California
in United States

Tucked along Northern California’s wild coast, Mendocino County is where redwoods meet the Pacific. Mist drifts through quiet coves and over vineyard hills, while artists, winemakers, and wanderers make their homes among the cliffs. Days move slowly here—spent hiking forest trails, sipping cool-climate Pinot, or watching the sun disappear into the sea.

Fantastic food, drink and the most stunning views are only a few of the reasons to visit Ojai. Just 80 miles northwest of Los Angeles and 30 miles east from Santa Barbara, Ojai is the spot to soak up some local Cali vibes. Tucked away in the valley amongst the Topatopa Mountains it's an oasis of peace, but don't fret there's still plenty to see and do. 

Built on glamour and good weather, and both are still very much intact. The grid of midcentury modern houses is genuinely worth exploring on foot, and the restaurants keep things lively after dark. Every April the Coachella Valley hosts one of the world's most iconic music festivals, drawing crowds from across the globe to the desert floor. It is an odd, beautiful corner of America that rewards a slow pace.

California at its most effortlessly liveable. The weather is so consistently good it barely warrants mentioning, the Pacific is warm enough to swim in for most of the year, and the city spreads across a series of distinct neighbourhoods that each have their own texture: North Park with its craft breweries and independent restaurants, La Jolla with its coves and cliffs and the kind of light that makes painters move here permanently, the Gaslamp Quarter where the Victorian architecture has been preserved with more success than most. The fish tacos at a counter in Ocean Beach are as good as the food gets in California, which is saying something. Tijuana is twenty minutes south by trolley for those who want to push the eating further. San Diego does not shout. It simply continues, agreeably, to be one of the finest places to spend time on the west coast.