From Laguna Hills to Moscow, 25 top travel finds of 2013

Have a late dinner at Dametra, one of the few Carmel restaurants that stays open past 10 p.m. If you do, one of the owners probably will grab an oud and strum an accompaniment while cook Antonio Ramos emerges from the kitchen to sing “Besame Mucho.” Good food, too. Dinner entrees about $15-$27.

Info: Dametra, Lincoln Street and Ocean Avenue, Carmel; (831) 622-7766

La Bicyclette has all sorts of baked goods and European flair. Just watching the morning parade will make you feel like a sophisticate (so don’t order Captain Crunch and ruin everything). Breakfasts $7-$11, dinners $14-$28.

Info: La Bicyclette, 29 Dolores St., Carmel; (831) 622-9899

Just beyond the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, Ariz., lies the exurb of Gilbert, uncrowded and semi-rural. Joe’s Farm Grill is where to go when you and your kids are anywhere nearby. It’s a family farmhouse converted into a diner with glass walls, picnic tables, burgers, pizzas, ribs, salads and vegetables grown in neighboring fields. Joe’s, which opened in 2006, takes no reservations and word of the place has spread. So arrive early and expect a bit of a line. But don’t worry. The food, casual atmosphere and the kid-friendly patio make it well worthwhile.

Info: Joe’s Farm Grill, 3000 E. Ray Road, Gilbert, Ariz.; (480) 563-4745

The Li River and its neighboring peaks might seem to supply drama enough for a newcomer. But the grandees of Guilin saw a chance to do more. And so for the last several years, the 70-minute music-dance-light-show “Impression Sanjie Liu” has been offered in a 2,600-seat amphitheater on the banks of the river. Most seats cost about $35. The cast includes about 600 people, most of them fisherman moonlighting in their bamboo boats. They share starring roles with the rippling shallows, a dozen nearby mountains and an array of startling lighting effects. We saw the show in summer on a family vacation. It seemed as grand as an epic film or an Olympic opening -- not surprising, since director Zhang Yimou has made many movies and worked on Beijing’s epic 2008 Olympic curtain-raiser. As for the plot, who cares? The spectacle is the thing.

Info: Impression Sanjie Liu

After two decades of searching, this year my family found at last the perfect pit stop between Los Angeles and San Diego. It’s the Laguna Hills Auto Spa & Detail Center, a scrupulously clean, implausibly well-stocked roadside haven about 5 miles south of the El Toro Y, just off the La Paz Road exit. Besides the 76 gas, general cleanliness and mid-trip location, it offers Peet’s coffee, gelato, a Bellini Bistro with organic salads and thin-crust pizzas, a modest market, and a few outdoor tables with shade umbrellas.

Info: Laguna Hills Auto Spa & Detail Center, 25172 Cabot Road, Laguna Hills; (949) 770-8300

To leave the beaten path within Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, you usually have to hire a guide. But there’s one hike you can do alone: the Wildcat Trail, which starts near the visitor center parking lot. Begin around dawn and see the morning shadows at their longest. It’s a 3.3-mile, two-hour loop around the West Mitten Butte. And it puts you in the middle of perhaps the most iconic of all landscapes in the American West.

Info: Monument Valley Tribal Park Road, Monument Valley, Utah; (435) 727-5874

Great food, genteel setting, literary trappings and prime people-watching -- these are the benefits of a lunch in the Pushkin Cafe’s upstairs “library” area. (The more affordable downstairs dining room is great, too, just not quite as rarefied.) This was my biggest meal splurge in Moscow, one of Europe’s costliest cities, and it was worth it.

Info: Cafe Pushkin

Anybody can stroll Red Square on a summer day. But try it in January when the snowflakes are flying and the square’s seasonal ice-skating rink is open. It’s gorgeous -- and fascinating to see the luckiest Muscovites skating, shopping and laughing, so at home amid the snow, ice and galloping materialism. Next to the square, in the background of this picture, stands GUM, one of the city’s ritziest shopping malls, set in a historic building complex.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

I’d never noticed Lover’s Point Park and Beach in Pacific Grove until a bike ride south from the Monterey Bay Aquarium to the 17 Mile Drive at Pebble Beach. Suddenly, where 17th Street becomes Ocean View Boulevard, there was this calendar-worthy stretch of coast, with creamy sand, dramatic rocks and flowers up top near some noble old houses I’ll never be able to afford. Next trip, I’ll leave time for a picnic, or at least a long walk on Ocean View Boulevard as it wriggles toward Sunset Drive. Unlike the 17 Mile Drive (which is privately owned and charges drivers a fee for access), this is a public road, as pretty as one gets.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

To see Horseshoe Bend, a lonely spot outside Page, Ariz., where the deep green Colorado River suddenly turns 270 degrees at the bottom of a big red gorge, you drive four miles south of Glen Canyon Dam on U.S. 89. Park by the sign and walk three-quarters of a mile over a scrub-brush hill to the edge of a cliff. Don’t let the kids run ahead: There are no guardrails or fences, just as there are no rangers to ask for admission fees or hand out brochures. Yet the view of the twisting river is jaw-dropping: land, water, light and shadow, never the same twice. The colors are richer when the sun is low, but it’s a challenge for a photographer seeking a perfect exposure.

Info: Horseshoebend

Bollywood Theater is a loud, casual, tasty place that opened in 2012, offering reworked Indian street cuisine. You order at the counter. There are lots of small plates (nothing more than $14.50), and Indian movies play on one wall, but the food is the star.

