Santa Cruz - The Route

West Coast USA promises to be a diverse playground for the crews at the end of the fifth leg of the race. Ranging from the sandy and rocky beaches of the Pacific coast to the rugged, snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains in the east and the desert areas to the south east.

This most populous of the United States is home to an ethnically diverse population, vast tracts of wilderness and cities packed with every form of entertainment you could wish for.

From exploring the vineyards of the Napa Valley to paddling across Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada, skiing or hiking through Yosemite or marvelling at the General Sherman trees, the largest in the world, in the Sequoia National Park, fans of the great outdoors will not be disappointed.

Try your luck at star-spotting in Hollywood. It's the heart of the film industry where dreams are made for the lucky and end up trampled in the dust for most who venture there to see their name in lights. If you don't manage to catch a glimpse of an A-lister on one of the many tours, you can at least follow in their footsteps and look for their stars on Hollywood Boulevard. And if you want stars of a different kind you won’t get much closer to them than the Griffith Observatory on the southern slopes of Mount Hollywood in Los Angeles.

The famed boardwalk at Santa Cruz, the West Coast's oldest seaside amusement park at 100 years old, draws big crowds every summer with its classic Giant Dipper wooden roller coaster and free Friday night concerts on the beach.

One of California's most visible landmarks can be found in San Francisco, the city by the bay. The iconic Golden Gate Bridge with its orange paint is a popular tourist attraction and part of the Pacific Coast Highway. When it was built in the 1930s it was the world's longest suspension bridge. If you want to slow down the pace you can walk or cycle over it and enjoy the magnificent panoramic views of the Bay Area.