2025's 8 Most Scenic California Towns
California lures travelers year-round with landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hollywood sign. Beyond the city beaches expand diverse landscapes, including deserts, mountains, iconic state parks like Yosemite, and the coastal redwoods. Whether you're exploring SoCal from Los Angeles or NorCal from San Francisco, these towns transport you from the organized havoc into wild scenery.
Each, a golden standard for the state, offers a unique slice and set of experiences for every taste and group. Morro Bay peels off perfect waves for surfers, while those who enjoy convenience for a weekend escape go surfing in Coronado in view of the San Diego skyline. Mendocino is a reflective experience in a tranquil town by the rugged coast. If you're a nature lover, consider these eight towns for your next California getaway.
Aptos
Aptos is a versatile playground in SoCal at the crossroads of forests, rolling hills, and vineyards. There is no shortage of ways to engage all five senses, like the secluded Potbelly Beach, with vacation homes and eucalyptus-topped bluffs, for swimming and walks. Rio Del Mar Beach draws swimmers and picnickers with scenic ocean views and proximity to all the restaurants. As a college town made up of several sleepy villages, the quieter summers distinguish Aptos as a favorite San Jose escape.
Presiding over Monterey Bay white sand beaches, the laid-back New Brighton State Beach is framed by pine and oak trees and striking bay views, with a woodsy campground on a bluff. The parkland at the heart, Vienna Woods Trailhead, teems with wildlife, springtime flowers, and sparkling ocean through a redwood forest, perfect for a hike or mountain biking. Between its stone staircase and a 1929 shipwreck, Seacliff State Beach is ideal to catch the dropping fireball along the wooden pier.
Arcata
Whether you're after a quiet beach escape or adventures, Arcata promises a nature-centered getaway against a nostalgic backdrop from "Jurassic Park," which was shot in the nearby Fern Canyon. Just a hop from the Pacific beaches and coast, it is a bird sanctuary and the northern end of the Arcata to Eureka Bike Trail. Minutes away, Mad River Beach County Park is a sandy beach with grassy dunes and opportunities for swimming, combing, boating, and fishing at the river mouth, plus an RV park.
As another college town, summertime quaintness is part of Arcata's charm, with serene trails through Redwood Park and picnic tables amongst giant redwoods. Between the Mad River and the bay, many enjoy kayaking and canoeing, plus camping amid redwoods on the eastern shore of Arcata Bay. Arcata Community Forest is an expansive regional park with a trail network known for its peaceful atmosphere to explore bucolic landscapes with your dog and picnics beneath soaring redwoods.
Calistoga
Welcoming visitors with bright red signage, Calistoga is all kinds of tempting beyond the obvious in California's wine country. Beneath sunny skies that produce plump, juicy grapes, the nature trails lead to award-winning wineries and the farthest inland coast redwoods. Whether you're here for the falltime harvest, including fruit orchards, or a summertime camping trip, the Tuscan countryside vibes frame your explorations of scenic vineyards, historic sites, and a 14th-century-style castle, which is both.
Bothe-Napa Valley State Park offers picnic tables, BBQ grills, and dog-friendly campsites to get settled and start exploring. Take the winding trail south through Petrified Forest, a sightseeing adventure to giant petrified redwoods by a volcano 3 million years ago, perfect for photos. Calistoga's Old Faithful Geyser of California is backdropped by palms and mountains, nothing like Wyoming, and erupts regularly in a captivating spectacle, with a scenic garden for strolls and locally produced gifts on-site.
Coronado
Just a few minutes away from San Diego, Coronado both retains its own character and, not surprisingly, takes after America's Finest City. With wintertime averages of 70 degrees and a stack of sun-drenched beaches, it would be sinful not to enjoy the outdoors every waking minute on the easiest getaway. Accessible via one of the state's most beautiful bridges, this elegant barrier island is a real sensory retreat to discover through oceanfront parks and sunset dining.
Just across the bay, you can surf and jet ski against a slew of Victorian homes lining the coast or the best San Diego skyline views in the state. The landlubbers enjoy Instagram-worthy views from Coronado Ferry Landing, along the pier, or from Point Loma, with frolicking dolphins and sea lions. Heading south, the marina-adjacent Silver Strand State Beach will hold you captive between the ocean and bay shorelines for fishing, swimming, and picnicking, plus an RV campground.
