The Rough Guide to California (Travel Guide eBook)

Description

The fully updated The Rough Guide to California is the definitive guide to the most visited state in the US. Now is a great time to visit: 2017 is the 50th anniversary of San Francisco's Summer of Love; the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has burst onto the scene at Universal Studios, and LA also boasts cool new contemporary art museum The Broad; there's been an explosion of microbreweries across the state; countless hiking trails beckon at Yosemite National Park and the backcountry wilderness of Sierra Nevada; whilst Historic Route 66 still offers all the kitsch Americana and romance of the open road.

Discover California's highlights with beautiful photography, easy-to-use maps, and more listings and information than ever before. The Rough Guide to California contains fun and adventurous itineraries, author recommendations for where to stay and eat, savvy lists of hotspots, and heaps of practical advice to help you whatever your budget. Make the most of every minute of your trip with The Rough Guide to California.

Sujets

• California

Informations

• Publié par: Apa Publications
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780241314821
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 80 Mo

Extrait

CONTENTS HOW TO USE INTRODUCTION Where to go Author picks When to go Things not to miss Itineraries BASICS Getting there Getting around Accommodation Eating and drinking The media Festivals and public holidays Sports and outdoor pursuits Shopping Travel essentials THE GUIDE Los Angeles San Diego and around The deserts Death Valley, Owens Valley and the Eastern Sierra San Joaquin Valley and the Western Sierra The Central Coast San Francisco and the Bay Area The Gold Country and Lake Tahoe Northern California CONTEXTS History Environment and wildlife Film Books MAPS AND SMALL PRINT Introduction Introduction Cover Table of Contents
HOW TO USE THIS ROUGH GUIDE EBOOK
This Rough Guide is one of a new generation of informative and easy-to-use travel-guide ebooks that guarantees you make the most of your trip. An essential tool for pre-trip planning, it also makes a great travel companion when you re on the road.
From the table of contents , you can click straight to the main sections of the ebook. Start with the Introduction , which gives you a flavour of California, with details of what to see, what not to miss, itineraries and more - everything you need to get started. This is followed by Basics , with pre-departure tips and practical information, such as flight details and health advice. The guide chapters offer comprehensive and in-depth coverage of the whole of California, including area highlights and full-colour maps featuring all the sights and listings. Finally, Contexts fills you in on history, the environment, wildlife, films and books.
Detailed area maps feature in the guide chapters and are also listed in the dedicated map section , accessible from the table of contents. Depending on your hardware, you can double-tap on the maps to see larger-scale versions, or select different scales. There are also thumbnails below more detailed maps - in these cases, you can opt to zoom left/top or zoom right/bottom or view the full map. The screen-lock function on your device is recommended when viewing enlarged maps. Make sure you have the latest software updates, too.
Throughout the guide, we ve flagged up our favourite places – a perfectly sited hotel, an atmospheric caf , a special restaurant - with the author pick icon . You can select your own favourites and create a personalized itinerary by bookmarking the sights, venues and activities that are of interest, giving you the quickest possible access to everything you ll need for your time away.
INTRODUCTION TO CALIFORNIA
Few regions of the world have been as idealized and mythologized as California – and yet it seldom fails to live up to the hype. The Hollywood glamour, surf beaches and near-endless sun of the Southern California coast are rightly celebrated, but from here you’re only a few hours’ drive from majestic snowy mountains (and even ski resorts), Wild West ghost towns and barren deserts pocked with Joshua trees. Further north, boutique wine regions mix with primeval redwood forests, wild seascapes and the engaging metropolis of the Bay Area, with singular San Francisco as its hub. The Golden State’s almost-unequalled diversity is packed into nearly 164,000 square miles – an area nearly twice the size of Great Britain – and yet California ranks as only the third largest state in the US, after Alaska and Texas.

