Coastal Discovery Center


Educational displays include a talking artificial tide pool that kids can touch and videos of deep-sea diving and a WWII-era shipwreck just offshore.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

2. Hearst Castle

0.45 MILES

Perched high on a hill, Hearst Castle is a wondrous, historic, over-the-top homage to material excess. From the 1920s into the '40s, Hearst and Marion…

3. Piedras Blancas Light Station

5.65 MILES

Of the many lighthouses on California’s coast, few have such an evocative natural setting as this 1875 light station – one of the tallest on the West…

5. Salmon Creek Falls

15.2 MILES

Take a short hike to splash around in the pools at the base of this double-drop waterfall, tucked uphill in a forested canyon. The falls usually run from…

6. Ragged Point

15.52 MILES

Your last – or first – taste of Big Sur’s rocky grandeur comes at this craggy cliff outcropping with fabulous views of the coastline in both directions,…

7. Tablas Creek Vineyard

18.48 MILES

Breathe easy at this organic estate vineyard reached via a pretty winding drive up into the hills. Known for Rhône varietals, the signature blends also…

8. Estero Bluffs State Park

18.89 MILES

Ramble along coastal grasslands and pocket beaches at this small state park, accessed from unmarked roadside pulloffs north of Cayucos. Look among the…