No prizes for guessing why we've ranked this place number one on our list. Solvang is almost too pretty to be real: its streets and squares are home to windmills, open-all-year Christmas shops and diner-style restaurants. The Danish community was settled in 1911 and its architecture, from cute cottages to the Bethania Lutheran Church, speak to its heritage.

Fans of Sideways might recognise Solvang as one of main locations, and the cult 2004 road-trip (and wine-glugging) movie hugely boosted attention on the cute town, a gateway to the wineries of the Santa Ynez Valley.

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California’s most beautiful small towns and cities