A weekend is enough to narrow San Luis Obispo County down to two or three towns if you plan it like a local. Here is the itinerary we hand to out-of-area buyers.

Pismo Beach, Shell Beach, Grover Beach, Arroyo Grande, and Oceano in one unhurried weekend. This is how residents of the Five Cities would spend it, and what it shows you about living here.

Paso Robles rewards a weekend with a plan. Here is how we would split it between downtown, the west side wineries, Tin City, and the back roads, and how to pace it like someone who lives here.

Skip the generic top-ten list. This is the weekend in San Luis Obispo we would actually plan for friends, with a hike, the market, downtown, wine, and the beach in the right order.

The stretch of Highway 1 from Morro Bay to Cambria is the Central Coast people picture. Here is how to spend a weekend on it, stop by stop, the way locals who live along it would.