I have divided Central California into seven regions, with almost 1400 panoramas:

• The City of San Francisco

• The San Francisco Bay Area

• Monterey, Big Sur, and the Central Coast

• El Camino Real

• The San Joaquin Valley

• Yosemite National Park

• Sequoia/Kings Canyon and the Southern Sierra

To begin, click one of the regions listed here, or click on the map, or scroll down to see a detailed list of localities.

Not familiar with interactive 360-degree panoramas? - CLICK HERE

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Central California is not a generally recognized subdivision of the state, it is just a personal definition I have made to serve the interests of this site. The region that results from this partition is unusually rich in famous places and beautiful scenery. Add to this the fact that I happen to live in this "state" and it is no wonder that I have so many panoramas to illustrate it.

Its northern boundary runs through the Golden Gate and Carquinez Strait, then through the Delta and across the Sierra Nevada between Sonora Pass and Yosemite. Thus, by my definition, San Francisco is in Central California but Marin is in Northern California. The deserts east of the Sierra crest are quite distinct and belong to my "state" of Southern and Eastern California.

The southern boundary follows an old geographic convention and runs from Point Conception along the crest of the Santa Ynez Range just north of Santa Barbara, through the knot of mountains around Tejon Pass, then east along the Tehachapi Range. From there it curves north to follow the Sierra crest all the way to Yosemite.

Most of this region is easily accessible from my home base in the East Bay and I take pictures here year around. Oddly enough, there are some areas very close to home (such as Oakland and Santa Cruz) for which I still have no panoramas!

• Logically, the first virtual guidebook covers the City of San Francisco,

• supplemented by another for the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area (except the part that is north of the bay - see Marin and the North Bay Counties).

• The next pair of guidebooks cover Monterey, Big Sur and the Central Coast
down as far as Point Conception in Santa Barbara County.

• paralleled just inland by El Camino Real for the coast ranges and valleys, including seven of the Spanish missions.

• The San Joaquin Valley is the south half of the Great Central Valley, considered the richest agricultural region in the country and maybe the world.

• The Sierra Nevada is divided between Yosemite National Park in the central part of the range,

• and Sequoia-Kings Canyon and the Southern Sierra continuing south to the Tehachapis.

Contact Don Bain: DonBain@360Panos.com