California – much more than sand, sea and sun

Product update by Alan Moore

California – much more than sand, sea and sun

Golden State offers new attractions

Back at the ranch: California’s dude and working ranches offer a range of facilities and activities

CALIFORNIA is noted for its laid-back lifestyle as well as beaches, shopping, restaurants, and a wide choice of theatres and theme-park attractions.

But the Golden State has more to offer visitors, including wine trails, health spas, ranch stays and high-tech tours of Silicon Valley.

Authorities such as California Tourism are beginning to include these relatively new products in their promotional campaigns.

Travel Weekly looks at some of these emerging tours and attractions.

Nothing but desert?

Palm Springs is known for its luxury spa and fitness resorts, as well as top golf and tennis facilities. But it’s not just a manicured oasis in the desert.

Fancy walking on the San Andreas Fault? Some of California’s most notorious fault lines run near Palm Springs, and local tours led by geologists take you into the unpredictable world of seismic activity and demonstrate how earthquakes have changed the face of the desert over the last 200 million years.

Jeep tours and safaris are now all the rage – the latest being a moonlight hiking expedition through canyons and trails in Palm Springs’ Coachella Valley, as well as a tented camp called Safari West.

This has been built within a nature reserve housing the camp’s collection of 350 exotic and endangered African mammals and birds.

Tour operators offer a wide range of overnight options in Palm Springs. Premier Holidays features the luxury Merv Griffin’s Resort Hotel and Spa next year from £99 per room per night based on single or double occupancy.

Ride your pony

California may not be as closely associated with ranches as Arizona or Texas, but those in the state offer the same facilities, especially the larger ranches.

One of these is the 10,000-acre Alisal Guest Ranch and Resort in the picturesque Santa Ynez Valley. It offers a 90-acre lake, swimming pool and spa, tennis courts and two 18-hole golf courses.

At the other end of the scale is the 127-acre Coffee Creek Guest Ranch about 72 miles northwest of Redding.

United Vacations features the Alisal, at £166 per person per night inclusive of all meals, activities and use of facilities.

Doing the taste test

California’s Napa Valley region is a favourite with wine lovers.

But at the Kendall-Jackson Aromatic Gardens, visitors can taste red, white and blush wines, and then take in the aromatic plants associated with the different grape varieties.

There are separate red and white “sensory gardens”, with the Cabernet section, for example, featuring associations of cherry, blackcurrant, mint and blackberry.

San Diego has less well known but equally good vineyards, offering wine tours in the Temecula and San Pasqual Valleys. A good spot to shop is the Bernardo Winery at Rancho Bernardo.

Operators including Keith Prowse Attraction Tickets feature the Napa Valley Wine Train evening tour through the vineyard country, including a meal and wines costing £62.

Other wine and outlet shopping trips are also availablefrom £28.

Cycling fans can also opt for a guided wine tour by bike.

Napa Valley: a favourite with wine lovers

A chip off the old block

Visitors to northern California may be pleased to leave their computers behind but they won’t be able to resist a peek at San Jose’s Silicon Valley, a one-hour drive south of San Francisco. The city’s visitors bureau is currently developing some technical itineraries that will be sold through tour operators only.

In the meantime, the place to be is the Tech Museum of Innovation, which moved to an expanded site in downtown San José two years ago.

The $96 million, 132,000sq ft expansion features four interactive themed galleries, an IMAX Dome Theatre, a Centre for Learning, workshops and laboratories. There is the Innovation Gallery: Silicon Valley and Beyond; Exploration Gallery: New Frontiers; Communication Gallery: Global Connections; and Life Tech Gallery: The Human Machine.