The Unofficial Guide to California with Kids

by Colleen Bates, Susan LaTempa, Menasha Ridge

California is the most visited state in the United States, Disneyland is the United States' second most visited theme park, and California's national parks attract almost 30 million visitors a year. Los Angeles--as the fourth largest destination for domestic travel in the U.S. and the second-ranked destination for overseas visitors, behind only New York--welcomed 25 million visitors in 2008. San Francisco is ranked in the top 10 most visited US cities,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470621079
• ISBN13: 9780470621073
• Release Date: November 2010
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Unofficial Guide to CA w/Kids Very Useful for CA Roadtrip

This book both identified great spots for taking children throughout California, it presented the information in a way that made choices between alternatives easy to make. It was very helpful for a California roadtrip!

An alternative look on vacations

For one thing, you should not expect this guide to cover all of a region as a Frommer's guide would. It has a whole different approach, it does not claim to be an exhaustive coverage, but a selective pick for families with young children. As children would not enjoy wine tasting, I would not use this book to go thru Napa Valley. But if you are staying on a beachfront near San Diego, you are guaranteed to give your kids a spectacular vacation. The thing I like most of this guide is how they rate every attraction for age range and tell you if it is too scary and if it is good for a rainy day. It rates also hotels, altho I would strongly recommend to pair it to another guidebook for this sole purpose. We used this guide series for Florida last year and were not at all disappointed. Actually it helps you avoid major disappointments and that's priceless. Also the Disneyworld one is great. My husband was surprised at how good restaurants were in the Florida book. They listen to advice and feedback from customers too (and that's smart), so get an updated one. I bought this book as soon as we decided to head for California!!!

Planning a trip with twin, toddler boys just got easier!

With toddler twin boys that we love to take on many trips, this book has become a wonderful guide for us. We always wonder if a place we might like to go would be appropriate for our young sons, and with this book in our hands, we can find out. In addition, it has given us some ideas on places to take them, that we did not know about or had not considered. A must have for families that plan to spend a lot of time checking out all California has to offer.

Be a tourist in your own backyard

I live in southern California, and this book has inspired countless Saturday family outings. I had no idea what was in my own backyard! It is fabulous to have someone's advice on what is worth spending the time, with kids, in traffic for. We have loved this book-and hope to find a similar one when we move to Philadelphia!

Very Helpful

I found the Unofficial Guide to California with Kids to be very helpful in planning our family vacation. It gave detailed information about everything from beaches to theme parks as well as suggestions on where to bike, camp, hike, snorkle, and whale watch. It has information on family friendly restaurants and lodging, including prices, maps, meals served, types of payments accepted, children's menu availability, as well as which restaurants accept reservations. The Unofficial Guide helped us to pick and choose which attractions to visit by giving a specific rating for each age group, as well as admission prices, average touring time, and what services and facilities are available. All in all the Unofficial Guide to California with Kids helped us to have a GREAT family vacation!