Thanks to Visit Conejo Valley for sponsoring my trip so I could write this detailed review of my experience.

Just a 30-minute drive from Malibu and less than an hour from most of Los Angeles, the sun always shines on the Conejo Valley. Located around 35 miles northwest of downtown LA and straddling both the 101 freeway and LA/Ventura county line, the area is at the edge of Southern California’s 900-foot-high “valley”, where outdoor spaces are easily found and the pace is less frantic than neighborhoods closer to the city. Find Zen in a peaceful public garden or dive into local flavors in Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks, where clean and vibrant shopping and dining opportunities abound.

Fun Facts

“Conejo” is Spanish for rabbit, so the area was coined the Valley of the Rabbit because the animals are common to the region, like desert cottontail and brush rabbit species.

Did you know Conejo Valley was a stop on the stagecoach route between Los Angeles and San Francisco before the invention of the motorcar? It’s still a popular stopping point for long-distance travelers today.

Get to know the Conejo Valley

Breakfast

Pop into Zooza Café in Thousand Oaks for a generous smoothie, twice the size and half the price of most other places. Order the Green Goddess or refreshing Maui (blended with banana, blueberry, pineapple, mango juice, and flax seeds). Breakfast is served all day – like avocado toast, egg sandwiches, smelets, and our favorite, egg and cheese on a large soft croissant with a side of fresh fruit.

Located in Agoura Hills, The Cookie Café is a sweet spot to meet friends over espresso and the beloved $8.99 breakfast burrito loaded with eggs, onions, bacon, and tater tots (pictured above). Fresh quiche options include veggies, spinach and bacon, and ham and cheese. Scones, chicken pot pie, berry pies, and cookie slices are freshly baked and it is impossible not to leave with a six-pack of their chunky cookies straight from the oven – like walnut chocolate chip, vegan cranberry, double chocolate and white chocolate.

Lunch

For a casual lunch, choose from Blue Agave Tacos and Beer or Uncle Af’s for a memorable meal, both located in the same Agoura Hills shopping plaza. Blue Agave serves up street style tacos, burritos, nachos, quesadillas and deals for Taco Tuesdays – like a beer and 3 tacos for $14.25. Locals love the Asada fries, topped with meat and loaded with cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and pico de gallo. Our lunch highlight was the super fresh Ceviche Tostadas (marinated raw fish on crispy tortillas) that I like to break apart and to use as a shovel in sections, right into my mouth. Pair any Mexican creation here with a spicy refreshing Michelada, accompanied with your choice of beer to top off the Mexican cocktail. The tang of lime and tomato is way better than a Bloody Mary!

Uncle Af’s has been nominated as the Top 100 Restaurants in the USA, on Yelp, in previous years. Known for their international paninis, order one of their specialty sandwiches with crispy toasted bread, light and fluffy on the inside, like the Chicken Firecracker (with layers of chicken breast, firecracker bacon, avocado, onions, arugula, and firecracker aioli), Chicken Burrata, and the Imported Prosciutto with burrata, each around $15. This small shop is a local favorite, in no small part due to the friendly service and culinary skill of the owner. Next door, pick up a vintage sustainable find at The Closet Trading Company, a high-end thrift store well organized and loaded with designer clothes.

Wine Taste

The woman-owned West Tasting Room in Thousand Oaks showcases the best boutique wines from California and around the world. Come for a rotating wine flight that changes weekly, to share a bottle, or enjoy a class in their modern, bright, plant-filled tasting room. With over a hundred wines to choose from, picking three to compare was part of the fun. Two $25 tasting trios for my husband and I had us sampling a diverse selection of six whites and reds, although orange, rose, and sparkling wines are available too. From Washington state to Australia, we sipped and savored, determining our favorite glass of the night as Sonoma County’s Alma Pinot Noir, which tantalized our taste buds so much that we took home a bottle. The complex Stolpman “Uni” blend from Santa Barbara County was another favorite.

While there, we drooled over the fresh piping pizzas that were being placed at the tables next to us, with concoctions of leek and ricotta and mushroom and truffle with sage. I watched as girls devoured a robust creamy burrata ball board (with prosciutto and toasts) paired with their wine. In a private room, a knitting group was connecting over their craft and enhancing their time together with vino. Monthly events include pop-ups like Cousins Maine Lobster food truck, live BBQ, and workshops like create-your-own living moss ball.

Dinner

In a vibrant new shopping center in Thousand Oaks, find neighboring restaurants Go Fish and Basta. Get your sushi fix at Go Fish, where a fusion of fresh fish and bold ingredients are rolled out in an extensive menu. Portions are huge and nearly double the value of what we normally get in LA.

