How can you pass up on a town with a population of 18?! We pretty much visit Harmony on every trip to the Central Coast because it's just too cute. They have live glass blowing, and you can even pick up some of their custom glass pieces. Be sure to bring your wallet, though! Right across the street is a custom pottery store. Pick yourself up a beautiful one-of-a-kind coffee mug. We own several of them! And Harmony also has an ice cream truck during the day. Do I need to say more?
Morro Rock is an iconic must-see on your trip to the Central Coast. Take a walk along the beach and check out the sites. There are a ton of cute little shops to pop into in Morro Bay, too. It's one of our favorite places to hit along the coast.
The BEST clam chowder we've ever had is here. Is it worthy of making a list of things you should see/do while in the area? For sure. Also, as a kid who grew up watching Bugs Bunny cartoons, who hasn't wanted to visit Pismo Beach?
When he was in college, Paul would go surfing here daily. And when there was a particularly large storm surge, he would take his surfboard onto the pier and jump into the surf from the end of the pier. It's amazing he's survived so long.
This is the mansion of the eccentric publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst. The grounds feature beautiful views of the ocean and surrounding hills. There are multiple tours offered at the castle. I don't think you could go wrong with any of the tours. We highly recommend checking this place out. This was actually a stop along our very first couple getaway weekend together.
Specifically, we are referring to the "Elfin Forest Natural Area Trail." This is a super easy, 1-mile loop hike that is super pretty! We stumbled upon this hike while visiting the Central Coast to tour our venue for the first time. We were very pleasantly surprised by how pretty this hike, with it's pygmy oak trees, turned out. If this trail isn't up your alley, download the free app AllTrails to find a hike more your speed.
You can't visit the Central Coast without checking out some of the local wines. Shockingly, we're big fans of Wolff's Vineyards Chardonnay. We don't even like Chardonnay, so you should probably give this one a try.
Your trip to the Central Coast would not be complete without sampling some micro brews. Here's one to sample!
Montana de Oro has beautiful sandstone cliffs and sand dunes framing the beach. Our experience here is that it's not super heavily traveled because it's a little out of the way, making it a favorite if you want to avoid crowds. Also, if it looks familiar, it's because we took some of our engagement pictures here!
We found this little gem on our last trip to the Central Coast. Grab yourself some tatchos (tater-tot nachos for those not in the know) to enjoy while sampling the brews.
These are the famous Pismo Beach sand dunes where you can go off-road adventuring right near the water.