About 3-4 hours south of the bay area is the beautiful coastal town of San Luis Obispo. Within minutes of this central coast destination are beautiful beaches, renowned wineries, and amazing shopping destinations. With its small town charm, San Luis Obispo, or SLO, is a perfect weekend getaway destination. Lucky for me, my friends in the area invited me to visit for a weekend.
Here are some of the fun parts of the trip I wanted to share with you all!
Nestled right into a corner of downtown is the historic Mission San Luis Obispo. While I only got to see this mission from the outside, it’s quite large and very well kept compared to other California Missions I have visited.
SLO Donut Company features a number of uncommon flavors that are unusually delicious. A campus favorite of Cal Poly students, this place is always filled with students. Eager to bite into these soft and sweet donuts, I ordered 4 cereal donuts knowing I’d have to try them all: Cookie Crisp, Fruity Pebbles, Cap’n Crunch, and Lucky Charms.
A historial landmark of SLO that I don’t know much about. Today, that building serves SLO residents as another one of many beautiful boutiques, with the sign a the corner of the storefront reminding passersby of the historical significance.
This bell is right next to the site of the Ah Louis store.
Sally Loo’s Wholesome Cafe is one of SLO’s cafes that features all-natural and, well, wholesome foods. It’s in the name! The owners named the cafe after their dog, Sally Loo. I ordered the Oliver Twist sandwich, a special when I visited. It was delicious, filling (but not too filling), and healthy.
A delicious latte at Sally Loo’s. They only brew Intelligensia coffee, which is AMAZING, and a close second to my one and only true coffee love, which I’ll be introducing later this week! Loved this latte!
Some of the side tables at the cafe were literally stacks of books! It was creative very unique to their cafe. Plus, they added a special touch by chalking a doodle of Sally Loo!
I had my first tapas experience at Luna Red! My friends were raving about their experience there and I couldn’t wait to try this restaurant. It was so booked during the time we went, we actually had to have our Tapas by the Fire. I think that worked out a little better for our party–it was a pretty fun time.
In a small part of downtown lies the infamous Bubblegum Alley. Featuring millions of wads of chewed up gum, I’d have to say this place is pretty freakin’ gross. But very fun to take a photo of. Look at all the colors! And this is only a few feet of the whole alley I’m showing you!
And that’s it! Believe me, we had a LOT packed into three days and didn’t even cross everything off our list! Later this week, I plan on sharing more on my favorite spots in SLO with you!
Perfect timing for this post! I’m in LA for the summer and I just told a friend yesterday that I wanted to go up to San Luis Obispo before I leave. Great suggestions for places to check out, thanks!
Glad it was such perfect timing for ya! SLO is such a cute town. I’m actually going to be doing another post highlighting one of my favorite places there sometime this week. Hope you check it out!