California Weekend Getaways Index

Active families who enjoy water sports can have a ton of fun in their own floating house on the river.

The Sacramento Delta is Popular For: Water play of all kinds and a houseboat makes a good base to do it all from.

The Delta is within 200 miles of Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose.

Perhaps better known for agriculture than tourism, Salinas is the birthplace of author John Steinbeck and home of the museum built in his honor. In Salinas, you can take a tour to learn more about the area's agricultural bounty, visit a working farm or spend the night at a safari-style bed and breakfast with some very unusual breakfast servers.

Salinas is Popular For: Family outings and driving tours. Steinbeck's fans flock to the Steinbeck Center, and the city hosts a big air show and rodeo every year.

Salinas is within 200 miles of Bakersfield, Fresno, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose.

San Diego is the sunniest coastal city and offers lots of water-oriented activities. It's also home to animal-based attractions and a fun theme park based on LEGO toys. San Diego's tourist scene changes slowly, but if you've never been or haven't been there in a long time, give it a try.

San Diego also boats historic sights that include the state's first Spanish mission (1769), Old Town (and the new Gaslamp Quarter that replaced it) and a monument to the first European to explore the California coastline. Explore its fantastic past on a San Diego History Getaway

San Diego is Popular For: Family outings, outdoor recreation and beach play.

San Diego is Within 200 Miles of Bakersfield, Los Angeles and Orange County.

This tasty mix of popular tourist attractions and the real city behind the tourist facade will have you planning a return trip lickety-split.

strong>San Francisco is Popular For: Family outings, romantic getaways, great food - and the arts

San Francisco is Within 200 Miles of Fresno, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento and San Jose.

One of California's most popular cities is also one of its least expensive places for a weekend getaway if you know how to do it. With our suggestions, you can have a great time and you won't be sleeping in a shoe box or eating at a fast food joint to do it.

San Francisco is Popular For: Family outings, romantic getaways, driving tours, cuisine - and the arts.

San Francisco is an oft-repeated backdrop for films of all kinds. Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope Studios are here (in the oddly-shaped building at Kearny and Columbus), as is Lucasfilm (in the Presidio). Unfortunately, neither give tours, but for any film lover with a good visual memory, walking around town is like one big movie tour, anyway.

San Francisco is Popular for: Film festivals (they have dozens), film sites and it has one of the state's finest movie houses, too.

Japantown is a unique cultural opportunity, one of only a few Japantowns in the continental United States, along with Japantown in Los Angeles and San Jose. And you can be there all weekend without taking your car out of the garage.

Japantown San Francisco is Popular for: Shopping, exploring Japanese culture, relaxing at a Japanese-style bath house.

Santa Barbara is sometimes called the American Riviera. It's a pretty town, with white-washed, red-tile-roofed buildings draped over the hillsides, a protected bay and a south-facing beach that all conspire to give it some of the most pleasant weather on the California coast.

Santa Barbara is Popular For: Romantic getaways, beaches, outdoor recreation, biking and shopping

Santa Barbara is within 200 miles of Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernardino and San Diego. Santa Barbara has a small commercial airport or try LAX.

Santa Cruz sits at the north end of the Monterey Bay and is home to the largest surviving oceanfront amusement park in California. It's a cozy town with a lively music scene, extraordinary natural beauty and a laid-back ambiance that makes it easy to relax. On summer weekends, Highway 17 going toward Santa Cruz is choked with cars heading for the beach, but the rest of the year, it's less crowded and more fun.

Santa Cruz is Popular For: Family outings, outdoor recreation, surfing, boating and shopping. In the winter, monarch butterflies congregate on the trees near Natural Bridge.

Santa Cruz is within 200 miles of Fresno, Reno/Tahoe, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Jose.

The Santa Ynez Valley may have gained attention as the setting for the film Sideways, but it was a great place to visit long before that. Separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Santa Ynez Mountains, it's a wide, scenic valley with a distinctively rural feel - a perfect place for a Sunday drive or a relaxing weekend.

The Santa Ynez Valley is Popular For: Wine tasting, shopping, driving tours and outdoor activities. Its cute little towns are a great romantic getaway idea, too.

The Santa Ynez Valley is within 200 miles of Los Angeles, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara. It's less that 300 miles from San Diego or San Francisco.