In California, it's the in-between places that are often the most beguiling. There's incredible beauty at almost every turn here, with gorgeous towns and cities tucked in valleys, perched atop mountains and overlooking sweeps of golden sand. From colourful beach towns that seem to have hopped straight from a postcard to enclaves nestled by the lakeshore, we’ve narrowed down the state's 30 most beautiful towns and cities.
This ranking is based on the opinions of our well-travelled experts and, as is always the case with such things, deeply subjective. Read on to see the best of California's lesser-known gems...
The spindly trees and surreal, boulder-strewn landscapes of Joshua Tree National Park are better known than the desert towns dotted nearby – but places like Pioneertown are changing that. It was founded as an Old West movie set in the 1940s and more recently has become known for hip hangouts and hippy vibes.
The saloon-style structures are set off by the dusty, desert surroundings.
It’s the architecture that makes this former mining camp, in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, really stand out. The entire city is a historical landmark with rows of pastel-hued Victorian buildings on narrow, gently sloping streets against a backdrop of forested hillsides.
Landmarks include the Art Deco-style City Hall, a Neoclassical firehouse and Nevada Theatre, the oldest existing theatre building in the state.
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Many people come to Petaluma for the food – the Sonoma town overflows with incredible farm-to-table restaurants that draw from the area’s abundant produce (and delicious wines). But they might just as reasonably come for the architecture and setting, with those restaurants, wine-tasting rooms, craft breweries and cafés tucked in small squares, down narrow lanes and inside historic buildings and warehouses.
The location, on the banks of the Petaluma River, surrounded by dairy farms and with wineries on the doorstep, helps too.
Ferndale looks like it’s scooped up all the gorgeous, pastel-hued Victorian homes or Painted Ladies of San Francisco and placed them in neat rows along its palm-studded streets. The Victorian town, north of the famous Bayside city, has a privileged position between two redwood forests and close to the ruggedly beautiful Lost Coast. But it’s those elegant and ornate homes that make it so very pretty.
Its Main Street is a parade of colourful buildings, many now home to art galleries and cute boutiques.
Downtown Napa hasn’t always been a desirable destination, but revitalisation over the past decade or so has turned it into a beauty in its own right. The city itself is small, but packed with all the good stuff, including restaurants, wine-tasting rooms and hotels inside 19th-century buildings like the Historic Napa Mill.
It’s arranged on either side of the Napa River, a chocolate-brown squiggle that weaves through Oxbow Preserve.
This historic railroad town is in a pretty idyllic spot. Its downtown is charming, with early 20th-century buildings that now have boutiques and eateries. But it’s the vistas of mountains and forests at every turn, and the surrounding natural beauty, that really elevates Dunsmuir.
Its Botanical Gardens burst with colourful blooms, while the broad cascade of Mossbrae Falls (pictured), flowing into the Sacramento River, is among the state’s most beautiful.
Cambria combines the old-fashioned charms of a pretty village with the sweeping, stunning beauty of the coast. Its downtown is row upon row of labyrinthine antiques shops, speciality food stores, wine-tasting rooms, restaurants and stores selling handcrafted jewellery and soaps.
A short walk away, Cambria’s pocket of the Pacific coast includes Abalone Cove, overlooked by clapboard houses, and Moonstone Beach, a glorious sweep of sand backed by parkland with a boardwalk.
Old Town Eureka seems to belong to another century – and it does, in a way. Its streets are lined with Victorian townhouses and mansions in colours from buttercup yellow to magenta.
Among the most famous is Carson Mansion, a green giant built by lumber baron William Carson, and its sister property, The Pink Lady. Woodley Island, home to a marina and Table Bluff Lighthouse, is also part of the town, accessed by a bridge across the bay.
Paso Robles, halfway between LA and San Francisco, is known for its 300-odd wineries and natural hot springs. But the downtown area is lovely too. Red-brick and Renaissance-Revival buildings surround grassy Downtown City Park, where free concerts are often performed from the bandstand.
The original buildings are home to restaurants, wine-tasting rooms, antiques stores and shops selling a mix of local crafts, artisan food and souvenirs. The surrounding scenery of vine-striped hills studded with centuries-old oak trees is dreamy too.
Perched high in the Cuyamaca Mountains, Julian has a crisp, alpine feel that’s a world away from one of its nearest neighbours, San Diego. Yet it still has that classic California atmosphere, from its outdoorsy vibes to its pioneering spirit.
