San Simeon Things to Do Tips by kiwigal_1 Top 5 Page for this destination

Hearst Castle

Hearst Castle is the folly of William Randolph Hearst, an eccentric, wealthy media magnate of days gone by. He built the castle high up on an enormous piece of land where he housed his own private zoo animal collection! Hearst had many stars stay with him at "the ranch" including Marion Davies, an actress, who he was presumably having an affair with while his wife and children remained in New York.

The castle can only be viewed by joining a very kitch tour. I was surprised at the amazing volume of tourists that went through the place the day that I was there. I took "tour 1 - The Experience Tour" which consists of 1 and 3/4 hours and is recommended for people who have never visited the castle before (although in all honesty I am not sure that I would ever go there again!).... On the tour we had a really annoying American tour guide who told us all sorts of gossipy stories about the past. I would have much preferred wandering the grounds on my own but that is a big no no!
The tour took us to see th two pools (really lovely) - the Neptune pool and the Roman baths (complete with imported blue tiles and gold leaf!), the Casa del Sol which is the guest house, the gardens and statues and finally the main rooms of the Casa Grande (main house).
Tickets for this tour cost $20 (off-peak season) for adults. I called ahead and booked my tour time as this was highly recommended. If you are really desperate to go and see the castle (and I suppose that for the effort it takes to get there one would hope you want to see it when you get there!) it is probably best to call and book.

Is it worth it.....???? Well... I guess it is kind of interesting to see how wealthy people lived in the early part of the 20th century but I probably wouldn't make a second trip to do one of the other tours.

Directions: near San Simeon on the Pacific Highway 1. (Look out for the signs)

Phone: 1-800-444-4445

Website: http://www.hearstcastle.com

Seal Colony

One of the more interesting things to do in San Simeon was to go to see the Seal Colony. There are seals lying on the beach just a little north of San Simeon. The day I went to see them it was very overcast and foggy so not really sure what the views of this coastline are supposed to look like but at least at this point I had the seals to entertain me. The beach is certainly not one that you would go swimming in!

Directions: Just north of San Simeon on the Cabrillo Highway 1.