Regional sacred-site guide
Sacred sites in California
Explore 18 sacred places in California, United States, with a regional map and links to detailed site guides.
Traditions in California
Site types in California
Showing 1-18 of 18 sites in this regional guide
Blythe Intaglios
Blythe, California, United States
In the Colorado Desert, fifteen miles north of Blythe, six colossal figures lie etched into the earth....
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
Ukiah, California, United States
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas in Ukiah, California, belongs within Buddhism. At City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, sacred life continues through meditation at City of Ten...
Hsi Lai Temple
Hacienda Heights, California, United States
Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights, California, belongs within Buddhism. At Hsi Lai Temple, sacred life continues through meditation at Hsi Lai Temple, chanting at Hsi Lai...
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Joshua Tree, California, United States
Rising from the meeting place of two deserts, Joshua Tree's otherworldly landscape of giant granite boulders and twisted trees has drawn seekers for millennia....
Lassen Peak, California
Mineral, California, United States
Lassen Peak stands as the southernmost active volcano in the Cascade Range and ancestral homeland of the Atsugewi, Yana, Yahi, and Mountain Maidu peoples....
Malibu Hindu Temple
Calabasas, California, United States
Malibu Hindu Temple in Calabasas, California, belongs within Hinduism. At Malibu Hindu Temple, sacred life continues through darshan at Malibu Hindu Temple, puja at Malibu...
Mission San Juan Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano, California, United States
Mission San Juan Capistrano in San Juan Capistrano, California, belongs within Roman Catholic Christianity....
Mount Diablo, California
Contra Costa County, California, United States
The Ohlone call it Tuyshtak—'at the dawn of time.' The Bay Miwok say the world began here, after a great flood....
Mount San Jacinto, California
Riverside County, California, United States
Mount San Jacinto rises nearly two vertical miles above the Sonoran desert floor outside Palm Springs, creating one of the most dramatic vertical landscapes in North...
Mount Shasta
Siskiyou County, California, United States
Mount Shasta rises 14,179 feet from northern California flatlands, a snow-capped volcano visible for a hundred miles....
Mount Tamalpais
Marin County, California, United States
Mount Tamalpais rises 2,571 feet above San Francisco Bay, a mountain sacred to the Coast Miwok for thousands of years and recognized by the Lakota as the 'Holy Right Eye...
Point Conception, California
Santa Barbara County, California, United States
Point Conception juts westward into the Pacific at the precise bend where the California coastline pivots from north-south to east-west....
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine
Pacific Palisades, California, United States
Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine in Pacific Palisades, California, belongs within Kriya Yoga and interfaith contemplative practice....
Shasta Abbey
Mount Shasta, California, United States
Shasta Abbey in Mount Shasta, California, belongs within Christian monastic tradition....
Sikh Gurdwara of Stockton
Stockton, California, United States
Sikh Gurdwara of Stockton in Stockton, California, belongs within Sikhism. At Sikh Gurdwara of Stockton, sacred life continues through kirtan at Sikh Gurdwara of Stockton,...
Soldier Mountain, California
Redding, California, United States
Soldier Mountain in California's Fresno County appears on lists of Native American sacred sites, though its specific significance, associated tribes, and ceremonial...
Tecate Peak, California
Tecate, California, United States
Tecate Peak, known to the Kumeyaay as Kuuchamaa, 'The Exalted High Place,' stands among the most sacred sites of the Kumeyaay people....
Tolay Lake
Sonoma County, California, United States
For at least four thousand years, medicine people traveled from across what is now the western United States—and as far as Mexico—to gather at Tolay Lake....
Key questions
California sacred-site questions
- How many sacred sites are listed in California?
- This regional guide currently includes 18 sacred sites in California, United States.
- Which traditions are represented in California?
- The most represented traditions in the current guide include Indigenous, Buddhism, Christian monastic tradition, Hinduism, Kriya Yoga and interfaith contemplative practice, Roman Catholic Christianity, Sikhism.
- Can I view California sacred sites on a map?
- Yes. Switch to map view to compare the listed places, then open a site page for coordinates and visiting context.