Sampling Northern California’s sensory feast

By some trick of fate, I was not born in California.

But each year I manage to go there once or twice because it feels like where I should be. Whether in the mountains, the desert or on the beach, at Big Sur or on Santa Monica’s pier, the Golden State is a sensory marvel.

Enlarge this image

Mary Tartglione / File photo

Carmel-by-the-Sea has a reputation as quaint, and the locals like it that way. But you’ll find plenty of shops, galleries and other things to do in this slice of Northern California.

Enlarge this image

Eric Risberg / AP

Stop in at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. It won’t give you a swing like Vijay Singh’s, but you can get a close-up view of the links.

Free and cheap in San Francisco

Explore San Francisco by cable car

Photos

• CONTEST! Share travel horror stories, win grand prize

U.S. Travel stories

• One city, three price points: A weekend in Minneapolis 
• Campgrounds, RV parks spend green to go 'green' 
• Traverse City, Mich., up-and-coming foodie haven 
• Lobster-rich Maine won't cost a tail and a claw 
• Must-see fireworks: Vegas to Rushmore to Cape Cod 

• Photos: Travel / U.S. Galleries
• Latest deals!
• Back to: Travel | U.S. and international destinations

For me the question always is, “Where in California do I want to go this time, and what do I want to visit again?”

One of my favorite trips has been a circuit around Northern California, starting and ending in San Francisco. For a taste of California’s cultural diversity, it’s hard to do better.

From city to wine country and coast, it offers a manageable sample of the state’s bounty.

September and November, when I have made this trip, are two of the best months to go. It’s generally warm and sunny, and there are few crowds.

SAN FRANCISCO

This is your starting point, and you could spend a week here and still not want to leave.

If you’re spending just a day or so, there are some obvious must-sees and -do’s for first-time visitors: stopping at Fisherman’s Wharf and the adjacent Ghirardelli Square, walking or dining in Chinatown, taking a cable car ride. Less obvious and hectic: strolling through Haight-Ashbury to Golden Gate Park and imagining the wild late 1960s here. You can still smell the patchouli wafting from some of the shops.

Or take a walk up Russian Hill and see Lombard Street, “the crookedest street in the world.” Stop for an Italian dinner or just lemon ice in the North Beach neighborhood, and finish the evening with a drink at the Top of the Mark at the Mark Hopkins Hotel for the stupendous view.

SAUSALITO

Just over the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco is this former fishing village, and it’s worth a few hours’ visit on your way to Sonoma. You can gaze over the bay at the San Francisco skyline. The waterfront offers a full-frame view of the city.

Sausalito also is a shopping town, with galleries and antiques shops. If that’s not your interest, just walk seaward to Gabrielson Park, where you can sit on a spot of grass near the water with a takeout lunch. Look out at the houseboats and millionaires’ motorboats lined up at the docks, and dream away.

SONOMA

A little over an hour’s drive northeast from Sausalito, and you’ll be in wine country. In Sonoma, you’ll find California’s largest town square, one that dates to Colonial Spanish times — and yes, the vineyards that stretch on and on and up gently sloping hills.

Inns and bed-and-breakfasts are plentiful in this town with its early-California feel, but my favorite place to stay is the Thistle Dew Inn, a block from the town square. Besides the Arts & Crafts decor, the ambience and the outdoor hot tub, you get bikes with your stay, and there might be no lovelier way to spend a day than riding on the paths to the nearby vineyards for tastings. Not too many, of course.

Besides exploring the town’s boutiques, bookstores and wine shops — and spending evenings at its exquisite restaurants, such as the El Dorado Kitchen — take a half-day to explore Jack London State Historic Park, about a half-hour from Sonoma. The remains of the author’s Wolf House are here, on the 800 acres that were his Beauty Ranch. In the early 1900s, he was one of the first American practitioners of sustainable farming. He no doubt hiked the hills, as you can, for a different perspective on the Valley of the Moon.

MENDOCINO

From Sonoma, you’ll travel through the mountains, about three hours, on winding roads northwest to the Mendocino coast. Mendocino, a picturesque town with New England saltbox and Victorian homes, is known for its breathtaking cliffs. Nineteenth-century mariners feared them, as ships were routinely bashed into the rocks and caves of the coast. You can learn the storied history of this now-peaceful town at the Ford House & Museum Visitor Center.

