Travel Book for August 2009
Lonely Planet Guide to Coastal California
Getting Started
California is huge, and it takes time to get around. You can take the train or bus between cities and some towns, but you’ll need a car to reach the coast’s many remote sights. Once outside of major metropolitan areas it’s easy to navigate, and your biggest problem will be keeping your eyes focused on the road and not on the beautiful scenery. If you’ve got kids with you, fret not: there’s plenty for them to do. And despite the proliferation of high-cost lodging along the coast, budget travelers will find deals along the way.
When To Go
Most visitors arrive in summer, between June and September, crowding major tourist attractions and causing significant spikes in room rates, even at motels. If you come in summer, try to travel midweek, when crowds are thinner and rates cheaper. Urban and suburban traffic is worst on Fridays and Sundays. If you must travel then, avoid driving between 3pm and 7pm.
Expect summertime fog anywhere north of Santa Barbara, from late May through September. It gets chilly and gloomy, but never cold. (However, if you crave July heat, you’ll have to head inland to escape the fog.) Though it rains in winter, the coast never freezes, and the hills turn green; March through May, they’re dotted with wildflowers before summertime droughts turn them golden-brown again. March may be the prettiest month of all; it’s nicknamed the ‘emerald month’ because the entire state turns green – great for pictures, bad for allergies. During the spring and fall, the ubiquitous coastal fog clears, providing the best opportunity to see the famous coastal vistas. Indian summer stretches from September through October. Visiting in winter is iffy, since rain may ruin the views, but you can get great rates on some lodging.
You can enjoy hiking, canoeing, rafting and other warm-weather outdoor activities in summer, spring and fall; swimming is only comfortable at the height of summer in Northern California and from around May to October in Southern California, though surfers and divers hit the waters year-round in wet suits. Winter is whale-watching season when gray whales migrate down the coast from Alaska.
Costs and Money
Coastal California is pricey. The biggest costs are transportation, accommodations, food, drink and sightseeing. If you’re traveling with children or want to keep your costs down, always ask about discounts.
The easiest, most comfortable way to see California is by car. Car-hire rates range from $160 to $300 a week; insurance costs $15 to $35 depending Getting Started on the coverage selected. Gasoline is expensive in remote areas such as Big Sur – as much as a dollar per gallon more than in metropolitan regions. For more information on transportation, see p259.
Lodging costs run highest between Memorial Day (late May) and Labor Day (early September). Basic motels start at $50 a night and top out at $130. Midrange accommodations cost $100 to $200, and up to $900 for luxurious top-end resorts. B&Bs range from $100 to $300 (see also Accommodations, p247 ). To save cash, head inland and choose motels near freeways as accommodations along the coast cost up to 30% more.
If you don’t insist on sit-down meals, you need not spend much money on food. Eat at simple, hole-in-the-wall restaurants or taquerias (taco shops; burritos are the California survival food). For more substantial meals, lunch is cheaper than dinner. Remember to add tax and a 15% to 20% tip. Plan on $10 to $30 per meal; ask for childrens menus too.
Many museums have an admission-free day or evening once a month. Entrance to national parks and historic sites costs $4 to $20 per vehicle and is valid for multiple entries over seven days.
Travel Literature
Southern California would not exist as it does today without water. Marc Reisner’s must-read Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water examines, in dynamic prose, the contentious, sometimes violent, water wars that gave rise to modern California.
In Where I Was From, Joan Didion dissects the mythology of life in California, from the early pioneers, of whom she is a descendant, to the new arrivals and their shut-the-door-behind-me mentality; the latter chapters examine a Southern California suburb gone haywire following the demise of the local aerospace industry.
For a frothy taste of San Francisco in 1978, the serial-style Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin, collars the reader as the author follows the lives of several colorful, fictional characters, gay and straight. Its short chapters make it ideal for reading on the plane, and you’ll want to rush to the sights mentioned in the text.
If you’ve never read any novels by John Steinbeck, you must do so before visiting Coastal California. Pick up Cannery Row, particularly if you plan to visit Monterey. Travel back to a time when California’s first capital was populated by adventurers and hooligans, heroes and whores. In Steinbeck’s classic tale, you’ll come to appreciate the humanity and holiness in all of them. East of Eden takes place in nearby Salinas, and is an epic family drama as well as a study of archetypes and opposites. Best of all, when you arrive in the area, you’ll immediately recognize the landscape and sites Steinbeck so deftly describes in both texts.
Reproduced with permission from Coastal California 2nd Edition © 2007 Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd
Coastal California Travel Guide is published by Lonely Planet (paperback; £12.99). It is also available through www.lonelyplanet.com and all good booksellers.
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