The historic mining town has become something of an artists’ enclave and its centre is home to galleries and studios alongside cafés and bakeries serving up its signature apple pie, made with fruit from local orchards. The surrounding forested valleys – and nearby Lake Cuyamaca – make it all the prettier.
This cute beach town is a little down the coast from Santa Barbara and it has much of the bigger city’s charm in a pocket-sized package. Its main attraction is the long sweep of sand, with restaurants and beach boutiques clustered nearby.
Other cute and colourful shops and pubs are scattered around the town, while parks and nature reserves stretch along the oceanfront. Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve, home to harbour seals and rich birdlife, is a highlight.
Perched right by the ocean on one of the world’s most famously beautiful stretches of road, the Pacific Coast Highway, this tiny town could win beauty pageants on the basis of its views alone. Throw in a chain of soft, burnished-gold beaches backed by sandstone cliffs, forested hills and mountains and Half Moon Bay – around 30 miles (48km) south of San Francisco – is almost embarrassingly pretty.
All life revolves around the beach in this laid-back surf town along California's Central Coast. The broad pier, popular with walkers, joggers and cyclists, follows its curves, while pros and beginners launch boards into the waves. The occasional surfing dog can be spotted too.
The downtown streets, stretching parallel to the coastline, are home to historic theatres, craft breweries and second-hand bookstores, and it’s all overseen by the glorious Botanical Gardens, landscaped into the hills.
Big Bear Lake is known for its ski resort, but it’s gorgeous all year round. Life centres around the lake itself, which is surrounded by slopes, forest and mountains. Its main commercial hub, Big Bear Lake Village, is also perfectly pretty with boutiques, gift shops and restaurants.
The Big Bear burros (donkeys) add even more charm; no one’s really sure whether they’re the descendants of escapees from movie sets or farm animals, but they’re now protected as a beloved part of the area’s wildlife.
This laid-back town is a real gem on the Central Coast. Everything seems to come together perfectly, from the bluff-backed beach that gazes out to prime whale-watching territory to the natural hot springs that feed local spas.
Its colourful seafront is a stretch of cute cafés and restaurants with outdoor tables designed for sunset viewing. Around the corner from its pier, the rugged coastline, populated by grunting sea lions, continues to Point St Luis Lighthouse.
Santa Catalina Island, a short hop from California’s southern coast, has long been a playground for the rich and famous – and even the not-yet famous, with Marilyn Monroe working at a taffy store here back when she was just Norma Jeane. The resort city of Avalon is at its heart, with its cabana-lined beach and Art Deco Catalina Casino, home to a ballroom and museum.
Adding to its beauty are the mountain backdrop, streets with independent galleries and shops, hillside homes and decorative tiles.
This compact city is Californian coastal charm distilled, which is apt considering this marks the official start of the state’s famed Pacific Coast Highway or Highway 1. Its harbour is a charmingly ramshackle mix of open-sided cafés, seafood restaurants, souvenir shops and clothing stores, while fishing boats and whale-watching cruises depart from the marina. It’s beguiling whether viewed close-up or from one of the many overlooks up in the bluffs.
Right at the northern end of the Pacific Coast Highway, Fort Liberty (known as Fort Bragg until 2023) was founded as a garrison before the Civil War. Today visitors are more likely to encounter a craft beer store or a quirky gallery. Aside from its small but characterful main street, this town is all about the incredible views.
From iconic Pudding Creek Trestle (pictured) to beaches backed by cliffs and redwood forests, this is some of the most spectacular scenery in the state. Glass Beach, named due to the smooth, colourful pebbles of sea glass washed on its shores, is a highlight.
This OC beach town is known as Surf City USA and it has long been a hub for all things breaks and boards, with the first US Open of Surfing held here in 1959. Its stretch of sand still attracts both beginners and pros and there’s a definite surfer vibe at the bars, restaurants and hotels.
But there’s much more to Huntington Beach than catching waves. The sand is soft as caster sugar and the spindly stilts of the iconic pier create a gorgeous backdrop that looks especially beautiful at sunset.
St. Helena is home to some of the Napa Valley’s most historic vineyards and that alone would be enough to put it high on our list. Its downtown matches up to the elegance of those grand chateaux, though, with tree-studded pavements stretching alongside rows of gorgeous boutiques, bistros and bookstores.
It’s been dubbed Napa Valley’s Main Street thanks to its easy walkability, relaxed vibe and abundance of shops. Landmark buildings include the Culinary Institute of America, occupying a former winery, and the 19th-century Richie Block building.