Info: Bollywood Theater, 2039 N.E. Alberta St., Portland, Ore.; (971) 200-4711

Even if you know the epic Powell’s City of Books mothership on West Burnside Street, the satellite Powell’s on Hawthorne is worth exploring. The Hawthorne store houses more than 200,000 new and used books and is neighbored by Powell’s Books for Home and Garden. Across the street there’s the scenic old Bagdad Theater for movies, pizza and beer, and all up and down Hawthorne you have eating and drinking options.

Info: Powell’s on Hawthorne, 3747 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, Ore.; (800) 878-7323, Press 1

I wasn’t looking for calories that morning on K Street, but Rick’s Dessert Diner found me. The place is a local institution. Scores of cakes, pies, tarts and other temptations made from scratch (including the red velvet cake shown here) are offered in a snug little space with Elvis and Marilyn on the walls and checkerboard floors.

Info: Rick’s Dessert Diner, 2322 K St., Sacramento; (916) 444-0969

American Voodoo, a snug New Orleans-style spot (seating for 37), opened in September along restaurant row in University Heights. Dinner entrees about $15-$26.

Info: American Voodoo, 4655 Park Blvd., San Diego; (619) 255-8504

If you don’t mind being several miles from the nearest beach, the LaFayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows is well-priced, playful retro lodging that’s convenient to the zoo and resurgent neighborhoods such as South Park and University Heights, which is turning into a little restaurant mecca. Beyond the hotel’s 1946 facade of red bricks and white pillars, there’s a lobby full of vintage details with a big swimming pool just beyond it. Units range from modest hotel rooms to three-bedroom suites that are essentially vacation rentals. Non-suite rooms typically run $99-$169.

Info: LaFayette Hotel, Swim Club & Bungalows, 2223 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego; (619) 296-2101

Do you know the San Diego Zoo, really? I thought I did. But the Backstage Pass changes the experience. For 90 minutes, you join a smallish group that gets an insider’s view, along with a chance to feed a flamingo and a rhino and howl along with an arctic wolf. The cost is $99 per person, but that includes zoo admission ($46).

Info: San Diego Zoo, (619) 718-3000

For views of the Golden Gate that you’ll never forget, hop in a car and head north across the bridge on a clear night. Then exit at Alexander Avenue, head west and turn right on Conzelman Road. Now park at the first turnout. This hillside perch on the Marin Headlands, known as the Battery Spencer viewpoint, makes an amazing spot for shooting the bridge from above, with city lights beyond it. Bring a warm jacket.   (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times )

The spiffy Lands End Lookout Visitor Center opened in 2012, but this spot on the city’s western edge has been special for more than a century. You can tiptoe around the water’s-edge ruins of the Sutro Baths, duck into the Cliff House for a pricey ocean-view meal, or stop instead at nearby Louis’ (since 1937; 902 Point Lobos Ave., San Francisco; [415] 387-6330) for a $5.25 cup of Coney Island (red) chowder. Then, to burn the calories off, you walk northeast on the Coastal Trail through big trees with glimpses of the Golden Gate Bridge and Marin Headlands.

Info: Lands End Lookout Visitor Center, 680 Point Lobos Ave., San Francisco; (415) 426-5240

If you’re young or thrifty, the San Remo Hotel may be your deliverance by the bay. Built soon after the 1906 earthquake, the San Remo has 65 rooms, 64 of which share bathrooms down the hall. Most are tiny. No elevators. But North Beach is next door and the price is right. Rooms for two are typically $79-$139. Oh, and about the room that does have a private bath: It’s called the Penthouse ($199-$249), because it’s upstairs with its own terrace and a terrific view of Coit Tower.

Info: San Remo Hotel, 2237 Mason St., San Francisco; (415) 776-8688

Here’s a place for a grown-up dinner. St. Vincent Tavern & Wine Merchant is a long, lean space that opened in May 2012. It’s a good fit for the restaurant-rich Mission District, and its name honors St. Vincent, patron saint of wine and vinegar makers. The wine list is a key attraction, and the menu is California-centric. Entrees $24-$30. Besides the tables, there are 25 first-come, first-served seats at the stainless steel bar.

Info: St. Vincent Tavern & Wine Merchant, 1270 Valencia St., San Francisco; (415) 285-1200

After a sunset stroll on Stearns Wharf, we ducked into busy, sophisticated Julienne. Service was excellent, the menu thoughtful, and though it’s a grown-up place, our waitress made our 9-year-old feel right at home. For dessert, get the homemade churros. Main dishes $19-$30.

Info: Julienne, 138 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara; (805) 845-6488

Westlake Village is wine country now. Stonehaus is a wine bar and coffeehouse that opened in late 2012. Besides the restaurant’s rugged stone building, the grounds include a one-acre vineyard, a fountain, picnic tables and fire pits -- a far cry from the gas station they replaced. We sipped, snacked, played a little bocce. Keep in mind that the Westlake Village Inn (same owner) is a short stroll away on the same block.

Info: Stonehaus, 32039 Agoura Road, Westlake Village; (818) 483-1152

When Tioga Road is open (it closes for the winter), make time for Olmsted Point (sometimes spelled Olmstead). It’s a glacier-scraped granitic wonderland on the way from Yosemite Valley to Tuolumne Meadows.

Info: Yosemite National Park

In spring and early summer, take the flat one-mile hike to Mirror Lake, where Mt. Watkins is eerily reflected in the still water. Keep in mind that this lake is really a seasonal pond at this point. Without artificial help from the National Park Service, it may soon dry up altogether.   (Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)