us to go on a tour, so instead we opted for the town’s 42 (!) tasting rooms clustered in what’s called The Wine Ghetto. For example go to “Pali Wine Co.” and have Henry serve you samples (approx. $35 for 6 pours), including great Chardonnays and Pinots, while expertly telling you about the production of them. And if you buy a bottle or two, they may waive the wine flight. As a European you’ll be surprised to pay the same price retail here as you would for a bottle of say Côte de Nuits in a London restaurant but, the wine is really good.

Now as for Lompoc’s nightlife well, we couldn’t find a restaurant that was open after 8.30! Instead, we ended up back at the room with a delicious Thai take-away (from “Herb Home”), some cold beers and 100 channels on the TV, not bad at all ;) N.b. if you wake up by an earthquake shaking your motel at 6AM in the morning, it may actually be a rocket launch from the local air force base (it was).

BUELLTON (Pop 5,000).

For our second part of visiting this area we went full Sideways, dined at “The Hitchingpost” (excellent), stayed at the “Sideways Inn” (ok) and did wine tasting at “Sanford’s winery” (lovely, but arrange your taxi beforehand as there is no mobile phone coverage). The film was so successful it had an unfair negative impact on Merlot sales and a positive impact on Pinot sales, the latter thriving in this area as opposed to Napa which do great Cab Savs.

On balance we preferred Buellton. You can also e.g. stay in Santa Barbara and book tours from there, or Solvang.

BREAK TIPS! (Between Santa Barbara wine country and Big Sur.)

- Solvang. A cutesy village with Danish heritage. Easy to walk around for an hour with plenty of brunch options. As a Swede I must begrudgingly admit that this town is nicer than the Swedish heritage Kingsburg.

- Pismo Beach. A charming small seaside town with a long peer and an enormous wide sandy beach. Public parking in front of the Ole West Cinnamon bun bakery.

- Elephant Seal Vista Point. The picture gives you an idea of the numbers you can expect to see (depending on time of year). An amazing stop. Large public free parking.

BIG SUR

Food: for example the Hawthorne gallery and Nepenthe restaurant both have nice views, close to the Henry Miller museum. 

Accomodation: book early!! We stayed at Ragged point inn which was great (view from hotel below), but all the lodges were fully booked.

MONTEREY & CARMEL

These two towns are both charming, Carmel (pop. 4,000) particularly so, with its leafy streets and cutesy houses. We opted for staying in Monterey (pop. 28,000), as it was closer to our 9AM whale watching tour. The tour took four hours and did not disappoint, getting us close to both dolphins and humpback whales. Monterey has two tourist centres, the harbour (pictured) with its many large, packed (and unashamedly touristy) seafood restaurants, and the Cannery Row area, with more upmarket restaurants and the Monterey aquarium. We tried the Charthouse restaurant on the second evening which had fantastic views out over the bay and a great Mahi dish. The famous aquarium is nice but having just been to London and Valencia aquariums, it didn’t offer anything unique and the USD 50 entrance fee could’ve been better spent towards freshly caught crispy calamari and a cold Chardonnay. After Carmel, or when leaving Monterey to go to San Francisco, the “17-mile drive” is a nice drive along the coast that takes you past Pacific Grove and the Pebble Beach area, famous for its eponymous golf course. There’s a USD10 fee at either end.

SAN FRANCISCO

SAN FRANCISCO

A delightful city (Pop. 900,000) which requires little introduction. Lessons learned for us beyond the guidebooks were that the Pier 39 and Fisherman’s wharf areas are quite touristy and more suited for families. Chestnut street towards Presidio, with its many upmarket yet casual restaurants suited us better. Other clusters of restaurants are in Little Italy and Chinatown. The Ferry Building (by pier 1) is an indoor market with a couple of restaurants and nice stores. Top tip there: grab a couple of unbelievably tasty tacos and beers from “Cholita Linda” and have them on the dock in the sun with a big smile on your face.

The infamous Alcatraz prison (pictured) is a 2-3 hour trip worthwile doing. Book online then take a ferry from pier 41.

BREAK TIP! (Between San Francisco and Napa/Sonoma wine country.)