It’s tough to imagine a much more beautiful setting than that enjoyed by this small town, right on the shores of the vast, bold blue of Lake Tahoe and backed by mountains. Streets are lined with galleries, cafés and laid-back restaurants, and brightened with baskets of blooms in summer.
In winter, when snow blankets the surrounding slopes and dusts the downtown, it’s as pretty as a just-shaken snow globe.
Locals call it 'SLO' and it’s easy to see why: surroundings like these inspire a languid, luxurious pace of life. Once described by Oprah Winfrey as the happiest place in North America, San Luis Obispo has it all, really. It’s close to sandy beaches, surrounded by vineyards and sheltered by a string of volcanic peaks, the Nine Sisters.
Its compact downtown streets are lined with wine bars, craft breweries and restaurants with patios by the creek, alongside shops that sell all kinds of pretty things from chic clothing to artwork inspired by local landscapes.
Laid-back Calistoga, at the northern tip of Napa Valley, lies right at one end of Highway 29, which winds and wiggles its way past some of the region’s loveliest wineries and most gorgeous scenery. It’s had something of a polish recently too, with old motels being revamped and hip wine-tasting rooms moving in.
The downtown is little more than one street but everything is just-so, from cute cafés to restaurants and bookstores designed to get lost in. There are also spas, drawing from the area’s natural thermal springs and volcanic mud.
Even the sun seems to favour this cute, hippy (and hip) town, located around 90 miles (145km) north of Los Angeles. Each evening it kisses the Topatopa Mountains – a grey-green range that provides the town’s scenic backdrop – and washes it in a soft, peachy pink. There’s even a local term for this natural spectacle: the 'pink moment'.
The town itself is oh-so-pretty too, with early 19th-century Spanish Mission Revival architecture housing independent stores, galleries and wellness centres.
California’s wine country is dotted with delightful towns, but Healdsburg must be a contender for the most charismatic, and perhaps the most beautiful too. Its boutiques, farm-to-fork restaurants and wine-tasting rooms are arranged around a perfectly manicured town square, with ornamental trees (including redwoods) dotted around the plaza.
The perfect, pocket-sized town lights up in the evening, with the surrounding wineries adding to the serene beauty of it all.
Capitola began life as a tented camp by the shore of Monterey Bay and it’s now the quintessential California beach resort. Homes in colours from turquoise and teal to peach and pistachio overlook the horseshoe-shaped beach, where people often gather (with local pizza) to watch the sunset.
Steps from the sand, the compact downtown is all cute gift stores and wine bars. Capitola is just six miles (10km) from Santa Cruz, where even more colour is waiting along the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk with its candy-hued amusement park rides.
Morro Rock, a big volcanic rock and this small town’s most famous icon, embodies many of the characteristics that make Morro Bay so lovely: it’s beautiful, craggy, historic and charming. But this beach town has more to it.
There are the soft, pale gold beaches, the strip of waterfront restaurants and shops, and the estuary, whose marshes and mudflats are home to rich birdlife. Then there are the most beguiling residents of all: the furry sea otters, generally spotted floating on their backs in the sheltered harbour.
Cities don’t come much prettier than Carmel, one of the most popular stops along the Pacific Coast Highway. Its centre is a broad, Parisian-style boulevard with rows of fancy boutiques, cosy little bistros and wine bars, with neatly planted trees and blooms adding more gorgeousness to the scene.
Then there’s Carmel Beach (pictured), known for pale, soft sand and lovely, lilac-tinged sunsets, and the town’s famous fairytale cottages. The 17-Mile Drive – a scenic route that weaves past more beaches, harbour seal colonies and cypress trees – is just north of the centre.
It’s hard to fathom how there could be a prettier place than San Francisco – but this beauty across the bay somehow manages to outshine its bigger neighbour. On the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge, Sausalito is small and stunningly lovely. With white and pastel-hued homes clinging to the hillside and a stretch of waterfront shops and restaurants jutting into the bay, it looks and feels like it belongs on the French Riviera.
The small community of colourful floating homes (house boats) adds extra interest too.
No prizes for guessing why we've ranked this place number one on our list. Solvang is almost too pretty to be real: its streets and squares are home to windmills, open-all-year Christmas shops and diner-style restaurants. The Danish community was settled in 1911 and its architecture, from cute cottages to the Bethania Lutheran Church, speak to its heritage.
Fans of Sideways might recognise Solvang as one of main locations, and the cult 2004 road-trip (and wine-glugging) movie hugely boosted attention on the cute town, a gateway to the wineries of the Santa Ynez Valley.