At this mini-Getty, the gardens are large and lush; the intimate galleries and library showcase immediately recognizable works of art. Then there's the whole "Whoa, they have a Gutenberg Bible" factor.

Once the private property of railroad and real-estate baron Henry E. Huntington, the grounds opened to the public in 1928 as a museum, library and botanical garden. It is one of the world's great research libraries; inside is a Gutenberg Bible, a manuscript of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Benjamin Franklin's handwritten autobiography, first-edition folios by Shakespeare, and Thomas Gainsborough's famous "Blue Boy" painting, whose subject appears to be looking at Sir Thomas Lawrence's "Pinkie" across the room. Then there are the gardens, by far the biggest draw. With more than 14,000 species, the 150-acre gardens are sectioned by type and origin. Botanical favorites are the Rose Garden, with more than 1,200 varieties, the Japanese and Zen Gardens and the Dr. Suess-like Desert Garden, which is the largest outdoor grouping of cacti and succulents in the country.