As far as holiday destinations go you’ll be hard pressed to find somewhere quite as diverse as California. California is all about extremes. It has the biggest things (that massive bit of wood above is one of the biggest trees in the world), the best things, the richest things and the most famous things. It also has some of the poorest things and tackiest things.

If you haven’t already I highly recommend your next holiday is a driving tour of California. Book the flights, hire a convertible and then drive from place to place experiencing it for yourself. There’s so much to see that you can easily drive for two to four weeks and see something wildly different each day. World famous cities, national parks, deserts, vineyards, beautiful coastline, the film industry, the internet industry and plethora of food and activities are some of the main draws.

Naming everything you should visit would be, if not impossible, a massive chore. So I won’t. Everywhere you go is interesting for one reason or another, from the old gold country, to the outrageous TV, to Apple, Facebook and Google’s HQ’s, to cosy little motels in the national parks. We loved it all. Below is a small selection of must sees.

10 Tips for Exploring California

• Voluntarily walk into the world’s most famous prison, the now defunct Alcatraz in San Francisco.
• Experience San Francisco’s hilly streets by riding around on one of the antique cable cars, drive down the bendiest road in the world, eat in stunning restaurants and cycle across the Golden Gate bridge as seen in more movies than you can shake a stick at (X Men 3, Rise of the Planet of the Apes to name two). Try to go to the truly magical antique penny arcade too.
• Stand at the foot of the world’s biggest tree, General Sherman. By big, I mean bleedin’ big. It’s taller than the Statue of Liberty and weighs the same as ten blue whales. This thing is BIG. So is the rest of the Giant’s Grove in the Sequoia national park. Which was home to the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi – yeah I know, geek out amazing!
• Drive through the Mojave or Death Valley deserts and stop at a diner. You will feel like you are in an 80′s US film like Tremors or Critters.
• Leave California briefly to visit Tacky Ville aka Las Vegas, the adult version of Disney Land. You can never prepare for the mind blowing tackiness of it all, nor the scale. While you’re there, pop across to the Grand Canyon. Yes, just pop over to the Grand Bloody Canyon! Amazing.
• Go celebrity spotting in Los Angeles – I was excessively excited to see Shania Twain laying her star on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood. While in LA, try to experience the food and nights out of West Hollywood. Warning: Hollywood itself is ming.
• In LA also visit the La Brea tar pits, an active excavation museum that is still churning out thousands of fossils including sabre tooth tigers and mammoths. Trot on up to the Getty Museum for amazing LA views. You kinda have to go to Venice Beach where Baywatch was filmed even if it too is ming.
• Drive with the roof down along Route 1, the coastal road connecting San Francisco and LA. It genuinely is beautiful with lighthouses, beaches, cliffs and stinking colonies of Sea Lions. Hearst Castle is also worth a visit even if ‘castle’ is a massive fat lie because it isn’t one.
• Eat as many big fat American breakfasts as possible. We were there for two weeks and I can’t remember a day when we didn’t have a fry up with waffles or pancakes. Delish. Remember, what you eat on holiday, stays on holiday. Once our breakfast even had a starter of blueberry muffin.
• Yosemite National Park has to be on your list. Yosemite Valley is like a Disney scene brought to life. There are deer, bears, waterfalls, giant sequoia trees, cute little critters, cliffs etc. It’s huge, it’s beautiful, and like nothing else on earth. Must see territory.