California

Our Top Picks For California

• 1 Disneyland

  Rocketing through Space Mountain, watching glorious fireworks and meeting Mickey in unexpected places

• 2 Lassen Volcanic National Park

  This area of Northern California is glorious, with dramatic volcanic landscapes, emerald forests and mountain-lake camping. Over summer the information center at Manzanita Lake offers ranger-led programs to help you learn a little about the local wildlife and culture while you gawp at the scenery. Check out the photos!

• 3 Paley Center for Media

  Nowhere on earth does it make more sense to watch TV in a museum than in LA. At the Paley Center for Media you can do just that. Better still, you can watch great documentaries and retrospectives on stars and innovators from the small and large screen. (Psst. Check out our list of best California movies. Did we leave something out? Let us know!)

• 4 Big Sur

  If rugged coastal scenery is your thing, then don’t miss Big Sur. Here Hwy 1 pulls out all the stops, scenery-wise. It’s an epic journey taking in hippie camps, smugglers' coves, lonely lighthouses and the Piedras Blancas elephant seal colony. Finish with a tour at the over-the top Hearst Castle

• 5 Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

  The West Coast's oldest beachfront amusement park is still packing them in. Ride the ancient wooden roller coaster, stuff yourself with cotton candy, reminisce about the Lost Boys - there is something to amuse everybody.

• 6 San Francisco

  Charismatic neighborhoods, jaw-dropping views, a passion for food and that famous Golden Gate Bridge

• 7 Los Angeles

  Grit, glamour and glorious beaches, life on the cutting edge and the chance to bump into a movie star

• 8 San Diego

  Beaches, animal encounters, scads of top-flight museums and a hopping restaurant and nightlife district

• 9 Death Valley

  A desert to die for – golden sand dunes, odd geological wonders and spring wildflowers

• 10 Yosemite National Park

  A rollercoaster of scenic delights from tumbling waterfalls to wildflower-carpeted meadows and glacier-carved granite domes

• 11 Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Park

  Pristine wilderness, the world's biggest trees and a canyon as deep as 'god's little pocket'

• 12 Mt Shasta

  Majestic snowcapped mountain, amazing wilderness hiking, fine dining and sumptuous B&B lazing

• 13 Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park

  Birthplace of the gold rush, bucolic walking paths and buildings from the mining era

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