The Central Coast includes some of the classic tourist country of California – particularly the scenic version of the drive (or train ride) from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The Spanish colonialists traveled along the Central Coast – roughly on the route of Highway 1 – and created missions at Santa Cruz, San Juan Bautista, Carmel, Soledad, Jolon, San Miguel,San Luis Obispo, Lompoc, Solvang, Santa Barbara, and San Buenaventura (Ventura). Depending on what you count as Central Coast, the area has about half of the state's missions.
Much of the Central Coast is agricultural, with an emphasis on crops that flourish in relatively cool, coastal climates – such as artichokes and strawberries. In recent years, land has increasingly been converted to grape growing, especially in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. The Santa Barbara County wine country was made famous, or infamous, in the movie Sideways. Fishing was once an important part of the regional economy, but has receded greatly. There is still oil production off the coast of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, but activity is greatly below previous levels.
Tourism is a critical industry, particularly on the Monterey Peninsula and around Santa Barbara. The temperate Central Coast has also been known as a retirement area, particularly for people from Los Angeles.
Population in the Central Coast is concentrated in a series of small-medium sized cities, only two of which exceed 100,000. The cities include Monterey, fast growing Salinas (a few miles inland), Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Maria, and Santa Barbara. Santa Cruz city and county are sometimes considered part of the Central Coast, but they have become increasingly tied to Silicon Valley (Santa Clara County), which many Santa Cruzans commute to. Ventura County, at the southern end of the Central Coast, is classified by the Census Bureau as part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, and commuter train service to LA is available.
Given its relatively small population (about 2 million of California's almost 37 million), the Central Coast has a large number of colleges. There are University of California branches at Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, each of which strongly shapes the character of its city. California State Polytechnic Institute (Cal Poly) is the mainstay for the city of San Luis Obispo. There are newer state colleges at Ventura and at Fort Ord, a converted military base in Monterey County.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Central Coast (California)
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Central Coast (California) - updated May 2024
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Central Coast (California) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
