Fodors Travel Guides - Fodors Northern California 2016: With Napa, Sonoma, Yosemite, San Francisco & Lake Tahoe

Great dining is a staple of the California lifestyle, and a new young generation of chefs is challenging old ideas about preparing and presenting great food. The food-truck frenzy continues to fuel movable feasts up and down the state. You can find food-laden trucks at sports and entertainment venues, near parks and attractions, and on busy roads and boulevardsand the ensuing lines of hungry patrons.

Diners are also embracing the pop-up concept, where guest chefs offer innovative menus in unconventional settings for a limited time. These pop-up engagements are hosted anywhere from inside a warehouse to outside in a field. Visitors can look for local pop-ups listed on foodie websites such as Eater ( www.eater.com ).

California chefs continue to shop locally for produce and farmer-sourced meat, and many restaurants proudly display their vendors on the menu. Chefs and foodies alike engage in discourse on the ethics and politics of food and farming.

California offers oenophiles ample opportunities for new discoveries beyond the traditional California Wine Country. Areas such as the Petaluma Gap and the Sierra Foothills offer plenty of vineyards to explore. Visitors to Lake Tahoe can even take in some wine tasting at the Truckee River Winery, claiming to be the highest and coldest winery in the nation.

Both kids and adults will be fascinated by the creatures on display in Tentacles: The Astounding Lives of Octopuses, Squid and Cuttlefishes, the newest exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

San Franciscos Exploratorium continues to challenge and fascinate visitors of all ages. With trees as tall as they come, the Childrens Redwood Forest in Humboldt Redwoods State Park is a great place for kids to romp through some awe-inspiring landscapes.

Riding the rails can be a satisfying experience, particularly in California where the distances between destinations sometimes run into the hundreds of miles. The best trip is on the luxuriously appointed Coast Starlight, a long-distance train with sleeping cars that runs between Seattle and Los Angeles, passing some of Californias most beautiful coastline as it hugs the beach. For the best surfside viewing, get a seat or a room on the left side of the train and ride south to north.

Agritourism in California isnt new, but it is on the rise, with farm tours and agricultural festivals sprouting up everywhere. Wine country is a particularly fertile areaspurred by the success of vineyards, the areas lavender growers and olive-oil producers have started welcoming visitors. Sonoma Farm Trail Tours include walking the land and a farm-driven dinner with paired wines.

Californias beauty-obsessed citizens arent the only ones opting for a fresh look these days: its esteemed art museums are also having a bit of work done. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is expected to reopen in 2016 after a major expansion project that will vastly increase the museums exhibition and support space.

When to Go

Because they offer activities indoors and out, the top California cities rate as all-seasons destinations.

Early springwhen the gray-whale migration overlaps with the end of the elephant-seal breeding season and the start of the bird migrationis the optimal time to visit Point Reyes National Seashore. Yosemite is ideal in late spring because roads closed in winter are reopened, and the parks waterfallsswollen with melting snowrun fast. Autumn is crush time in all the wine destinations, both in the north and south. Ski resorts typically open around Thanksgiving (they sometimes remain in operation into June).

Its difficult to generalize about the states weather. As a rule, inland regions are hotter in summer and colder in winter, compared with coastal areas, which are relatively cool year-round. Fog is a potential hazard any day of the year in coastal regions. In the mountains, winter brings snow at elevations above 3,000 feet and summer is sunny and warm, with an occasional thundershower.