Palace Hotel
Talk about an icon: Opened in 1875 and rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake (legendary opera singer Enrico Caruso was a guest that night), the Beaux Arts Palace Hotel has hosted its share of notables, including Mark Twain, American presidents, and European royalty. It certainly takes a special hotel to draw both titans of indutry (John D. Rockefeller) and a Soviet prime minister (Nikita Khrushchev).
While an overnight stay is the best way to experience the landmark, you can also get a look inside on a free walking tour, with a chance to learn about historic features such as the Maxfield Parish Pied Piper mural in the restaurant bar. Or relive the city’s most elegant period while brunching beneath The Garden Court’s soaring stained-glass dome. Your eggs Benedict will probably get cold with all that looking up to take in this unparalleled ceiling in one of the prettiest hotel spaces in the state.
Northern California
Discover the San Francisco Bay Area
A crimson bridge, cable cars, a sparkling bay, and streets lined with elegant Victorian homes—San Francisco is undeniably one of the world’s great cities. Located along the Northern California at the state’s distinctive bend in the coast, the region has an alluring magic that stretches beyond the bay to diverse cities with nightlife and trend-setting cuisine.
"I left my heart in San Francisco, High on a hill, it calls to me." –singer Tony Bennett
The Bay Area is also home to some of the world’s finest wine country, including Napa Valley and Sonoma, plus waterfront towns, dramatic beaches, and the tech-savvy southern end of the bay known as the Silicon Valley, where lunchtime ideas at Google, Facebook, and Apple, turn into the next brilliant innovation.
Spotlight: Berkeley
A haven for backyard artists and coffee-shop philosophers, Berkeley has deep roots in the Flower Power movement of the 1960s and ’70s. But...
Hidden Gem: Berkeley's Tilden Park
In the hustle and bustle of the Bay Area, it sounds implausible: a wilderness sanctuary spanning more than 2,000 acres, rife with wildlife,...
Lands End: San Francisco's Oceanfront Gem
While most people beeline to the Golden Gate Bridge for their Instagram shots of San Francisco, some of the most amazing views of the City by the...
Spotlight: San Francisco
It may measure less than 50 square miles/130 square kilometers, but San Francisco justly ranks as one of the greatest cities in the world. Famous...
Golden Gate Bridge
With towers soaring 746 feet/227 metres into the sky, its span arcing across the mouth of San Francisco Bay, and all of it painted bright red-...
Sausalito
Just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, a steep hillside covered in chaparral and eucalyptus drops from Highway 101 to a flat, sunny shoreline, two...
Rock rolls into the wine country again this summer with this three-day event in Napa that features headliners Florence + the Machine, Stevie Wonder, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. With more than 80...
From a candy-colored pastry shop to Michelin-starred dining rooms, top restaurants run by celebrity chefs dot the Golden State. And even if you don’t know these chefs from the TV...
Spotlight: Napa & Sonoma
Cradling California’s most famous wine country, these two world-famous wine regions, both about an hour’s drive north of San Francisco, boast...
Sure wine country is romantic, but now it’s a surprisingly great destination for families too, with a growing number of vineyards trading in elegant tasting rooms for kid-friendly fun zones that...
Get the Spanish spirit at this colorful event. Stroll the grounds of Gloria Ferrer Caves and Vineyards with a glass of bubbly, and take in a whirl of passionate music, flamenco dancing, and food....
Head to the heart of California’s cities for luxurious stays at world-class accommodations. From San Francisco’s historic hotels to celebrity hot spots in Hollywood and Beverly Hills, California’s...
Spotlight: Oakland
It’s been called “San Francisco’s Brooklyn,” and San Francisco’s sister city, just across the water in the East Bay region, has the same kind of...
Top Bay Area Museums
Arts abound in this culturally diverse region, with different experiences and styles all over the Bay Area. Start in Golden Gate Park,where...