It doesn’t take long to walk around Mendocino, so for longer hikes go to nearby Russian Gulch State Park, a 1,200-acre preserve that showcases the coastal geography, and Van Damme State Park, with hiking trails that wind through an ancient forest.

There are a fair number of small inns in these parts, but to get a bit of an Old West feel, check out the Victorian-style Mendocino Hotel & Garden Suites on Main Street. For breakfast, lunch or dinner, the famous Cafe Beaujolais, a block away, deserves all the superlatives that natives and visitors heap on it.

From Mendocino, travel the spectacular Pacific Coast Highway south for some of the best coastline views in the world. The challenge is keeping your eyes on the curving road, instead of the ocean views. Luckily, there are many places to stop and drink it in — either pull-offs next to the road or in a little seaside town such as Bodega Bay, near where Alfred Hitchcock’s film “The Birds” was shot.

After several breathtaking hours and about 275 miles — you may want to stay overnight en route — you’ll get to more can’t-miss places.

CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA

It’s hard not to love this village, commonly called Carmel, except to note that it might almost be too cute. Carmel is quaint, and its moneyed residents intend to keep it that way.

Today, it is noted for shopping, with boutiques and galleries galore. And for a long time it has been a draw to artists, poets, photographers and writers — Upton Sinclair, Sinclair Lewis, Ansel Adams among them — who have reveled in the freewheeling coastal ambience.

History buffs will want to visit the Carmel Mission, which was California’s second mission, established in 1771.

There’s a crescent-shaped beach just west of downtown that offers plenty of space to breathe, should the congested little streets downtown get to you. And just south of town is Point Lobos State Reserve, a 1,250-acre coastal wonderland that’s said to be the crown jewel of California state parks. The surf and wild winds have sculpted a plethora of coves into the shore. Be sure to bring binoculars to watch the sea lions gathering on the rocks.

At evening, retire to one of the town’s many inns. For Victorian charm at a reasonable price, the Pine Inn in the heart of town excels. The town’s first inn, it was built in 1889. It’s decorated with fine period antiques and offers a welcoming warmth, just four blocks from the ocean.

MONTEREY

There’s no point in being in Carmel without heading to Monterey and taking the 17-Mile Drive near Pebble Beach. For a fee, you can drive through the Del Monte Forest, see the hillside mansions and the golf course famous for many professional golf tournaments.

The views are stupendous — of the coast, marine mammals and sea birds.

Stop for a drink at the Lodge at Pebble Beach and get a closer view of the links. When in Monterey, you definitely want to see what is arguably the biggest and best aquarium if not in the United States, then definitely in California. After visiting the aquarium, you can explore the adjacent Cannery Row area that John Steinbeck made famous.

This was once a sardine-packing capital, but the canneries are long gone, replaced by touristy enterprises. Still, there’s a lot of history to be seen and heard here.

If you’re a devotee of Steinbeck, you’re only 17 miles away from Salinas, his birthplace. The house where he was born is in a historic district downtown. You’ll even see the Presbyterian Church that was part of the story line in one of his most famous works, and it’s now a restaurant called, yes, East of Eden. Steinbeck’s grave is here too, at Garden of Memories.

All too soon, it’s time to drive back to San Francisco. If you want to break up the two-hour drive, a number of coastal towns, Santa Cruz (with its 1907 boardwalk) among them, offer plenty of places to spend your last night on the Pacific Coast or catch a final glimpse of the pounding waves.

IF YOU GO

San Francisco: www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com, 415-391-2000.

Sausalito: www.sausalito.org/visit.cfm, 415-332-0505.

Sonoma:

• Visitors Bureau, www.sonomavalley.com, 1-866-996-1090.

• Thistle Dew Inn, 171 W. Spain St., www.thistledewinn.com, 1-800-382-7895; rates start at $165.

• El Dorado Kitchen, www.eldoradosonoma.com, 707-996-3030.

Mendocino:

• Ford House Museum & Visitor Center, 735 Main St., 707-937-5397.

• Mendocino Hotel & Garden Suites, 45080 Main St., www.mendocinohotel.com, 1-800-548-0513; rates start at $175.

• For parks information, www.mendoparks.org.

Carmel-by-the-Sea:

• Visitor information, www.carmelcalifornia.com.

• The Pine Inn, Ocean Avenue between Lincoln and Monte Verde streets, www.pineinn.com, 1-800-228-3851; rates start at $169.

Monterey: www.montereyinfo.org/travel.