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Southern California

The rambling metropolis of Los Angeles sprawls across the thousand square miles of a great
desert basin, knitted together by an intricate network of congested freeways between the
ocean and the snowcapped mountains. Its colorful melange of shopping malls, palm trees and swimming pools is both mildly surreal and startlingly familiar, thanks to the celluloid self-image that it has spread all over the world.

If you want to explore and enjoy California to the full, you'll need journey by car. A city such
as Los Angeles couldn't exist without the automobile, and in any case to drive down the coastal freeways invites irresistible mental images of Beach Boys-style cruising. Car rental in California is among the cheapest in the country and the savings made by easy access to campgrounds and chain motels or modest hotels can easily offset the initial cost.

Relatively free from smog and byzantine freeways, San Diego, set around a gracefully curving bay, represents the acceptable face of southern California. The second biggest city in California may be affluent and conservative, but it's also easygoing and far from smug. Although it was the site of the first mission in California, the city only really took off with the arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad in the 1880s, and in terms of trade and significance it has long been in the shadow of Los Angeles. However, during World War II the US Navy made San Diego its Pacific Command Center, and the military continues to dominate the local economy, along with tourism. With its mix of laid-back libertarians and military-minded conservatives (drawn from its adjacent naval base), San Diego embodies both work-hard and play-hard lifestyles. With an easily navigable central area, scenic bay, 42 miles of beaches and plentiful parks and museums, the city is hard not to like from the moment you arrive.

Frequent Amtrak trains connect Los Angeles and San Diego , with a stop at Fullerton for buses to Disneyland, and one daily service runs up the coast from Los Angeles, stopping at Oakland and Emeryville , the nearest stations to San Francisco, and continuing via Sacramento to Seattle. Another line from Oakland runs along the Central Valley, but only connects with Los Angeles by bus. Cross-country routes leave LA for Florida (the Sunset Limited via Tucson, Houston and New Orleans) and for Chicago (the Southwest Chief daily via Flagstaff, Albuquerque and Kansas City). Oakland has its own direct service to Chicago. Foreign visitors can cut fares greatly by using the Rail Pass program. Greyhound and Green Tortoise buses link all the main cities.

For quick hops between the major cities - especially Los Angeles and San Francisco - you can't beat flying . Services are extremely frequent, and prices competitive - if your plans are flexible enough to take advantage of off-peak deals. Regular scheduled fares are high.

If you plan to do any long-distance cycling , traveling from north to south can make all the difference - the wind blows this way in the summer, and besides, you're on the right side of the road for the best views. Be careful if you cycle along the coast on Hwy-1: despite its stunning views, it has heavy traffic, tight curves and is prone to fog.

| Southern California | Southern CA Hotels |
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Dining, Restaurants, Lodging and Travel Information...
In Southern California:

| Disneyland | Catalina Island | Long Beach CA |
| Los Angeles CA | Oxnard CA | San Diego CA |
| San Luis Obispo CA |