Insight Guides California

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight
• ISBN:
  9781780057668
• Edition: 8
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Insight Guide California is a comprehensive full-colour guide to everybody's favourite state. The new edition of this travel guide, completely revised in 2012 and with hundreds of specially commissioned photos, gives detailed coverage of all the best attractions, with full-colour mapping and plenty of practical information to help you get around.

New chapters on California cuisine, touring the wine regions, and exploring the great outdoors complement lively features on California's culture and history. Special magazine-style essays cover a variety of subjects, such as the moviemakers of Sunset Boulevard and San Francisco's cable cars. Our "Best of California" section is an easy short-cut to all that is unmissable - from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Napa Valley, Hearst Castle to the Redwood Forests.

Travel tips provide all the planning information you'll need, such as how to get around, how much to budget for your trip, plus our selective, independent listings recommend where to stay and where to eat in California. Whether it's your first time of visiting or your fifth, and whether you want a coastal drive or a hike in the mountains, a tour of Disneyland or a wine tour, Insight Guide California is the ideal companion.

Accommodations

Price Categories

Prices are for a standard double room without breakfast:

$ = less than $150

$$ = $150–$225

$$$ = $225–­$375

$$$$ = more than $375

Where to Stay

Hotels

California offers the complete spectrum of accommodations, from elegant European-style hotels to inexpensive motels that can be rented by the week.

In San Francisco, the most expensive hotels are generally located in Nob Hill, the Financial District, and Union Square. These grand hotels are particularly well suited to the international traveler, and many are attractive landmarks in their own right. In Los Angeles, the most expensive are situated Downtown and in Beverly Hills, with the best access to shopping and public transportation.

The concierge at most upscale hotels will arrange theater tickets, tours, limousines with bilingual drivers, and airline reservations.

There are also a large number of smaller hotels and hotel chains, which usually offer all of the essential comforts without the high prices of the grand hotels.

Motels

If you’re traveling by car and don’t plan on spending much time in your room, motels are the best solution. Whether located along busy Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles or along the riverbank in a remote Northern California town, most motels provide parking space – at a premium in most of California – within just steps of your room.

Motel quality varies, but you can usually expect clean and simple accommodations. This is especially true for most of the national chains. A restaurant or coffee shop, swimming pool, and sauna are often found on the motel premises. Room facilities generally include a telephone, television, and radio. Don’t hesitate to ask the motel manager if you may inspect a room before agreeing to take it. Other than their accessibility by auto, the attraction of motels is price. Motels in California cities range from $75 to $150 per night, double occupancy. They are less expensive in the outlying areas.

Roosevelt Hotel, Hollywood.

David Dunai/Apa Publications

Note: due to California’s strict laws, most hotel and motel rooms are non-smoking. If smoking is important to you, check around before you book.

Bed and Breakfast Inns

B&Bs are extremely popular throughout the United States, and within California, especially in the north of the state. Most cluster in such scenic areas as the Wine Country, Gold Country, North Coast, and Monterey Peninsula. Situated in such beautiful rural settings, they do a thriving business with city dwellers in search of a romantic or peaceful weekend retreat. In fact, intimate inns are even popping up in large cities to compete with hotels.

Converted from mansions and farmhouses with 5 to 15 rooms, these inns offer the traveler a highly individual experience; no two inns are alike, and, in most inns, no two rooms are alike. For those accustomed to the uniformity of hotels and motel chains, the inns provide a lovely alternative. However, many inns have shared bathrooms and only a few have televisions or telephones situated in the rooms. Most, though, do include breakfast with the price of the room, hence the name.

Prices vary greatly, but unlike in Europe, they tend to be fairly expensive. Call or email in advance – the inns are very popular on weekends and in summer.

For B&B information, contact the California Association of Bed & Breakfast Inns ...