Tips for Travelers
Responsible Travel: Responsible travel in California ensures that future generations will have access to the same Golden State experiences available today. Travel should positively contribute to local communities and embody good stewardship of the state’s natural and cultural resources, including not causing negative social, economic or environmental impacts on the destinations you visit.
Safety: Be alert and make responsible decisions about your safety when traveling. Follow all safety tips, rules and regulations provided by local authorities for your own safety and for the safety and preservation of all landmarks, attractions, parks, and ecosystems you visit. This includes staying on proper paths; not feeding or touching wildlife; obeying all traffic laws and consciously sharing the road with other motorists, cyclists and pedestrians; and vigilantly practicing fire safety.
Respect of Culture and Environment: Be tolerant and respectful of the people you meet and the environments you visit as you observe social and cultural traditions and practices. Be mindful about leaving a location the same or better than when you arrived – leave no trace of your presence and never take artifacts or natural mementos (rocks, sea glass, bottles) away from a location. Be conscious of your environmental impacts and make sustainable choices whenever possible.
Hotels & Accommodations
Otter Bar Lodge: Go off the grid and enjoy mountain biking and kayaking in one of the most remote areas of California. The Otter Bar Lodge is the only commercial establishment for miles, allowing visitors to revel in the natural beauty of native forests and the Salmon and Klamath Rivers. The Lodge generates its own power and sources local ingredients for its five star cuisine.
h2hotel: Enjoy a glass of local biodynamic wine at Spoonbar at the h2hotel, Sonoma County’s first LEED Gold certified hotel. For a decade the downtown Healdsburg hotel has been on the cutting edge of sustainability from its green roof that filters rainwater, to the sustainable bamboo flooring in the guestrooms. The hotel is committed to leaving 60 percent of its site as open space to promote biodiversity.
Evergreen Lodge: Yosemite’s Evergreen Lodge was a founding BCorps business, a company that balances people, planet and profit. The hotel, and its sister property, Rush Creek Lodge fund a youth development program and implement innovative environmental programs that include one of the state’s largest commercial grey water systems.
Hotel Valencia: Located on San Jose’s iconic Santana Row, the boutique Hotel Valencia is reducing its carbon footprint with behind-the-scenes things like an advanced ozone laundry system, biodegradable key cards and a special liquid pool blanket that reduces natural gas usage. Guests can go green when staying for two or more nights by forgoing housekeeping services for a daily minibar credit.
Portola Hotel: The LEED-certified Four-Diamond Portola Hotel brings eco-chic to Monterey County. The hotel participates in the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program and the city’s regional food scrap and composting program. Using cogeneration, the property produces its own hot water and electricity on site, and its terraced living walls grow many of the herbs the restaurant’s chef include in daily dishes.
The Oasis: In Death Valley, The Oasis resort generates more than a third of its total electricity needs using a solar PV system, while pool water in the two spring-fed pools is eventually used for a variety of things including irrigation and landscaping of the golf course. Because the property minimizes light pollution, it is designated a Gold Tier Dark Sky Park, making stargazing pretty darn amazing.
Outdoor Activities
Volunteer Vacation: With over 95 percent of its land public, Mono County is known as California’s Great Beyond. With the Inyo and Humboldt Toiyabe National Forests, Ansel Adams and Hoover Wilderness Areas and countless mountains and lakes, the landscape is a nature lover’s delight. This summer visitors can join the Friends of the Inyo and help clean up trails, streams and meadows while learning more about the wildlife and geology of the area.
Monterey Bay Aquarium: As one of the preeminent aquariums in the world, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has a plethora of programs to learn about that protect sea animals. Watch a diver hand feed sharks during the Kelp Forest Feeding, or take the Sea Otter Conservation Tour and learn more about the endangered southern sea otter. Don’t miss the Ocean Travelers Plastics Gallery, a thought-provoking display of art installations made from the trash found in our oceans.
Leave No Trace: With its pristine lake, high peaks and unspoiled landscape, the community of Big Bear has always focused on green travel urging travelers to follow the Leave No Trace principal. The community encourages visitors to carpool to the area, limit driving in town, avoid littering and support locally and independently owned restaurants and shops.
Marsh On: Torrance’s Madrona Marsh Preserve, one of the last vernal freshwater marshes in the Los Angeles area, offers free public tours to share with visitors an ecological area that contains irreplaceable biological resources. Part of the El Segundo Sand Dune System, the preserve is a mix of micro habitats that serves as an urban oasis for migrating birds on the Pacific Flyway.
Car Free Vacations
Making Tracks: Slow down, smell the roses and enjoy the beauty of the Sierras choosing to travel between the San Francisco Bay Area and Lake Tahoe via train instead of car. The Amtrak California Zephyr route between Emeryville and Truckee is one of the most scenic in the country, starting with scenic views of San Francisco Bay and the idyllic farmland of Solano and Yolo Counties. After Sacramento, the tracks make their way into the Sierra Nevada foothills, and the route offers great places like Colfax and Dutch Flat to jump off and explore before ending in Truckee at the edge of Lake Tahoe.
Car-less and Carefree in the OC: Thanks to Anaheim’s extensive public transport network it’s easy to explore Disneyland and other OC attractions without your own set of wheels. FRAN is an on-demand micro-transit system offering free rides in the Center City and the ART has over 20 routes connecting hotels and various landmarks including Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Downtown Anaheim, Santa Ana and Costa Mesa.
Urban Escape: With a dynamic urban core packed full of fun, walkable neighborhoods like Little Italy, Gaslamp Quarter and Waterfront Embarcadero, San Diego is the most pedestrian friendly city in Southern California. Use pedal power, public transport and your own two feet to explore the nation’s eighth largest city.