Trip 8-10 days 10 stops
Ultimate Northern California
It may measure less than 50 square miles/130 square kilometers, but San Francisco justly ranks as one of the greatest cities in the world. Famous for grand-dame Victorians, classic cable cars, dynamic diversity, a beautiful waterfront, and a soaring crimson bridge, the “City by the Bay” is the...
Tucked into an ocean-facing fold of Mount Tamalpais, the signature peak just north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, Muir Woods National Monument protects the last stand of uncut old-growth coast redwoods in the Bay Area, where loggers had all but denuded the region by the late 1800s....
Juicy heirloom tomatoes and just-picked strawberries. Super-sweet peaches shaped like mini Ufos. Artisanal cheeses, emerald-green olive oils, local wildflower honey—California’s farmers’ markets...
Spotlight: Santa Cruz
This ultra-mellow beach town has a decided split personality—and both sides are cool. First, there’s the woo-hoo family fun of the Santa Cruz...
Sand, water, and kids—it’s a natural combination for easy family fun. This sandy dozen offers appealing, family-friendly features, such as calm water for new swimmers, tide pools for intrepid...
Performing Arts
Nested near the city’s cupola-topped City Hall, impressive performance spaces in San Francisco present some of California’s—and the world’s—...
A celebration of the best in independent and world cinema, this high-powered but low-key event always attracts major filmmakers and stars, as well as some of the hottest independent talents in the...
Get into the spirit of the season at the self-proclaimed “World Pumpkin Capital” (expansive pumpkin patches surrounding this Central Coast town give the name some weight). Highlight of the weekend...
World-Class Dining
Chef Alice Waters and her group of idealistic friends didn’t intend to spark a movement when they opened Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971; they...
Spotlight: San Jose
The first hit of this city’s unmistakable techy-ness starts right off the bat—if you get here by plane. Meet Space Observer, a 26-foot/7.9-meter-...
The multistage, 575-mile Amgen Tour of California is the largest cycling event in North America, and every May the course brings...
Spotlight: Silicon Valley
Welcome to California’s tech-centric brain pool. Wrapping around the south end of San Francisco Bay, the communities collectively known as Silicon...
Historic oceanfront playgrounds, classic city-park charmers, boisterous adventures—smaller theme parks and attractions offer an array of ways to play. These smaller parks offer old-...
Countdowns don’t get any more exciting than this. When conditions are just right, ocean swells pile up against an offshore reef, about 2 miles/3.2 kilometers off Northern California coastline near...
From cool ways for your kids to learn about wildlife, to an insider’s look at a space station, to a chance to walk through a rain forest or learn about the night sky, there’s a...
Trip 3-5 days 10 stops
San Francisco Bay Loop
Start your trip with a visit to one of the most iconic spans in the world. With towers soaring 746 feet/227 meters into the sky, its span arcing across the mouth of San Francisco Bay, and all of it painted fire-engine red, the Golden Gate Bridge makes a dramatic destination, and a great way to...
End your road trip by exploring one of the world’s great cities. Famous for grand-dame Victorians, classic cable cars, dynamic diversity, a beautiful waterfront, and a soaring crimson bridge, the “City by the Bay” truly has it all. Trend-defining cuisine ranging from Michelin-starred dining to...
Kiss a beluga, see cool movie props, and learn about Walt’s secret hideaway on exclusive and behind-the-scenes tours at California’s theme parks and attractions. Here’s a roundup of worth-the-...
Muir Woods National Monument
To experience one of California’s most unforgettable must-sees, visit this remarkable grove, a hop-skip north of San Francisco. Tucked into an...
Tesla Road - Livermore Wine Country
This often overlooked wine country, a roughly 1-hour drive east of San Francisco, is one of those places that make you feel like you’ve (happily)...
Shopping is an art form in California. Whether you're in search of the perfect cocktail dress or an authentic Mexican piñata, you'll find it here. Want to sample fresh produce? Try our farmers...
Livermore
With warm sun and wide open spaces cradling vineyards, ranches, and wine country estates, the Livermore Valley makes an appealing destination just...
