Travel special: The Golden 15

Yosemite and Disneyland? Sure. But you haven't seen the real
California until you've visited these 15 places. We dare you to disagree.

PHOTO galleries

Top 15 destinations in California

California's best:
honorable mentions

California for beginners: must-see spots

(Cheyenne Rose / Lonely Planet Images)

Get Golden

By Christopher Reynolds

There's no place like home. So explore California like a native. Here's our checklist of not-so-obvious but oh-so-essential sites. But tell us -- are we nuts?

Today, with full expectation of howling dissent and snorts of derision, we present the Travel section's first California Golden 15. We, your neighbors, do so as the holiday travel season approaches and as distant strangers peddle their compendiums of places you should visit before you die. These are 15 places we think you must visit to grasp the wonder of this state.

This is not California for beginners -- not Disneyland, not Hearst Castle, not the San Diego Zoo, not even Sutter's Mill. (Those and 11 other basic must-see destinations get their own sidebar; see below.) This is the California that speaks to the seasoned native and the thoughtful newcomer, the California that waits beyond the well-explored city limits of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.
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The Lists

The Golden 15

1. National Steinbeck Center

2. The Cold Spring Tavern

3. Coronado Beach, with grunion running

4. Sandpiper Golf Club

5. Hidden Valley

6. Thousand Island Lake

7. Sea Ranch

8. Tomales Bay

9. Montana De Oro State Park

10. Little Petroglyph Canyon

11. The Baths At Esalen

12. California Highway 46

13. General Grant Tree

14. The Inn On Mt. Ada

15. Drakesbad Guest Ranch

For detailed information on each of these places, click here. Map

15 California musts for beginners

1. Badwater

2. Carmel

3. Disneyland

4. Hearst Castle

5. Lake Tahoe

For the complete list and detailed information, click here.

15 best and worst of California

1. Best beach: Coronado Beach (San Diego County)

2. Best bed-and-breakfast: The Simpson House in Santa Barbara

3. Best big-city destination: San Francisco

4. Best big-city airport (for getting away on time): It's San Diego's Lindbergh Field.

5. Worst big-city airport (for getting away on time): San Francisco airport

For the complete list and detailed information, click here.

Honorable mentions on the California to-do list

1. Shields Date Gardens

2. Museum of Jurassic Technology

3. Borrego Palm Canyon

4. The beach, Cayucos

5. Ojai Avenue

6. Green Gulch Farm Zen Center

7. The Gamble House in Pasadena

8. Abalone Cove Shoreline Park

9. Harris Ranch Inn and Restaurant

10. Mono Lake

11. Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace

12. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

13. The Victorian Inn

14. Glass Beach

15. The Café at Chez Panisse (upstairs)

For detailed information on each of these places, click here.