Discover a Better Way to See the Golden State: 
Join Me, The California Tour Guy, as I Discover California's Best Hidden Places.

In the luxuriance of a bowl of grapes set out in ritual display, in a bottle of wine, the soil and the sunshine of California reached millions for whom that distant place would henceforth be envisioned as a sun-graced land resplendent with the goodness of a fruitful earth.
Kevin Starr

Do you love discovering the history, society, and culture of the Golden State?  Want to wow your friends with your newfound knowledge of everything from chocolate making to the mating habit of monkeys?   Or perhaps, you're just looking for an unique, inexpensive outing for the weekend or an unusual hidden corner of California?

If so, you've come to the right place.  Here you'll find out the details about the hundreds of low cost (mostly free) tours of neighborhoods, museums, amusement parks, factories, hotels, wineries, breweries, universities, lighthouses, nature and animal preserves, parks, and architectural landmarks.  

Over the course of the past five years, I (Paul Heller, California Tour Guy) have been on over 250 tours of hidden places throughout California.  During these tours, I've been awed by the enthusiasm of hundreds of guides (mostly volunteer) whose stories bring the Golden State's entrepreneurial spirit, rich landscapes, and humanitarian impulse to life. 

Under the tutelage of these sage guides (probably about one-third of the time, I was the only person on these tours), I've discovered that California is one of the most remarkable places on the planet.  I want to share my discoveries with you.  I believe that once you get to know this fantastic state through the tours listed on this website and publications, you'll become as addicted to taking these tours as I am.

Want to know more?   Check out this website.  Here you'll discover details of tours of:

• More than 26 San Francisco neighborhoods led by enthusiastic and well trained local residents (City Guides).
• A small Victorian Bed and Breakfast Inn located on a tiny island (with a panoramic view) in the San Francisco Bay (East Brother Light House).
• A moonlit hike of Point Lobos Lighthouse?s natural and cultural history that ends with a picture postcard view of the full moon over the San Francisco skyline (Marin Headlands).
• A decommissioned Nike Missile site (Marin Headlands)
• Several major movie studios in Los Angeles (Sony, Paramount, NBC, and Warner Brothers).
• Some of the nation's best urban parks (Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, and Balboa Park in San Diego)
• World class scientific research institutes (Stanford's Linear Accelerator, UC Davis Marine Biology Laboratory in Bodega Bay, the Salk Institute in San Diego)  
• Restaurants and markets in San Francisco?s North Beach led by Grace Walden, one of San Francisco?s most prominent restaurant reviewers (Mangia North Beach).
• One of the nation?s finest private Japanese art museum in a small San Joaquin Valley town (Clark Art Institute in Hanford).
• America?s finest private and public universities (including CalTech, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Stanford).
• Several examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's best architecture (Hanna House (Stanford), Hollyhock House (Los Angeles), and the Marin County Civic Center (San Rafael)).
• The nation's finest Art Deco movie palaces (Los Angeles Conservancy's Tour of Broadway Movie Houses, Oakland's Paramount Theater).
• Cemeteries housing hundreds of the state's most famous celebrities and entrepreneurs (Colma's Holy Cross, Oakland's Mountain View, and Sacramento's City Cemeteries) 
• Unique, innovative factories (Mrs. Grossman's Sticker Factory in Petaluma, Scharffen-Berger Chocolate Factory in Berkeley, and Taylor's Guitars in El Cajon).
• One of a kind museums (The Computer History Museum in Mountain View) Looking for an unique, inexpensive outing for the weekend? 

WANT MORE INFORMATION?  TAKE A LOOK AT THESE EXCITING WEBSITE FEATURES

• Index of California?s best tours
• Information about my inexpensive publications:
  • including the recently updated new handbook ?An Insiders' Guide to Great Hidden California Tours" and 
  • upcoming book Seeing Gold: A Guide to Hundreds of Tours of California's Best Museums, Neighborhoods, Factories, Architecture, Historic Homes and Lighthouses (Anticipated Release Date: Spring 2007).
• or sign up for the California Tour Guy's FREE postcards for up to the minute reports on tours of California's Best Hidden Places and a list of over 100 tours that I have attended and reviewed that are not included on this website. To sign up, fill in your e-mail address in the indicated space on the right side panel of this website or send me an e-mail requesting my California Tour Guy postcards.