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FACT FILE California’s “ Golden State ” nickname is perpetuated by the golden poppy, or Eschsholtzia californica , which appears all over the state each spring and is the state flower. California raised the flags of Spain, England, Mexico and the short-lived Bear Republic before it was admitted to the Union on September 9, 1850, as the thirty-first state . Each year, California becomes home to more immigrants than any other state, with most settlers hailing from Latin America and Asia, though a smattering come from Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Nearly a third of all immigrants to the US settle here. The third-largest state in the US in land area, California boasts an 840-mile coast along the Pacific and around 25,000 square miles of desert. It’s also the most populous state , at 39 million inhabitants. In 2010, for the first time since the Gold Rush, California-born residents made up the majority of the state’s population. Based on agriculture and the electronic, aerospace, film and tourism industries, the state’s economy is the strongest in the US. Indeed, if it were a country, California’s economy would rank among the sixth largest in the world. In 2016 it was estimated that there were over 750,000 millionaires in California and a staggering 124 billionaires in the state. A notorious land of extremes, California is home to not only the highest point in the US outside of Alaska (Mount Whitney in the southern Sierra Nevada, at 14,497ft), but also the lowest point on land in the western hemisphere (Badwater in Death Valley National Park at -282ft) – and they’re located less than 85 air miles from one another.
To outsiders – and even a certain percentage of its residents – California represents the ultimate “now” society, where urban life is lived in the fast lane, conspicuous consumption is often paramount and, in some circles, having the right hairstyle, wardrobe and income is crucial. And while there’s a bit of truth to this stereotype of the state’s infamous superficiality, the fact is that California’s staggering scope of cultures and lifestyles, determined as they are by everything from socio-economic factors to simple geography, could never allow for a single statewide identity to take root. The state’s rich and ongoing penchant for invention and, moreover, re-invention underscores how there’s far too much going on here for one single California to exist.
  In one state you have the great metropolis and home of the movies Los Angeles, Beverly Hills and Disneyland, but also the staggering natural wonders of Yosemite National Park, towering redwoods and primitive rock carvings left by Native Americans. In the south, the unforgiving, mythical landscapes of the Mojave Desert and Death Valley contrast with the golf courses, resorts and Coachella festivities of Palm Springs, while the big names of Silicon Valley – Facebook, Google, Apple – lie short rides away from the isolated coast of Big Sur. You can sip your way through the vineyards of Napa, visit the abandoned mines of Gold Country and climb the snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada, where bears and pumas roam.
  California may well have a strong focus on the here and now, but it also has a fascinating past. Hunter-gathering Native American tribes had the place largely to themselves until Spanish missionaries arrived from modern-day Mexico and began building a string of missions from 1770 onwards. Contact was minimal and on a small scale until the Gold Rush of the 1840s and 1850s – a period that bestowed California its “Golden State” moniker. People of all social and political stripes flocked here, a pattern that has continued ever since and which has undoubtedly contributed to making this one of America’s most polarized states, home to right-wing bastions such as Orange County and San Diego and yet also a principal source of America’s most dynamic left-wing movements: environmentalism, women’s liberation, and gay and immigrant rights. Some of the fiercest protests of the 1960s took root here, and in many ways this is still the heart of forward-looking America, as California continues to set the standard in terms of progressive action and social tolerance.
  Put simply, this is a place that can be all things to all people. Whatever you want California to be, you’ll find it somewhere; and no matter what you expect, it’ll always surprise you.

BIG SUR

Where to go
It’s worth keeping in mind that distances between California’s main destinations can be huge, and naturally you won’t be able to see everything on one trip. In a state that’s so varied, much will depend on the kind of holiday you’re looking for. You may well start off in Los Angeles , the second-most populous city in the US (after New York), a vast, sprawling metropolis boasting Hollywood, the beaches of Malibu, the bars of Sunset Strip, Venice Beach and some exceptional museums, beginning with the Getty Center. From here, you can make the short trip south to San Diego , set snugly against the US/Mexico border with its broad, welcoming beaches, world-famous zoo and laidback vibe. Alternately, head inland to California’s vast deserts , where the resort community of Palm Springs invites poolside lounging and other languid pursuits; if you’d rather explore national parks, Joshua Tree and, further afield, Death Valley – as its name suggests, an inhospitable landscape of volcanic craters and windswept sand dunes that becomes one of the hottest places on earth in summer – are unparalleled in their arid beauty.
  Also from Los Angeles, you can make the steady journey up the Central Coast , a meandering run that traces the Pacific’s gorgeous shoreline and takes in some of the state’s most dramatic scenery. Along the way, you’ll visit a few of California’s liveliest mid-size cities, particularly Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz – each with its own character and markedly different from one another. Along the jagged coastline between San Luis Obispo and Monterey on twisting CA-1, you’ll encounter the uniquely epic homestead known as Hearst Castle and the park-rich region of Big Sur .
  The Central