Explore San Luis Obispo, from the ‘Vinyl Trail' to the ‘Architecture Graveyard'

SWEET SAN LUIS OBISPO, if we were to write you a love letter, or maybe a love postcard with a vintage motel on the front, it would say this: You are just about the moxie-iest place in the Golden State, what with your bubblegum-filled alley and the cherub-cheery Madonna Inn and The Motel Inn, a century-old destination that motel mavens regularly obsess over. It's hard to believe that you can fit more festive and idiosyncratic and interesting locations and offerings into your already full-to-bursting calendar, but you really always do, which makes us want to SLO down and savor it all.

NEW, DELICIOUS, RETURNING, FUN: As for what's on the wind in the spring of 2025? Design, music, eats, and more are enhancing your reputation as a place that approaches all things in a seriously spunky fashion. Nate's on Marsh — the upscale American Italian eatery is located in a former fraternity house at Cal Poly — recently debuted with decadent dishes like a Pappardelle Ragu featuring Tablas Creek lamb ragu. Central Coast cinephiles surely know that the SLO Film Festival will shimmer over six days near the end of the month. And if you're not doing festival season in the desert, discover music joy along the SLO Vinyl Trail, a map that features great record shops in San Luis Obispo, Avila Beach, and Atascadero, too (cheers to local hangout Jan's Place for creating the trail).

HAPPY 50TH, DESIGN VILLAGE: And the ultra-creative Cal Poly Design Village and the "architecture graveyard" — a tradition that's "a rite of passage for young architecture students" — is celebrating 50 years in late April 2025. There's an app for getting to know Poly Canyon, where some truly inventive structures have risen over the decades, if you'd like to explore the scenic area.

A MOTEL MILESTONE: The Milestone Mo-Tel, later known as The Motel Inn, will mark 100 years since its December 1925 opening. The early overnight stop between San Francisco and Los Angeles has plenty of motel lore, and while you can't book a room there today, there are several spectacular stay-overs located in the San Luis Obispo area. Including, of course, that thematically epic pinnacle of flowery carpets and Pink Champagne cake, the Madonna Inn. And if you happen to land at Hotel San Luis Obispo April 13, and are a lover of light and zingy sips, you'll be just in time for Rosé the SLO Way, which will have local pours and a "cuddle corner" devoted to adoptable cats and pups.

Pictured: The Cal Poly Design Village