Avila Beach may just be one of California’s best-kept secrets, and in this video we spend an entire day here—from coffee to sunset dinner—showing you exactly why it feels like a getaway (even to us locals). We start near Port San Luis with breakfast at Kraken Coffee Company (honestly, the pastry case alone is worth the stop), then head to one of the most unique experiences you can do in Avila: the Point San Luis Lighthouse tour. It’s about $30 per person (and it goes to a good cause), you park in a designated spot, and they shuttle you up through PG&E land for a guided visit of the keeper’s house, museum, and the original Fresnel lens. After the lighthouse, we grab lunch and drinks at the newly combined Customhouse + Mr. Rick’s setup—open seating, order at the counter, and yes, those clam strips were ginormous and delicious. Then we pivot to a very Central Coast kind of afternoon: wine tasting at Alapay Cellars, just one block off the beach. Their tasting fee is $30, but they waive it when you buy a bottle (that’s exactly how we tackled it). We wrap up with a walk on the Avila Pier (currently under construction), a little extra “bubbles,” and dinner at my favorite restaurant in town—Blue Moon Over Avila—where the ocean views and beignets absolutely end the day on a high note.