| California ((in)California) | |
.jpg/210px-Californias_State_Capitol_Building_-_Sacremento_(7581237364).jpg) | |
| The State Capitol in Sacramento | |
| Information | |
| Country |  United States |
|---|---|
| Region | American West |
| Regional capital | Sacramento |
| Ocean | Pacific Ocean |
| Lake | Salton Sea, Tahoe, Goose |
| Minimum altitude | −86 m (Bad Water) |
| Maximum altitude | 4 421 m (Mount Whitney) |
| Area | 423 970 km² |
| Population | 38 802 500 hab. () |
| Density | 91,52 inhab./km² |
| Nice | Californian |
| Official language | English |
| Other language | Spanish, California English |
| Religions | Christianity (76 %) |
| Telephone prefix | 1,209 to 1,909 |
| Spindle | UTC-8 |
| Location | |
 37 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ N 120 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ W | |
| Official site | |
| Touristic site | |
The California is a state of United States, which spans more than 1 200 km along the west coast. Even though California is the most populous state in the country, there are also unforgettable landscapes: deserts, mountains, lakes, vineyards, forests, etc.
Understand
Weather
Thanks to the'Pacific Ocean but also with its very rugged relief, California enjoys a large number of microclimates, so much so that one can often see a difference in 20 ° C between two places separated by less than 50 km. Globally, we can speak of four climates: Mediterranean, desert, alpine and temperate humid. Large coastal towns, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa barbara, or San jose and San Francisco, experience a very moderate climate, where temperatures rarely exceed 30 ° C and where snow and frost are unknown. On the other hand, as soon as you cross the coastal mountains, summer temperatures often exceed 40 ° C while in the great desert, especially in the Death Valley, they sometimes reach 50 ° C. Elsewhere there are mountainous regions well above 2,000 meters where the roads are snow-covered from November until May (making the crossing of the yosemite national park impossible), as well as forests of gigantic trees that share the rainy climate of the American Northwest.
Regions
 Areas of California |
Cities
- 1 Eureka
- 2 Redding
- 3 Sacramento – The state capital
- 4 San Francisco
- 5 Oakland
- 6 San jose – 1,015,785 inhab. (census 2014)
- 7 Santa barbara
- 8 Los Angeles – 3 928 864 inhab. (census 2014)
- 9 Palm springs
- 10 San Diego – 1,381,069 inhab. (census 2014)
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Other destinations
- 1 Redwood national park
- 2 Napa Valley (Napa Valley) – Wine Region
- 3 Yosemite National Park
- 4 Lake mono
- 5 Bodie – Ghost village
- 6 17 mile Drive
- 7 Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
- 8 Death Valley National Park
- 9 Disneyland
- 10 Joshua tree national park
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To go
The main international airports serving California are:
- 1 Los Angeles Intl Airport (IATA : LAX)
- 2 San Francisco International Airport (IATA : SFO)
- 3 San Diego International Airport (IATA : SAN)
- 4 Sacramento International Airport (IATA : SMF, ICAO: KSMF, Sacramento International Airport) (16 km north-northwest of Sacramento)
Circulate
To drive like a Californian, just get behind the wheel. The state is crisscrossed by tens of thousands of kilometers of freeways, almost all free; the only toll freeways, apart from a few bridges in the region of San Francisco, are located in remote suburbs of Orange and Los Angeles counties. To rent a car, you need an international driving license and a credit card. Count on an expense of about 50 $ per day, insurance included. Gasoline is more expensive in California than elsewhere in the United States, but much cheaper than in Europe. In July 2011 the price was 4,75 $ per gallon (3.8 liters), or almost 1 $ per liter.
For long journeys, Californians favor the plane. The two large agglomerations (Los Angeles and San Francisco) are connected by dozens of daily flights at attractive prices, especially with airlines Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
As elsewhere in the United States, the train is not very privileged. The national railway company Amtrak offers two connections between the Bay Area (San Francisco) and Los Angeles; one goes through the great central valley and requires a bus ride, the other runs along the coast of the Pacific Ocean and has some great scenery, but this trip takes 12 h about. In addition, a few regions have commuter train networks, such as Coaster at San Diego or ACE who links Stockton at San jose.
For city trips, the car is still the preferred method. Especially in Southern California, the distances to be covered are enormous (for example the 53 km which separate Hollywood and Disneyland). Yet there are subways in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and elsewhere there are surface subways or streetcars, and of course buses.
Speak
In California, like throughout the United States, the most common language isEnglish American. However, only 60.5% of the population speaks English as a mother tongue. TheSpanish is the mother tongue of 29% of Californians; Asian languages, 6%. In Los Angeles, English and Spanish have an equal number of speakers.
Learn
security
 | Emergency telephone number: All emergency services:911 |
As everywhere in urban areas, it is advisable to remain vigilant, especially at night. Each city has its sensitive neighborhoods; these are sometimes very close to the city center (for example, the Tenderloin in San Francisco or the East district of Los Angeles). Elsewhere, there is often a relationship between altitude and crime, for example in Oakland where the 'flat' parts of the city have a high crime rate while the hills are quite safe. On the other hand, the districts close to the sea are generally calm.
Since most of the traffic is road and not pedestrian, pick-pocketing is quite rare, but still keep your money and laptop well hidden. When you stay in a motel, especially in the city, consider checking that it has a security gate.