La Jolla
La Jolla's natural beauty shines through a lively and upscale village, caressed on three sides by the ocean. With a dramatic coastline backed by cliffs, a pine-wooded nature reserve, and Mt. Soledad, the gentle surf and migrating whales off the coast rightfully earn it the title of "the jewel" in San Diego County. Families, swimmers, and kayakers naturally migrate to the golden sands of La Jolla Shores, while Windansea is known for fierce waves, underwater reefs, and jutting rocks.
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve boasts incredible views. Acres of oceanside and blufftop trails await the explorers, with lookouts and a chance to spot bobcats and dolphins jumping in the ocean. After a morning on the trails, Torrey Pines State Beach sprawls beneath the headland, while Black's Beach is a popular clothing-optional beach along the cliffs. La Jolla Cove draws divers with quaint beach houses and access to the local seal colony via a trail along the seawall.
Laguna Beach
This iconic slice of the SoCal Riviera captures the ideal blend of sand, shore, and surf. Despite its popularity, Laguna Beach stays aloof, like its serene beaches and the striking cliffs against the vast Pacific. Table Rock Beach is a secluded sugar-white sand beach with rocky outcroppings for picnics and photoshoots. The Pirate Tower exudes timeless charm from its inception in 1926, an enchanting historical landmark amidst strewn boulders when the fog rolls thick with views from Victoria Beach.
Take the Top of the World Trail right into town, or explore the hilltop Aliso and Wood Canyons, a wildlife sanctuary with ocean views across 4,500 acres of rolling scenery and sparse trees. Niguel Botanical Preserve draws families with its dog-friendly atmosphere and a playground framed by unique flora. Crystal Cove State Park is one of the state's most sought after for a 3.2-mile beach with sandy coves and tide pools, plus 2,400 acres for hiking and biking, like El Moro Canyon Trail, worth the hype.
Mendocino
Backed by the national forest, no other town has as much enigma in capturing NorCal's diverse natural beauty. Mendocino is defined by its jutting westward-facing headlands in the surrounding wine country and the densely packed redwood forest towering over. Hours from an urban center, the tranquil town induces relaxation. From the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens for a family outing to nightly skygazing at a blufftop campsite, the rugged shores teem with iridescent jellyfish.
There is a beach scene for all, like the secluded Portuguese Beach on a misty morning or Big River Beach at Mendocino Headlands State Park, popular for picnicking and sunbathing, where the rolling fog adds to the mystique. Whether hiking a headland with dramatically beating waves beneath the cliffs or watching the crashing blue surf from a beach, the sailing ships and sites like the early-20th-century Point Cabrillo Light Station at sunset take the scenery from pretty to epic.
Morro Bay
Morro Bay is one of the state's most scenically charged seaside getaways just off Highway 1 on the Central Coast. Morro Rock, a volcanic monolith, echoes with mysticism through the millennia before guiding generations of fish captains home. One can only guess at the storms it has faced, peeling off perfect waves. Rising deep from the sea, the rolling morning fog makes it appear to be floating like a ghostly figure. Unassuming wildlife also enjoys this coastal stretch, with seals and otters along the estuary.
Since then, Morro Rock has inspired countless visitors with imposing views from Morro Strand State Beach while picnicking, fishing, windsurfing, and kite flying. Enjoy views strolling the Embarcadero or circle the salt-rimmed giant in a kayakâit guards fresh oyster beds, and sea birds use it as a landing strip. Whether you're surfing or sunbathing in the shadow, the westward-facing shore offers out-of-this-world sunsets along the coastal trails or while indulging in the freshest California catch.
Final Thoughts
Prepare your swimsuits, hiking gear, and a camera for postcard views in the dynamic scenery of California's small towns. The moody coastline changes the vibes by the hour, from the misty mornings to the sun-drenched wine country and the beaches in SoCal.
Want to escape or dive deep on vacation? Coronado is a hop from San Diego, while Mendocino offers the moody, uncanny, and transformative NorCal coastline. Each shining through natural beauty is a unique slice of the state that will have you asking, Is this real?
