Classic California Road Trip

With its dizzying ocean views and constellation of Michelin-starred restaurants, free-spirited ’Frisco is a feast for the senses. A famous bastion of counterculture, its parks, bookshops and vintage boutiques each have a story to tell. It’s famously hilly, too; its characterful neighbourhoods – Haight-Ashbury, the Mission, the Castro, Fisherman’s Wharf – are best navigated by historic cable car or with a private driver. Don’t miss steep Lombard Street in Russian Hill with its eight hairpin bends, or the Painted Ladies, the seven pastel-hued Victorian houses that cling to the slope of Alamo Square Park and grace every postcard.

Whether it is the towering sequoias, the cooling mists of Bridalveil Fall as it plunges from the heavens or the sight of El Capitan, on whose formidable faces the world’s hardiest climbers test their mettle… First impressions matter, and Yosemite outdoes itself at every turn. America’s third-oldest national park is the winning hand in California’s deck, an awe-inspiring landscape crafted over millions of years, where a raw, almost childlike sense of wonder prevails and adventure is baked into every soaring granite cliff.

Originally the site of California’s second Catholic mission, this diminutive beach city on the Monterey Peninsula has blossomed into a characterful community of storybook cottages, boutique art galleries and fine-dining restaurants. Scenic hiking trails span outwards along the coast, from the surfing hotspot of Carmel Beach to the bird sanctuary on Carmel River State Beach. 

Backed by the hazy Santa Ynez Mountains, this upmarket coastal city is the beating heart of Santa Barbara County, a sprawling, vine-laden region of farmers markets and wine estates. Wide streets of low-strung, Spanish-style villas flanked by spindly palms lead down to some of California’s best and most exclusive beaches – these powdery shores are beloved by surfers, jet skiers and fishermen alike. Just beyond the horizon lie the sea caves and kelp forests of the remarkable Channel Islands.  

Fifteen miles west of downtown Los Angeles, beach-blessed Santa Monica is the ideal base for day trips into Hollywood as well as being a destination in its own right, the epitome of laid-back California coastal cool. Its three miles of golden sands host boardwalks, a retro amusement park and countless seafront restaurants, while the bluff-top Palisades Park is perfect for kicking off a freewheeling, three-mile cycle to Venice Beach, famous for its glistening body builders.