Fodor's California 2001
"Fodor's guides cover culture authoritatively and rarely miss a sight or museum." - National Geographic Traveler
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No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go.
Color planning sections help you decide where to go with region-by-region virtual tours and cross-referencing to the main text.
Insider info that's totally up to date. Every year our local experts give you the inside track, showing you all the things to see and do -- from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun.
Hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges -- from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special.
Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice -- from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency.
Full-size, foldout map keeps you on course.
We've compiled a helpful list of guidebooks that complement Fodor's California 2001. To learn more about them, just enter the title in the keyword search box.Fodor's Exploring California: An information-rich cultural guide in full color.Fodor's upCLOSE California: Designed for those who want to travel well and spend less.Fodor's Compass American Guides Coastal California: A full-color guide, providing in-depth coverage of the history, culture and character of Coastal California.Fodor's Compass American Guides Wine Country: A full-color guide, providing in-depth coverage of the history, culture and character of the California Wine Country.
Destination CaliforniaCalifornia is too big, too diverse, too full of charming surprises to seem like a single state. You do not visit just one California. You choose a particular California. If you are looking for natural beauty, the Big Sur coastline isn't a bad place to start, but it's only one gem on a long, long list. If you favor worldly pleasures, San Francisco and the Wine Country beckon. Sybarites needing a fix are well advised to head to Palm Springs. Aficionados of the edgy love L.A. Wherever you go in the Golden State, there's plenty to fall in love with: very few visitors go home unsmitten.
North CoastThe shore running north from San Francisco to Oregon is a place for retreat -- for restoring the soul. But although its pleasures are low-key, they are hardly unrefined. Elegant country inns, cozy Victorian B&Bs, and rustic lodges provide comfortable bases for touring. Many are destinations in themselves. Architecture hints at the area's history, as in
Mendocino and other towns that dot the coast, which have a New England flavor. Some of their founders built out of nostalgia, bringing classic Americana to the continent's edge as a tonic for homesickness. But before them, the missionaries and the Hispanic settlers -- even before the Native Americans -- there was the land and its beauty.
The Wine CountryAmerica's answer to Tuscany, California's Wine Country -- Napa and Sonoma counties -- looks and feels like its Italian counterpart, with its rolling hills and soft Mediterranean climate. Wines made here have long won awards and have made the area a force in the industry and a vibrant destination for food-and-wine lovers. Don't think you need a cultivated palate to enjoy yourself here, however. Local wine makers such as
Sebastiani Vineyards happily educate the uninitiated during tours and in their tasting rooms. If you're lucky, you might arrive in time to see the grape harvest at
Domaine Chandon or elsewhere. Whenever you visit, you will be greeted by row upon row of vines and wonderful food in scores of superb restaurants. No wonder the West Coast headquarters of the
Culinary Institute of America is located in St. Helena. You may not want to take its courses, but you can order a few courses at the institute's Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant. The good life is also a hallmark of local inns and spas, including Rutherford's
Auberge du Soleil and
Calistoga's Cottage Grove Inn. Do some sightseeing, too. The towns and countryside are gorgeous. Sonoma's historic Mission
San Francisco Solano reflects the Spanish influence, but you'll find Victorian gems as well. What you won't experience is any desire to leave any time soon.
San FranciscoThis is simply the most beautiful city in the United States, and one of the most beautiful in the world. It is to the urban landscape what Yosemite is to the natural one. As a visitor you can rub elbows with its lucky citizens in the
cable cars that negotiate hilly Hyde Street with aplomb, and admire the rosy rococo
Palace of Fine Arts. In sun or fog, drive or walk across the landmark
Golden Gate Bridge and take in sweeping views of the city from atop Coit Tower. Just strolling along thoroughfares like crooked Lombard Street or lively
Market Street can fill a day. But sightseeing is only part of the San Francisco experience. The essence of the city is the diversity of its people, made all the more interesting because many groups cluster in like-minded (and usually open-minded) enclaves. The
Chinatown Gate fronts one of the best-known neighborhoods, and although none of the others has so obvious a border marker, when you enter a new neighborhood in San Francisco, you often know it. Be sure to check out the neighborhood scenes, from bohemian yet ethnic North Beach -- where poetry readings still happen, street musicians jam, and old Italian merchants sell you cannoli that could have been made only in heaven -- to Chinatown to Pacific Heights to Japantown to the gay Castro to the countercultural Haight. San Francisco is a city you will never forget, and if you do leave your heart here, you won't be the first.
Los AngelesIt's hard to be indifferent to Los Angeles. Love it or hate it, it is a city unlike any other. Start forming your own impressions along
Sunset Boulevard. It'll take you through Hollywood all the way to the sea, through the city's multiple layers, including wealthy Bel-Air and Beverly Hills. The sheer length of the drive underscores the city's sprawl. When you get to the ocean, you can experience the beach culture that's so integral to life here. Check out
Venice Boardwalk, where Angelenos surf, skate, bodybuild, and stage some of the wackiest street theater in the galaxy. Most of it is fun and none of it buttoned-down. Also pure L.A. are theme parks like
Universal Studios Hollywood, where you can "live the movies" from Jurassic Park to Back to the Future, and
Mann's Chinese Theatre, where celebrities press their hands and other body parts into cement for posterity. When you're ready for shopping (high-class or funky), nightlife (from alternative to swing), or dining (from taquerías to Asian-fusion innovators), you'll find it in L.A. Amid the freeways and smog, the city's numerous beauty spots sometimes come as a surprise -- at the Richard Meier-designed
Getty Center, or at sunset, when a cinematic glow bathes
Griffith Park Observatory and ribbons of violet back serve as backdrop for the twinkling town. Be here then, and you may think you're surveying a city of angels.
