Kevin1

Can any one tell me top Tourist Areas in California?
I am making list of tourist areas so i need your advises.

Thanks

janisj

California is as large/larger than many countries - there are MANY tourist areas. Is this a list of places you want to visit?

MmePerdu

http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/sunset/visitca2013/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g...Vacations.html
http://www.californiatouristguide.com/

spirobulldog

San Francisco
LA
Disneyland
San Diego
San Diego Zoo
Lego Land
Yosemite National Park
CA Coast

In my mind those are the Big Biggies. There are many other areas that would be very touristy as well.

sf7307

Add to that list Monterey/Big Sur/Mendocino/Lake Tahoe.

janisj

>>San Francisco
LA
Disneyland
San Diego
San Diego Zoo
Lego Land
Yosemite National Park
CA Coastsame area. The 'coast' is really 4 very distinct area - the south coast beaches, the mid coast Monterey > Santa Barbara, SF/San Mateo Co./Marin County, and the north coast/Redwoods.

If one is really talking tourist areas I'd think it would be along the lines of:

San Diego Area
LA/Orange counties
the Mid coast
San Francisco
the Napa/Sonoma Wine country
the north coast
Lassen and far northern CA
Lake Tahoe
Yosemite
Sequoia/Kings Canyon
the high Sierra/395/Mt Whitney
the High Desert
Death Valley

Then there are other great areas like the Delta, and the foothills/hwy 49 corridor, and lots of others

EatnDrinkLJ

By City:

San Francisco
Los Angeles
San Diego

By Attractions/Iconic Places:

Golden Gate Bridge
Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco
Alcatraz
Universal Studios
West Hollywood
Santa Monica
Venice Beach
Rodeo Drive
Yosemite
San Diego Zoo
Disneyland
Napa/Sonoma - Wine Country
Legoland
San Diego Gaslamp District
La Jolla Cove
Balboa Park
Sea World
CA Coast Highway 101

janisj

>>CA Coast Highway 101

spirobulldog

I wouldn't consider Lassen "touristy" at all. Very few people go there and most people have never even heard of it. We stayed at Drakesbad 2 years ago, out of the 45 people there at the time(because they asked for a show of hands), the 2 of us were the only "first timers" there. The entire place was people that had been there previously. Many of them had been there for several years in a row. It is somewhat of a Best Kept Secret.

The Redwoods really don't see that much visitation either.
The OP asked for the Top Tourist spots. Tourism, to me, means that amount of people that visit a spot.

nanabee

janisj is right on. California is huge! Northern Calif and Southern Calif are vastly different almost like two distinct and separate states.

You can obviously do the entire state if you have a couple of weeks.

I would recommend starting in San Diego and moving up the coast to maybe Disneyland in Orange County (if you are into that), then L.A. then Santa Barbara, up to the Monterey, Santa Cruz (Los Gatos) area, San Francisco, over to the north of the bay area then across to the Sonoma & Napa Valley and maybe if time to the Lake Tahoe and or Yosemite area.

janisj

spiro: >>he OP asked for the Top Tourist spots

emalloy

Are you writing a book or planning a visit and do you want to hit or avoid the tourist areas?

dbdurand

Kevin, you're reinventing the wheel, with the aid of some willing participants. Fodors itself has a list, and I suspect there are a number of other travel sites that do something similar. Here's Fodors'.

http://www.fodors.com/world/north-am...ure_30001.html