Central Coast

Understand

The Central Coast includes some of the classic tourist country of California – particularly the scenic version of the drive (or train ride) from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Spanish colonialists traveled along the Central Coast along a route called El Camino Real – roughly on the route of Highway 1 – and created missions at Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista, Carmel, Soledad, Jolon, San Miguel, San Luis Obispo, Lompoc, Solvang, Santa Barbara, and San Buenaventura (Ventura). Depending on what you count as Central Coast, the area has about half of the state's missions.