Memorial Weekend Part 2: The Hearst Castle in San Luis Obispo and Solvang (California's Danish Village)

Day 1

The Hearst Castle

Solvang

Carpinteria State Beach

Our first full day started driving to The Hearst Castle in San Luis Obispo. Our initial plan was to only visit Solvang and Carpinteria beach but my husband's colleague encouraged us to visit The Hearst Castle since it was already on the way.

From Solvang, it's going to take you 2 more hours to get there. If you're driving from LA, make sure to allot at least 4-5 hours so you can make it on time. Visitors are required to reserve a tour. They're very strict with time for tours in the castle. So make sure that when you're visiting, you should plan your itinerary accordingly.

The Hearst Castle offers several tours. As of this writing, each tour costs $30 + taxes, $15 for children ages 5-12 and free for children under 5. The tour we availed was the Grand Room Tours. This is recommended for first-time visitors like us. It took us to the main rooms like the theater, assembly, refectory room and many more. The tour lasted for about an hour and at the end of it, you get to watch a 45-minute movie about the life of the Hearst Family.

The Hearst Castle was owned by William Randolph Hearst. He was known for developing one of the largest media company in the US, The Hearst Communications. Today, the Hearst Company partially owns ESPN, Harper's Bazaar, Seventeen magazine and other subsidiaries.

Mr. Hearst started building his estate in 1919 with the help of Julia Morgan - the architecture he hired to help him with the design. Mr. Hearst called his estate "La Cuesta Encantada" or The Enchanted Hill. From what I remember, it took them 28 years to completely finish the estate which was so crazy. But if you tour around the castle, you will understand why it took them that long. The details, furniture, garden, the pool, everything.. Each space/room in the estate was carefully designed. There were about 165 rooms in the whole estate. That's a lot!

According to our tour guide, the Hearst family no longer own the estate. They donated the property to the state of California in 1958. Although they still do have some privileges in the property like swimming in the Neptune Pool or camping within the grounds.

In our tour, they also mentioned that there are some exceptions about who can swim in the pool. If I remember it correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong), if a person donated some *certain* amount of money to the castle. They may be able to swim in it. I'm pretty sure it's a hefty amount of money. We're talking $20,000 or even more.

The tour in the castle was worth it. I wish I could share more here but I don't really want to give away everything. If you like history and gothic architecture, I highly encourage you to visit The Hearst Castle.

The tour guide even shared with the group that there's a really good spot for whale watching just down the castle. Unfortunately, we were on a tight schedule so we couldn't make it.

This is just one of the guest houses in the property

The Neptune Pool

Another guest house

Casa Grande "Big House" - the castle

How do I even begin with Solvang? Let me just say I was ecstatic to visit the small village. In my head, I wanted to have a bite of the flaky and sweet danishes while we stroll around the village. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Coming from The Hearst Castle, we were already exhausted and didn't have enough time to roam around. There's really not much to share but it's one of the most beautiful places to visit in Southern California. All I remember, the lines at the bakeries were long and most establishments closes at 4:00pm.

There were boutiques and antique shops I wanted to check out but they were already closed. I also wanted to visit Hans Christian Andersen's museum but I didn't get the chance either 😔 The next time we visit California, I'll make sure to spend more time in Solvang. It is truly a charming place to visit.

Please enjoy the photos I took during our short visit in the village. Have you been there before? If yes, can you please share how your experience was and some recommendations to visit and do. Thank you!