San Francisco’s Chinatown may have made its mark as the oldest in the country, but the city’s lesser-known Japantown district is just as worthy of exploration. Spread over six blocks, the enclave dates back to 1906 and is home to casual izakayas, refined omakase restaurants and boutiques selling exquisite silk kimonos and porcelain tea sets. The Cherry Blossom Festival each spring is a colourful highlight where visitors can witness taiko drum performances and traditional tea ceremonies, join origami and bonsai workshops and sample classic Japanese food as the pink flowers blossom.

The Northern California town of Gilroy is proud of its agricultural history – it is, after all, “the garlic capital of the world” – and the button-cute Gilroy Gardens theme park showcases it in retro style. Low-octane farming-themed rides, including giant twirling strawberries and garlic cloves, are fun for the whole family, while the artistically pruned “circus trees” are a living celebration of whimsy. 

Built in the 1940s as both a film and television set and functioning town, Pioneertown resembles the golden age of country and western movies with its dusty streets and atmospheric collection of saloons, stables and jails. More than 50 films, TV shows and music videos have been shot here, including The Cisco Kid (1950-1956) and Annie Oakley (1954-1957). Two hours’ east of LA and still home to a small community, its taste of life in the 1880s extends to mock gun fights on Mane Street. If you want to extend your stay in the past, the town has a historic motel and ranch both offering accommodation, plus a range of eateries. 

The Liberace-worthy stylings of Madonna Inn aren’t for the faint-hearted – think pink, then add more pink – but this fairytale hotel and resort on the Central Coast, halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, is pure fun. The kitschy-themed accommodation includes the Mini Maxi Room, which has curved sequin-covered walls, and the Caveman Room, which is equipped with rock walls and a waterfall, while the hilltop pool has amazing views of the San Luis Obispo region.

Immortalised in movies including Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, the two enormous steel and concrete Cabazon Dinosaurs (and more than 100 of their smaller dino friends) are a cult roadside attraction on Interstate 10 enroute to Palm Springs. Climb through the T-Rex’s mouth (just like Pee-wee did) and pick up a dino-themed trinket from the gift shop in the belly of the Apatosaurus. 

Lake Tahoe’s fjord-like Emerald Bay is the perfect backdrop for Vikingsholm, a first-rate example of traditional Scandinavian architecture with 11th-century-style granite boulders, hand-hewn timbers like those used by early Norsemen and intricately carved timber doors. The one-time summer residence of Lora J. Knight, a philanthropist once reported to be the wealthiest woman in America, was built in the 1930s and is now open daily for tours from June to September. Getting there involves a steep 1.6-kilometre hike through the lush Emerald Bay State Park, starting from the parking lot on Highway 89.

This series of colossal sand dunes in Death Valley National Park is home to Mojave fringe-toed lizards and other native fauna and flora. Located near the town of Stovepipe Wells (close to the Nevada border), Mesquite Flat Dunes are the easiest of the undulating dunes to access via Highway 90 or the unpaved Sand Dune Road. Head there in the early morning or at sunset when the light best showcases the sand's sinuous contours. 

Show off your serve at the upmarket Kimpton LaPeer Hotel in West Hollywood, where an open-air rooftop includes a pickleball court. Never played pickleball before? The popular game combines elements of badminton, tennis and ping pong and can be played as either singles or doubles. The hotel’s glamorous terrace has fabulous city views and DJs spinning tunes on weekends, so you can add a little healthy competition to your cocktail hour. 

Be surrounded by 100,000 softly glowing fibre optic “stems” that change colour in the dusk as you wander through the six majestic hectares of Sensorio. Midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles, this patch of land in Paso Robles includes the work of internationally acclaimed artist Bruce Munro and offers meandering paths across the property to enjoy the spectacle at your own pace. The experience is currently open Thursday through Saturday evenings, with live music performances and airstream food trucks selling snacks and drinks on the main lawn.

The otherworldly sight of a waterfall cascading directly onto the sand is a reality at Wildcat Beach, part of the protected Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California’s Marin County. Alamere Falls provides plenty of drama (and great photo opportunities) as it spills over a 12-metre cliff onto the beach’s south end. Getting to the beach requires a moderate 18-kilometre round-trip hike from Palomarin Trailhead (an 80-minute drive from San Francisco) but the spectacle is worth the exertion.

Set against a desert landscape an hour’s drive north of Mammoth Lakes in California’s north-east, the abandoned town of Bodie is a relic of the gold-mining boom of the 1880s. Now part of the Bodie State Historic Park, its ragged streets and ramshackle collection of homes, stores and rusting cars are a wonderfully eerie testament to a bygone era worth wandering through.

Surrounded by the stunning Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Borrego Springs, 117 kilometres east of San Diego, is California’s first and only official International Dark Sky Community.  Join a Borrego Night Sky Tour to spy stellar clusters, planets and earth-orbiting satellites through a large telescope with the help of certified astronomer Dennis Mammana. Mesmerising astronomical displays are not the town’s only claim to fame – there’s also an open-air gallery featuring more than a dozen supersized prehistoric beasts sculpted from metal.

Just outside the town of Lee Vining, 40 kilometres east of Yosemite National Park, Mono Lake is an ancient reserve with alkaline water covering almost 17,000 hectares that’s more than twice as salty as the ocean. Hire a kayak from Mono Lake Kayak Rentals to get up close to the unique tufa formations that jut out of the water, providing a resting place for the many birds that call the area home. For a memorable Dead Sea-like experience, go for a swim – or, rather, a float – in the dense waters.

14 Surprising Places You Didn’t Know Were in California