It’s winter in California, meaning the once-golden hills are now a pleasant green; the night arrives agonizingly early; and the stream of traffic between Tahoe and the Bay Area is pretty much continuous. Still, when it comes to getting away, there’s a lot to choose from. From snowy ski destinations to beach paradises, California, as usual, offers pretty much whatever you want.
We’ve put together a short curated “guide to guides” for those looking to get away — but not too far away — to California’s winter wonderlands. Here’s our guide to weekend trips from the Bay Area that don’t require a lot of dough or planning.
If you want to go somewhere that you can’t normally experience without dodging tourists:
Two words: Big. Sur. This is your chance to stake out that perfect shot of McWay Falls without waiting for 20 tourists to clear the shot. The trick is just to check the weather first: it can get rainy in the winter, but when it’s sunny, it’s often in the mid-60s.
Jennifer Maerz wrote the ultimate guide to Big Sur; alternatively, for a more free-form visual tour of the area, check out Ruthie Brownfield’s stunning photos of the region’s people and landscapes.
And if you’re driving down the coast, you might want to stop by Año Nuevo, since it’s elephant-seal birthing season. “From early December through the beginning of March, you can see these massive, two-ton pinnipeds give birth to their pups, take care of them for a few months, mate again and swim back out to sea,” writes Liv Combe in her guide to winter road trips.
If you want to get off the beaten path:
All the California Delta towns are both warmer and sunnier than the rest of the Bay Area. Also, this is a bit of an unusual vacation in terms of NorCal destinations: the Delta towns are a slice of Americana just past the zone of control of the Bay Area’s liberal urbanites. As Chrissy Loader writes,
You might look out through your dusty windshield, rub your eyes and imagine that you’re in another state — maybe even somewhere in the South. You’ll see a vast agricultural area with neat orchards, the occasional silo, farm stands and decaying farmhouses with ramshackle barns. You’ll travel over the sparse and lonely river levees and take one of the last remaining delta car ferries. You can visit towns in the delta that have taxidermy biker bars, bait shops, rickety houseboats and docks where trucker hats and NRA signs are heartfelt and sincere.
Read her full guide to the Delta here.
If you want to do as winter does:
If it’s winter sports you crave, Tahoe is still the place to go. Sure, everbody does it — but it’s big and reliably snowy, and can certainly handle all the Bay Area ski and snowboard traffic. Suzanne Barnecut, a former local, catalogues her favorite destinations in Tahoe for any season here. And as far as winter-only guides go, 7x7’s Ben Davidson wrote the best guide to Tahoe on a budget.
If you don’t feel like traveling and just want to go somewhere new in SF or the East Bay:
Well, first, there’s this guide to all the places you can hike in San Francisco. If you’re feeling more like having an indoorsy adventure, we also have a guide to the best museums to visit stoned.
Did we miss your favorite NorCal winter destination? Add it in the comments!
