San Francisco's street cars, Malibu's beaches and surfers, Hollywood, Death Valley, Route 66, the opulence of Beverly Hills or Palm Springs, the Golden Gate Bridge, the University of California-Berkeley, the Beach Boys, Yosemite National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, enormous sequoias, Lake Tahoe, the computer companies of Silicon Valley, Alcatraz, Disneyland... all this and much more comes to mind when we hear the word California.

Considering the number of images we have seen and articles we have read about this mythical state, many feel that they have already visited California, but the truth is there is simply so much to explore.

Leaving aside the larger cities and their endless supply of entertainment, California is a land of astonishing contrasts ranging from snow-capped mountains to beautiful beaches passing through vast deep deserts and lush green forests.

Several of our small luxury hotels in California are located around Los Angeles, with the majority found in or near San Francisco. A number of our boutique hotels are in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. Situated to the north of San Francisco and known as Wine Country, these valleys are often said to resemble the Mediterranean climes of the south of France rather than somewhere on the Pacific.