Salinas to Paso Robles

Paso Robles

Paso Robles sits in the midst of one of a wine- and olive-growing region. You'll find lots of tasting rooms and wine-related festivals here. Firestone Walker Brewery is also in Paso Robles, an award-winning microbrewery which offers tours on Saturdays and has a full-service restaurant where you can enjoy their brews with your meal.

Why Should You Go? Will You Like Paso Robles?

Paso Robles is popular with wine lovers seeking a more laid back experience than busy Napa. It's not a good place for a family getaway, with litle to do that's targeted toward children, except during the Mid-State Fair.

Best Time to Go to Paso Robles

The most popular time to visit is early or late summer, when the weather is best. Hotels fill up during the wine festivals, but you can have a good time here almost any time of year.

Don't Miss

Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot dominate Paso Robles wine production, but you can find almost anything at the area's 200-some-odd wineries. Tasting is free at many places, with others charging a small fee, but most of the tasting rooms are so much alike that you won't be able to remember one from the other after a while. Our favorite wine-tasting spot, Vina Robles stands out from the pack with top-notch wines, a nice gift shop and a tasting room filled with innovative artwork.
You can also go wine-tasting on foot in downtown Paso. A nubmer of wineries have tasting rooms on the streets surrouding the park, and you could easily make an afternoon out of visiting them, with no worries about driving.

5 More Great Things to Do in Paso Robles

• Visit Mr. Hearst's Castle: Five miles inland through the Templeton Gap is the Mediterranean Revival mansion built by media mogul William Randolph Hearst. Designed by architect Julia Morgan, the oversized main house and guest cottages larger than many people's main residences give a rare peek into the lifestyle of the rich and famous in the early twentieth century.
• Soak Up Some History: Just a few miles north of town off US 101, you'll find Mission San Miguel Arcangel, California's 16th Spanish mission. Nearby is Rios-Caledonia Adobe, a 19th-century inn and stage stop.
• Take a Brewery Tour If you've had enough of wine tasting and want to learn about how beer is made, the award-winning Firestone Walker Brewing Company offers tours every Saturday afternoon at 1400 Ramada Drive.

Between Paso Robles and King City is the most sparsely populated section of the drive. Much of the open space is government land and in recent years, increasing numbers of vineyards cover the rolling hills, some of the vines that make Monterey County the state's largest wine grape producer.

You'll also pass the San Ardo oil field, a clutter of oil wells, pumpers and equipment that's at the same time unsightly and fascinating. According to Aera Energy, it produces approximately 7,000 barrels of heavy crude oil per day which is transported to Los Angeles to be refined.
Between King City and Salinas is one of the country's most productive agricultural regions, known as the "Salad Bowl of the World,", producing over $3 billion worth of lettuce, artichokes, broccoli and other green crops annually.

The drive through this fertile valley passes garnet-and-lime-colored lettuce fields, vineyards and a wide range of other growing things, extending from one side of the valley to the other. You'll seen businesses here that exist nowhere else, sporting names like Rain for Rent.

This is also John Steinbeck country, the place he called the "Long Valley" the scene of many of his famous stories, including East of Eden.

Side Trips
An interesting side trip to theValley of the Oaks follows the route of the old El Camino Real into a valley little changed since Europeans first set foot in this part of California. It leads to Mission San Antonio de Padua and William Randolph Hearst's old ranch house, which is now a hotel. To get there, exit US 101 at G18 (Jolon Road) in King City if you're driving south or take G14 from Paso Robles.

Exit at CA 146 east near Soledad to reach the west side ofPinnacles National Monument, which is 14 miles from the highway. The Pinnacles were formed almost 200 miles south of here and have moved north along the San Andreas Fault to reach their current position.