A nice place for shopping, with some nice art galleries and boutiques. Cambria is also known for the lodgings that line Moonstone Beach below town.
Cayucos is one of California's best traditional beach towns, without the tacky sea shell shops and t-shirt stores that line the streets in other places but with lots of ambience, nice restaurants and places to stay.
Morro Rock is hard to miss as you drive along Highway 1, but there's more to the town than just the big volcanic formation and the peregrine falcons that nest on it. With a protected harbor, Morro Bay is a good place for kayaking or a harbor cruise.
Rent an electric "Duffy" boat for your own personal Morro Bay harbor cruise.
Popular with locals, the Cayucos beach is wide, sandy and fairly flat, with a pretty pier in the middle. It's a good place for sand play, with lifeguards on duty in the summer and an outdoor shower in case of big messes. It's right in the middle of town so you can find food and drink without going far.
Take a Morro Bay harbor cruise or a Sunday brunch cruise on a 50-foot, two-story riverboat.
Follow Embarcadero Road along the waterfront toward Morro Rock or take the trolley to reach this multi-facted area. There's a skateboard park and small playground for the kids, good fishing and sea otter-watching off the rocky shore and a nice sandy beach opposite, where you can surf (or watch) and play in the sand. The link above takes you to a map.
Millionaire and self-indulgent rich guy William Randolph Hearst built this complex of houses on the hill above San Simeon in the 1920s and today it's one of the state's busiest tourist attractions.
Guided sea kayak tours in the Cambria area. Tours are designed for all skill levels and take place within the Southern end of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
Better known for the cozy hotels that line the road nearby, Moonstone Beach has a little of everything: an easy clifftop boardwalk that's easily accessible by wheelchair or ECV, tidepools, surfers, crashing waves and golden-colored cliffs above the rocks. There's also a restaurant right across the road with a large outdoor deck. The link above takes you to a map.
This family-owned aquarium is also a rehabilitation center for marine animals in trouble. It's a modest operation, but kids love it and your admission fees help the owners keep up their good work.
Take a Morro Bay harbor cruise on a 50-foot, two-story riverboat.
Kids love this little museum, which has lots of hands-on exhibits where they can can build a sand dune, operate nature's cycle of water and dig into the food pit to create their own food chains.
This community theatre group performs year round in pretty little auditorium with a piano bar next door that serves drinks before the show and during intermission.
This lighthouse near San Simeon is open to the public once a month.
Located 4.5 miles north of Hearst Castle, the elephant seal rookery is most interesting during breeding season, from December through February, but you'll find them hanging around at other times of the year, too.
Ride around Morro Bay in a semi-submersible boat to get a feeling of what it's like to be underwater without donning a wetsuit. This tour is especially popular with kids.
Catch rockfish, lingcod, albacore or whatever else is biting on daily fishing trips. They provide live bait in season and you can rent tackle if you need it.
