Coastal California - Central Coast (PDF Chapter)

This is the Central Coast chapter from Lonely Planet’s Coastal California guide-book.

Too often forgotten or dismissed as ‘flyover’ country between San Francisco and LA, this fairy-tale stretch of California coast is packed with wild beaches, misty redwood forests where hot springs hide, and rolling golden hills of fertile vineyards and farm fields.

• learn to surf, and scare yourself silly on the Giant Dipper along the famed beach boardwalk in Santa Cruz
• maps
• cruise Hwy 1, where the sky touches the sea along the rocky coastline of mystical Big Sur
• transportation
• be mesmerized by aquatic denizens of the ‘indoor ocean’ at the superb aquarium in Mon-terey
• restaurants & accommodations

Coverage includes: Along Highway 1, Santa Cruz & Around, Monterey, Pacific Grove, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Big Sur, Point Piedras Blancas, Mission San Antonio De Padua, San Simeon, Hearst Castle, Cambria, Cayucos, Morro Bay, Montaña de Oro State Park, Along Highway 101, San Juan Bautista, Gilroy, Salinas, Pinnacles National Park, San Miguel, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Avila Beach, Pismo Beach.