San Luis Obispo — universally called SLO — was founded around Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa, established in 1772. The mission still anchors the downtown, and San Luis Creek still runs through it. What grew up around them is a genuinely pleasant California city that manages to feel unhurried despite being home to Cal Poly (California Polytechnic State University), one of California's larger public universities.
The downtown is compact and walkable. Higuera Street is the main drag — lined with restaurants, bars, and shops that cater to locals as much as visitors. On Thursday evenings the street closes for the Farmers Market, which is less a produce run and more a weekly block party: streetside BBQs, restaurant stalls, live music, and a crowd that includes everyone from students to retirees.
The climate is mild year-round, averaging in the low-to-mid 70s Fahrenheit, but temperatures can swing significantly within a single day. Dress in layers.
Parking downtown is tight on street level. The parking structures on Marsh at Chorro, and on Palm Street between Chorro and Morro, are cheaper and almost always have space — and since SLO is easy to walk, leaving the car a couple of blocks away is no hardship.