Must visit Places in California for first time traveler?

[masterchingsinc]

Solvang California (The most european city in california that looks like it is from the EU)

[saybanana]

Devils postpile national monument

Mono Lake

Death valley (cooler Temps in winter)

[evening sun]

You need to tell us which area you are interested in. 3 days is not enough time to get around the state. For Norcal, I love Lassen Park, the mudpot there, boils hotter than Yellowstone mud pots. You can also walk though a lava tube a few miles outside the park.
But if you are going to Socal, maybe somewhere like Joshua Tree park.

But you need to give us an idea of the general area, that you want to visit.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by evening sun

You need to tell us which area you are interested in. 3 days is not enough time to get around the state. For Norcal, I love Lassen Park, the mudpot there, boils hotter than Yellowstone mud pots. You can also walk though a lava tube a few miles outside the park.
But if you are going to Socal, maybe somewhere like Joshua Tree park.

But you need to give us an idea of the general area, that you want to visit.

I'd say, that the season this trip will take place is relevant info, too. No Joshua Tree park in summer! And Yosemite is overrun in the summer, too.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by masterchingsinc

Solvang California (The most european city in california that looks like it is from the EU)

Tourist trap. And OP said they want to visit "natural landscapes". CA has plenty of that, but many are so big, you could easily spend 3 days in each one.

[ccm123]

Some good ideas, I always recommend to my out of area visitors to visit the beautiful California coastal areas by taking a drive. Santa Monica, Redondo, Malibu, Santa Barbara, Carmel, San Clemente, Santa Cruz, etc. It’s only part of the California culture, but some of the
most quintessential and beautiful, in my opinion.

Of course, there is so much to see and do here in California.

[Podo944]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

I'd say, that the season this trip will take place is relevant info, too. No Joshua Tree park in summer! And Yosemite is overrun in the summer, too.

This^ this^ this^ !!!

[wamer27]

Day one-walk San Francisco

Day two-drive west to the coast and follow it down to Santa Cruz, then north to the redwood parks in the Boulder Creek area

Day three-drive to Lake Tahoe or Yosemite or Napa

[jdavid93225]

Without knowing what region they will be visiting, this is a tough recommendation to make. The state is much too big to recommend visiting locations across various widely separated regions of the state.


My recommendation would be to focus on what the state is known for (from a nature standpoint): Coasts, Mountains, and Deserts. Each of these probably warrants at least a three-day trip by itself, and in many ways, probably should not be combined into one three-day trip.


With that said, however, if you visit the Los Angeles area, you could visit the SoCal coast somewhere between Orange and Ventura counties, the San Gabriel, San Bernardino, or San Jacinto Mountains, and perhaps Joshua Tree, Anza Borrego, or the Mojave National preserve.


On day one, I would suggest going to the Palm Springs area and visiting Joshua Tree (or elsewhere in the desert region), followed by a tram ride up Mt. San Jacinto the following day, to explore the mountains. On the third day, I'd head to the coast.


Of course these recommendations would have to be adjusted for the season if the desert is too hot, or if the mountains have too much snow. The desert is often quite beautiful in early spring, but the mountains might be nicer in early summer. Sometime in between might work for both, depending on the year. Unfortunately, that's also the time that the coast often has fog (a.k.a. "June Gloom").


If your traveler plans to return again in the future, I'd suggest focusing more on one thing this time, and recommend the other things for future visits. I'd make the recommendation of what they should see first based on the season of their visit.