Last year’s long birthday weekend trip featured a surprise adventure to the wine country town of Calistoga and this January saw yet another new California destination we had yet to explore: the state’s scenic Central Coast. What we found there were incredible picturesque hikes and beaches, a fun array of breweries (we went to 5!), and a surprisingly vast dune landscape that transported us to what felt like the Moroccan desert. I fell in love with the area’s laid-back vibe and coastal sights and know for certain that 3 days is not enough. If you’re hoping to explore California’s Central Coast, here are highlights from our unforgettable long weekend road trip to the often overlooked sunny destination.

Weekend in California’s Central Coast Basics

• Location: The Central Coast spans a great deal of California’s diverse geography, with the most well-known towns being San Luis Obispo, Monterey, and Santa Barbara. For this trip, we specifically explored the towns of Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, Oceano, and a little bit of San Luis Obispo. You’ll see a slew of other town names below in our 3-day itinerary, but many of the towns are super small towns adjacent to Pismo Beach and Oceano.
• Accommodations: We stayed for 2 nights at the Pacific Plaza Hotel in Oceano, California (basically right by the border of the widely known beach town of Pismo Beach).
• Transportation: Road trip! We drove south from the Bay Area’s Berkeley, California to Pismo Beach/Oceano, which usually takes just under 4 hours. Exploring this area via car is pretty necessary, as public transportation looked sparse.
• Weather: Probably the best we could ask for in late January on the coast: around 15-20C with intermittent showers and winds.

Our Weekend on California’s Central Coast Itinerary

Central Coast Itinerary: Day 1

• Lunch at Shine Cafe (Morro Bay, CA): Our first stop on our journey to Pismo Beach/Oceano was for a delicious meal in the coastal town of Morro Bay. Neither of us are vegans, but this vegan cafe and its offerings were topnotch. Service was excellent and I would go back to the town just for their tempeh spring rolls again.

• Exploration and hiking at Montana de Oro State Park: Not far from Morro Bay lies this small state park along the Pacific featuring a historic ranch house & museum, abundant tidepool life, and gorgeous ocean views. We spent most of our afternoon strolling along their main trail overlooking the water

• Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach: Before checking into our hotel, we decided to walk through one of Pismo’s most famous attractions. Hard to spot at first (and harder on some days than others), there were thousands of fluttering monarch butterflies hanging in clusters up in the tall eucalyptus trees on the day we went. You’ll only be able to see them from October–February each year.

• First brewery stop at Manrock Brewing (Grover Beach, CA): After relaxing at our hotel for a bit, we ventured out to our first Central Coast brewery spot in Grover Beach, which is right next to Oceano. Equipped with idyllic outdoor seating and lighting, this brewery offered the best atmosphere and overall beer offerings of the 5 breweries we visited on our trip. And their $5 quesadilla is surprisingly tasty and filling!
• Dinner at Izakaya Raku (Grover Beach, CA): Our first evening meal featured Japanese cuisine at Grover Beach’s very popular Izakaya Raku. We were met with friendly service, a lively atmosphere, and fresh fish.
• Wine tasting at Sans Liege (Pismo Beach, CA): There are a number of wineries on the Central Coast so I definitely wanted to do a bit of wine tasting during a beer-heavy weekend. With an incredibly high rating online, this tasting room did not disappoint. Even though they had stopped their tastings earlier in the night, the location was surprisingly empty so the kind lady who worked there decided to provide tastings for us anyway. It was a really wonderful post-dinner experience.
• Second brewery stop at Figueroa Mountain Brewing (Arroyo Grande, CA): This was the largest of all the Central Coast breweries we visited and by far the busiest and most bustling. There was action everywhere we looked – live music echoing around the restaurant and big TV screens circling the space.

Central Coast Itinerary: Day 2

• Breakfast at Lil’Bits (Grover Beach, CA): An absolutely stellar spot to start your day! The service at Lil’Bits is over the top friendly and their food is filling and delicious. This spot seems to be a huge local favorite, as customers and employees were on a first name basis.

• Quick stop at Dinosaur Caves Park and Margo Dodd Park (Pismo Beach, CA): Sadly the Dinosaur Caves Park was under construction so we were probably here for less than 15 minutes. The two parks are side by side and are the start to a few scenic Pismo Beach hikes.

• Central Coast Aquarium (Avila Beach, CA): A very small aquarium, but provided a very unique experience nonetheless. We specifically went for their live swell shark encounter and feeding, which was pretty mesmerizing. We got to pet one of the mama swell sharks as well!

• Third brewery stop at Libertine Brewing Company (Avila Beach, CA): The town of Avila Beach totally took us by surprise with its quaint shops and eateries. We had never even heard of the town till I looked up the Central Coast Aquarium recently. Not only did it offer a range of food and activities, but also a new taproom originally from San Luis Obispo – Libertine Brewing. We really enjoyed the bright, street corner ale spot (and they offer some really great sours).

• Short jaunt to Pirate’s Cove (Avila Beach, CA): Home to some really unique coastal formations (and also a nude beach!). We only saw 2 nudes from afar though.

• Clam chowder fries at Wooly’s and a walk around Pismo Beach’s Pier & Promenade: Like any typical coastal California town, Pismo Beach offers a long pier filled with tourists, families, and fishermen. It was sprinkling that day, but there were still quite a few people enjoying the water as well. We grabbed an order of clam chowder fries, which I had never enjoyed before and it was surprisingly massive. The fries were all we needed to split between the two of us for lunch! Cheesy, creamy, and incredibly indulgent, but worth every bite.

• Oceano Dunes: The top highlight of our trip hands down. The dunes transport you straight from the California to what look like the Moroccan desert. We would’ve stayed longer if it hadn’t started raining. The perfect photo op spot.

• Fourth brewery stop at Tap It Brewing (San Luis Obispo, CA)
• Quick dinner at Oki Momo Asian Grill (San Luis Obispo, CA)
• Fifth brewery stop at Bang The Drum Brewing (San Luis Obispo, CA): This is the brewery for dog-lovers. 3 adorable pups greeted us promptly at the door and the beer offerings were great to boot. There was one beer in particular called Deez Nuts with coconut that I really enjoyed. It was raining this night, but their outdoor area looked perfect for a sunny day.

Central Coast Itinerary: Day 3

• Breakfast at Seeds (San Luis Obispo, CA): We only had half a day to spend on the Central Coast before making our way back to the Bay Area and chose this healthy and light breakfast spot for their fresh acai bowls and warm paninis. The town’s downtown area was already bustling on this MLK Day morning and it was obvious there is a lot more for us to explore.

• Brisk hike at Harmony Headlands State Park: What a hidden gem! There was barely anyone on the trail from the highway to the ocean, but what we saw at the end looked strikingly similar to the rolling green coasts of Oahu, Hawaii.

• Linn’s Easy As Pie Cafe (Cambria, CA): We camped in Cambria a few Thanksgivings ago and had to go back to Linn’s for her famous pies. Their most popular one is the unique ollalieberry pie.
• Quick lunch at Red Scooter Deli (Paso Robles, CA): I badly wanted to stop at one of Paso Robles’ many breweries and wineries before we concluded our trip, but sadly we were short on time and only could a afford to grab a quick counter service bite. Red Scooter was the perfect spot for a healthy, quick eat-in-the-car meal.

Questions or comments about California’s Central Coast? Let me know in the comments!