San Luis Obispo travel guide

Since I joined the Cal Poly Alumni Association board in 2007, we've been traveling to San Luis Obispo (SLO) three times a year every year. It's quite a treat to go back to visit Cal Poly and SLO. As we go back so much, our friends asks us for recommendations before their trips. We put together the following guide for our friends. Enjoy!

Where to Stay

• Apple Farm – If you can afford the prices (>$200/night) and likes Victorian, stay in the main hotel at Apple Farm. The rooms are beautifully decorated and well-maintained. In the evenings, the lobby offers complimentary warm cookies and hot apple cider. Horse carriage service is available for hire for a romantic evening ride around downtown; blankets and hot apple cider are provided.
• Peach Tree Inn - Older motel next door to Apple Farm. We stayed here a couple of times and will likely stay here agian. Rooms are a bit dated but clean. The complimentary continental breakfast spread is probably the nicest amongst the different motels at SLO. Hint: Rather than booking through their website, call to make your reservation. You'll be able to get a better rate.
• La Cuesta Inn - Remodeled motel across the street from Apple Farm. Nice perk: fairly new movies on DVD available to be checked out to view in room during your stay there. See my Yelp review for more info and room photos.
  
• Sands Suites & Motel – Older motel (just like all the other motels in SLO) that’s kept clean (unlike a lot of the other motels in SLO). They also tend to be reasonably priced - ~$100-120/night on weekends.
• Embassy Suites – One of the few more modern hotels in-town. Offers complimentary breakfast.
• Inn at Morro Bay - Decently priced inn at Morro Bay. Although also an older establishment, the rooms are well-maintained (nicer than Peach Tree Inn and Sands) and in a convenient location in Morro Bay. A breakfast buffet is available for charge; I'd suggest skipping it in favor of Dorn's just a few minutes away. Know though that this place is little ways away from downtown SLO so you may need to drive a little more when going to SLO, Pismo, etc.
• Pismo Lighthouse Suites – A friend of ours stayed here in April 2008. For about $350 for 2 nights (Thurs/Fri) got them 2 bedrooms/2 baths. They also have a decent size pool, ping pong tables, and human size chess in the hotel courtyard. The place is pretty clean, and right off the 101 along the ocean.

Where to Eat

• Splash Café – Address: 197 Pomeroy Pismo Beach, CA 93449 (the original) or 1491 Monterey St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 (SLO location). We prefer the location in SLO as it's less crowded than the Pismo one; they also have yummy freshly baked foccacia bread here. We sometimes buy one to bring home.
  Favorite dish: Clam chowder w/seafood topping
• Cracked Crab –
  Address: 751 Price Street, Pismo Beach, CA, 93449
  Phone: (805) 773-2722
  Favorite dish: Bucket of crabs for two
• Thai Classic –
  Address: 1011 Higuera St., San Luis Obispo, CA 93401
  Phone: (805)541-2025
  Favorite dish: Topless seafood
• Palazzo Giuseppe's –
  Address: 1010 Court Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401
  Phone: (805) 541-9922

Places to Visit

• Farmer’s market: If you're lucky to get in on a Thursday, check out the farmer's market in downtown SLO. Thursday 6-9 p.m. on Higuera in downtown San Luis Obispo.
• Guadalupe sand dunes: hiking from sand dunes out to the ocean, horseback riding, and dune-buggying
• Hiking in Montana de Oro: Just get off on Los Osos Valley Road from 101 and head all the way west towards Los Osos/Morro Bay. You’ll pass through a section of just land and not much around, pass through the town of Los Osos, and ultimately ended up in Montana de Oro (~15-20 minutes’ drive from 101). Keep driving pass the beach until you get to a trail head on the right hand side of the road. You’ll probably find a few cars parked there. Start walking from trail head. It starts amongst an area of vegetation, which will quickly turn into a short coastal hike. It’s a beautiful sight with the waves, the beaches, and the jagged layered rocks. It gets pretty windy there though, so be sure to bring a jacket.
• Kayaking & canoeing in Morro Bay or Los Osos - lots of wild life. Otters and different types of birds are seen. On our last visit, we walked all the way down the waterfront road (if you’re facing the bay, head to your right) and found an area where a bunch of sea lions gathered right underneath the pier (see video from a previous post). It’s quite sight (but definitely smelly)!
• Cave around Avila: Hidden cave/cliff around Avila Beach. Along the main road in Avila, drive up the road that’s marked “private road”, park in dirt landing area to right of the road, walk down to cave area. It’s gorgeous there at night and at sunrise (though the road is a little treacherous, and it’s a spot where some drinking parties are held.)
• Pismo Beach: kick-back in the little old beach town
• Sycamore Mineral Springs

Wineries

Drive out on 46E and 46W in Paso Robles to explore wineries. The tricky part about this highway is that 46E and 46W are at two different exits off 101 that are a little ways apart. Here’s the map: http://www.pasowine.com/wineries/map.php. It’s also fun to check out the wine tasting room in downtown SLO. They bring wines from surrounding areas (north and south) so you get to try out a bunch w/o going to the actual wineries. Here're some wineries we visited and liked.

46E

• Eberle – They have a free cave tour, super kewl. You can grab a glass of wine and proceed down to the cave tour at their scheduled times; call ahead to find out times. If you only have time to visit one winery and haven’t seen a wine cave, I recommend checking this out. Wine was not spectacular, but decent... we liked their muscat canelli.
• Firestone – It appears they offer cave tours also, though I don’t know when. We didn’t see it when we were there last time. Their late harvest Riesling is not bad.

46W

• Castoro – "Dam fine wine!" Need I say more? ;) We liked their Muscat Canelli, grape juice, and late harvest Zinfandel (great with chocolate!).

There are also wineries south of and inside San Luis Obispo. Just drive down on Broad Street.

• Edna Valley – Of the places we tried in San Luis Obispo, I prefer Edna Valley’s Sweet Edna dessert wine. The tasting room offers a breath-taking view of their fields.
• Claiborne & Churchill – The tasting room is located within the wine cellar made of straw bale…interesting view. We do like our dessert wines! Claiborne & Churchill makes a fragrant Orange Muscat.