08-25-2006, 02:37 PM
I live about 20 miles from SLO, and it's all pretty touristy here :-) What do you enjoy doing? The SLO/Edna Valley wine scene is quite good, as the tasting rooms are never as packed as in Santa Ynez Valley. The Paso Robles wine area is also a joy to visit. Los Osos is a quiet, funky beach town close to Morro Bay, without the crowds of Morro Bay. If you go, make sure to hike through Montana de Oro State Park. Pismo Beach is often full of tourists, but if you rent a kayak you can get away easily enough. Paso Robles/Atascadero and Templeton are not touristy at all, but they aren't beach communities and don't have as much going on. San Luis Obispo is a great college town, with a "quaint" downtown that fun to walk through, and on Thursday's hosts a wonderful farmer's market.