California

The bright lights of Tinseltown are home to surfer-filled beaches, glorious mountain hikes, glitz and glamour in spades and year-round sunshine.

A beautiful bayside city with home-grown authenticity, charmingly unique neighbourhoods and excellent locally-driven food. Home to the magnificent red-ochre Golden Gate Bridge and the world’s most infamous prison, Alcatraz.

One of the world’s most famous bridges – a red-hued, 1.75-mile suspension bridge that spans the Golden Gate Strait, where the Pacific Ocean meets San Francisco Bay. San Francisco’s most iconic landmark.

This remote island off Baja California offers the best great white diving in the world, with almost guaranteed sightings, excellent visibility up to 40m and a pleasant water temperature of 18°C-20°C.

Giant Redwood (sequoia) trees only grow on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada, and the Sequoia National Park is home to the largest of them; the Giant Forest boasts five of the world’s tallest trees. The must-see is General Sherman, the planet’s largest tree, 83m tall and 11m wide.

The USA’s premier hiking trail stretches 211 miles from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney (4,418m), the highest peak in North America. The route takes in a stunning range of landscapes, bypassing tranquil creeks, waterfalls, sequoia forests and the jagged peaks of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

The mouse-tastic magic lives on at Walt Disney’s world-famous California theme park, the first, original Disneyland and reputably the ‘happiest place on earth’.

The drive down Highway 1 between San Francisco and LA is around 6 hours non-stop, but this region of unsurpassed coastal beauty will have you stopping and staying over. Expect dramatic craggy coastlines, dreamy ocean views, giant redwood trees, exceptional hiking, condors and whales. The stand-out stretch is the 90-mile mountainous section of the California State Route 1, between Carmel and Heart Castle – arguably the US’s most scenic drive.

A mile-and-a-half offshore in the San Francisco Bay, the most notorious escape-proof prison still sends a shiver down the spine. Book in for a tour for fascinating insights into the inmates’ lives and legends.

The indomitable heart of the movie industry, where dreams are still made. See the star-studded Walk of Fame, the Chinese Theater – where the biggest premieres still take place – and the Dolby Theater, home of the Academy Awards.