- Golden Gate View Point. Views back at San Francisco from North of the bridge (pictured).

- Sausalito (pop 7,000). Pleasant town by the water. At the end of town you’ll find the famous bohemian houseboats.

- Muir Woods national monument. Impressive redwoods trees viewed from a pathway trail, 1-1.5 hours.

NAPA VALLEY
Sonoma & Napa (/Calistoga, Sta Helena etc.)

Coming here over a weekend for the vineyard tours, and being late booking, we could only get a motel 30 mins walk from downtown Napa city (pop 70,000). With plenty of Ubers, getting home at night was no problem but, after having visited Sonoma (pop 11,000) with its pleasant plaza, we think we would’ve preferred staying there. Alternatively small cutesy towns we passed through on the wine tour such as Calistoga and St Helena.

If you prefer a bit more buzz though, you’ll find plenty of live music in Napa city, restaurants like “Oxbow market”, “Napa noodles” (budget, GREAT ribs), “Compline” (high end, GREAT bavette steak) etc. The Archer hotel has a nice rooftop bar (book ahead).

Re. wine tours we can recommend Platypus tours. In a group of 10, the knowledgeable guide Stephen took us to three smaller vineyards (Auburn James, Tedeschi and Varozza), where we got to taste plenty of good quality Sauvignon Blancs, Pinots and Cab Savs. The tour was USD 130 pp, plus 25 per wine flight (2022).

YOSEMITE
VALLEY

Stunning national park that you can spend days hiking. Here’s the order we did it, in one and a half day:

1. Vernal falls. This is at the far end of the valley and if you get there early, parking is not a problem. Although the park has a free shuttle service so if you’re ok taking them, parking doesn’t matter as much. The footbridge below the fall is reached in a bout 30 minutes of uphill walking, and then the refreshing spray of the fall itself is another 15.
2. Yosemite falls. Lower or upper, depending on your fitness (maps and guides will help you decide).
3. Bridal veil falls.
4. Tunnel view. Overlooking Bridal veil falls and the valley, simple stop by the road.
5. Mariposa Grove, for giant sequoias. Just before the park exit.

We would’ve liked to do Glacier Point as well, but the road was still closed for winter (end of April). Half dome with cables etc. we left to the pro’s :) Don’t miss the Ansel Adams gallery for amazing photos of Yosemite.
$35 entry fee, free shuttles, several restaurants, rest rooms everywhere.

THE YOSEMITE TO L.A. DILEMMA

You can either go back to the West coast and do Big Sur down again, but this is a detour. Or add a day and go East and take in Sequoia ntl park, Death valley etc. and maybe go on to Vegas and Grand Canyon, but this will add 20hrs drive time if you don't fly. We opted for the fastest route through central California. Stopping for lunch in Kingsburg (pop 12,000) was quite surreal for a Swede as myself as they have really embraced their Swedish heritage with flags and festivals and old Swedish songs playing from outdoor speakers (!). Our overnight stay was in Bakersfield, a large petroleum and agricultural city (pop. 700,000). Despite the size we could only count a handful of restaurants and bars downtown, particularly surprising to us perhaps with our new Spanish hometown Moraira having 99 restaurants and bars for a population of 30,000. We ended up eating at the hotel The Padre, which was good and the buzziest place around. From Bakersfield we drove two and a half hours to Santa Barbara, lunching on State Street and taking in this flashier but nice town before heading back into Santa Ynez wine country (45 mins) and a continued Sideways experience (see above).

BREAK TIP! (Between LA and San Diego).
Catalina island (where you can stay over instead of stopping in LA), Long beach, Seal beach, Newport Beach, Laguna beach etc. We opted for Newport Beach of OC and Arrested development fame.

Hotels we stayed in

Hotel Carmel, Santa Monica. Dated and noisy, but with great beds and phenomenal location 5 mins from the peer.

O’Cairns Inn, Lompoc. Standard motel but with large rooms and beds. In-house restaurant and bar with shuffleboard and pool. Swimming pool and jacuzzi.

Ragged point inn, Ragged point. Cabin feel rooms with great beds and most of them with views. One of the most pleasant hotels we stayed at with sunset views up along the coast towards Big Sur. In-house restaurant.

