Description
Find your own journey. California is far more than a destination you tick off in a single trip. Coast, city life, and brief inland excursions invite very different kinds of holidays. Lonely Planet’s classic travel guide gives you a starting point for choosing your own combination, whether you have a few weeks to spare or want to get to know one area better.
Experiences to look forward to. The book highlights hiking the Lost Coast Trail, fresh oysters from the bay, and a drive through Gold Country. These are experiences with entirely different rhythms: a day out in the landscape, a meal that becomes a travel memory, or a road where you’re happy to take an extra detour. The guide brings together routes, maps, and practical advice to tie the ideas together.
Who is this guide suitable for? Choose this guide when you want a broad California guide to plan from. If you mainly want to follow the coast, Coastal California offers a more focused approach; Experience California is built around a selection of experiences.
From inspiration to your own plan. Use the guide before departure to pick out a few experiences you really want, and see them in the context of the rest of the trip. A route with fewer stops can give you more time to get to know each place, and it’s often useful to leave some days less fixed. Flip through it together with your travel companions, compare ideas, and find a balance between what you want to fit in and what you’ll have time to truly experience.
A physical travel guide is also good to return to along the way. Bring it out when discussing the next leg, find an idea you had noted, and let your plans develop as you get to know the destination. It works just as well as inspiration for your first travel dreams as it does as support when you want to make concrete choices.
About this edition. English edition, published 2026. 800 pages. 11th edition. ISBN 9781838697044.