Start with miso soup and sushi, like the sweet raw shrimp special or ikura with its bright orange ball eggs. Share a bottle of sake and ask the chef to help narrow your choices based on the fish you crave. From the lengthy menu of raw and cooked rolls, try the beautifully presented Scooby Doo Roll, a fresh citrusy sushi bite with salmon, spicy crab, and avocado wrapped in white fish with thinly sliced lemon, ponzu, yuzu, and sriracha with green onion. The Red Bull Roll is a heartier option with shrimp tempura, spicy crab, and avocado with seared tender filet on the outside with a jalapeno drizzle – like surf and turf!

Basta’s new second location in Thousand Oaks is just as popular as their original in Agoura Hills. The celebrated Italian cuisine was bustling on a weekday. While no reservations are taken, unwind at their bar with a Pistachio Martini or Tuscan Blend or Brunello from Basta’s Estate Winery, before settling into a cozy booth, table, or bar in this buzzing social scene.

Dry aged boeuf greeted us at the entrance in a specialty display fridge, with counter showcases like prosciutto, salami, mozzarella, and burrata that can be purchased, while a slew of chefs busily craft pasta, wood fired pizza, and steaks, all in view for customers to admire through a long window. Everything is made in-house. Devour a wood-fired pizza like Diavalo with a plate of handcrafted pasta such as Vongole or Tagliatelle al Ragu (with slow braised beef and pork). Pretend you’re in Florence by sharing an giant 2-pound Fiorentine steak or opt for the tableside 1-lb aged Prime New York Steak grilled over mesquite wood and presented with a squeeze of lemon, sprinkle of salt, and an olive oil bath before being sliced showcasing its juicy fatty marbelization.

Basta’s original location in Whizin Market Square Agoura Hills shares a similar delicious menu. Next door, find amazing home design, art, antiques, and décor options in a variety of well curated boutique shops like the Agoura Antique Market and MIXT, where you are sure to find something special for your home.

Feel Calm

After battling two fires in Malibu, several friends suggested I sit in a salt cave to detox my body from smoke inhalation. I booked an appointment at Halo Salt Spa as I heard this dry salt therapy was great for respiratory benefits. Walking barefoot on the pinkish salt floor to get to my zero-gravity chair was a grounding experience, made complete with the room’s walls covered in salt and ceiling dripping in big pinkish salt chunks. For 45 minutes, I relaxed with legs up to absorb the benefits, while a halogenerator device ground pure grade salt into micron-sized particles dispersed into the air.

The dry salt therapy research stems from the salt mines and underground health resorts throughout Europe. As far back as the early 1800’s, physicians were having patients go underground into hollowed out salt chambers in the salt mines, for respiratory therapy. Known as speleotherapy, the most active and popular Wieliczka Salt Mine is outside Krakow, Poland. The dry salt therapy is helpful for stress and anxiety and also jet lag and travel. Halotherapy has antibacterial characteristics that help fight viruses and bacteria from spreading in the respiratory system, to combat poor air quality while traveling. It is also anti-inflammatory, which enables more oxygen to get into your system to build strength and endurance. Halo Salt Spa is a beautiful relaxing space that also offers treatments like infrared sauna, ionic foot baths, facials, unique massages, and salt and sauna.

To celebrate the cultures around the globe, one couple decided to build Gardens of the World, a striking monument to commemorate various cultures with different types of gardens. Set on 4.5 acres in Thousand Oaks, there are five different gardens representing England, France, Italy, Japan, and the unique California Mission Courtyard. Leave your stresses behind as you wander around the Koi Pond encircled by bamboo and bridges. Inhale the scent of roses with more than 400 bushes in the English Rose Garden. The French Garden is a symmetrical beauty with water features and perfectly clipped parterres along with mazes of structured boxwood hedges. The French Fountain is a replica of the one found at the Gardens of Versailles. Continue your stroll along the chain fountain inspired by Italian historic architecture. It is free to visit. Go on a weekday and bring a picnic lunch to soak in the sun at one of their outdoor tables.

The Conejo Valley Botanic Garden, established in 1973 when volunteers leased a 33-acre parcel for a public botanic garden, is a special property in Thousand Oaks that offers visitors a free place to enjoy collections of native plants, oak trees, and indigenous wildlife. Fifteen hillside botanical gardens include an Australian Garden, Herb Garden, Desert Garden, Kids’ Adventure Garden, Mediterranean Garden, and a rare fruit orchard. In the Butterfly Garden, several benches allow proper rest as bees and butterflies flit around. In springtime, guests can witness a grand display of white paper-like Matilija poppies and psychedelic Purple Passion flowers. A nature trail less than one-mile-long winds you around a meadow, labeled gardens, alongside a creek and through a variety of 72 trees. Coming here feels therapeutic to the soul.

KEEP READING:

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–The 10 most Instagrammable tourist attractions in California
–California road trip: Los Angeles to San Francisco and must-visit stops along the way
–Our first family trip to Legoland and The Castle Hotel

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