Monterey Marriott. Most rooms have a sideways view out over the bay (great for sunrise shots when you wake up jetlagged). Another great king-size bed, big plasma TV and everything you need, except glasses to sip the pinot you bought in wine country. You can pick up wine glasses in the Chinese supermarket round the corner. Pool and jacuzzi in their courtyard.

Riu Plaza Fisherman’s wharf, San Francisco. Modern with big king-size beds and large TV (spotting a pattern?). The location is right by the bay. Minus points: very busy breakfast and no one wearing masks.

Best Western on the vines, Napa city. Simple slightly dated motel but with everything you need including guest laundry, gym and outdoor pool. 10 mins drive from Napa downtown. Yes, large bed but actually a slightly smaller TV :)

Tenaya lodge, Yosemite National park. Good location a couple of minutes from the park entrance, 50 mins easy drive from Yosemite visitor centre, and very nice “ski resort” feeling. We went for a cosy cottage, which are divided up in to three flats with open (gas) fires and balconies. Plenty of things to do, in/outdoor pool and good onsite restaurant. Beds and pillows could have been comfier but, still one of our favourite hotels on the road trip. Oh, and they have free laundry for guests so if this is a week into your journey, perfect time for a big wash.

The Padre, Bakersfield. Arguably the most famous hotel in Bakersfield. Modern in an old characterful building. Amazing bed, medium sized TV. Only a flimsy curtain between bedroom and shower room glass wall a bit weird. Good bar, restaurant and room service until 9PM.

Sideways Inn, Buellton. Simple motel that’s been renovated since the eponymous film was shot here, including the large bar. Quite noisy and with uncomfortable pillows but on a whole, ok. Walking distance (15 mins) to the Hitching post restaurant.

The Hollywood Roosevelt, Los Angeles. LA’s oldest (still open) hotel, on Hollywood boulevard, 10 mins walk from e.g. Musso & Frank’s grill or the Sunset strip in the opposite direction. Grand ball rooms where the first Oscars ceremony was held, mixed with DJ’s by the large heated pool (decorated by David Hockney). Very comfortable beds. Ask if you can have a room without a connecting door, the feral children in the room next to us were up at 5.30AM bouncing to go to Disneyland and telling everyone about it :) The hotel’s Lounge Bar is a lovely huge room with open fire and a jazz band playing the night we were there. The bartender made some surprising basic mistakes though, too much water in the Scotch and what tasted like soda used for the G&Ts instead of tonic. And the hostesses (but not the waitresses) were a bit snooty both here and by the pool area. Apart from that; great!

Bahia Resort Hotel, San Diego. A sprawling resort with its own private beach, restaurant, games rooms etc. It’s located within 5 minutes of the seafront Mission beach boardwalk, and Mission boulevard’s many laid back restaurants. The Gaslamp district, San Diego zoo etc. is a 20min Uber ride away.

MISC. TIPS

• Check that your mobile contract covers the US before you go. And turn on mobile data saver on your phone, it’s amazing how much mobile data is used in the background by apps even if you’re not using them. Our phones have room for several sims so we bought a US one for USD 30 in a phone shop and set the phone to use that for data.
• Download offline Google maps for California when on Wi-Fi. Even if you’re good for mobile data, most national parks will not have reception.
• A difference that may be bewildering to a first time European visitor is that outside of cities; no one walks, no one! Doesn’t sound like a big deal but when e.g. walking around Lompoc on a Saturday night, it felt like the apocalypse. There were plenty of cars around but not a single person on the pavements nor in the shut restaurants. Where were these drivers going and where had they come from!? :)
• If you’re given a rental car with out of state plates, ask for a Californian one. Out of states ones get broken into more, as they’re more likely to have suitcases, cameras etc.
• If you’re European, tip higher than your used to, 15-20% is normal. Minimum wage for “tipped workers” is $2 per hour (!).
• Reading tips:
  

  Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch, Henry Miller.

  If only they didn't speak English, Jon Sopel.
  Cannery Row, John Steinbeck.
• Not enough tips? Here are 101 more from LA Times: 101 California experiences.

GALLERY
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