Best Neighborhoods in Rancho Santa Fe, CA

The Covenant is the original Rancho Santa Fe, several thousand acres of eucalyptus, riding trails and estate homes in the hills inland from Solana Beach and Encinitas. The groves date to the Santa Fe Railway, which planted millions of blue gums for railroad ties before learning the wood was too soft to hold a spike. The community laid out among them in the 1920s is now a state historical landmark. ... See Full Page

Santa Fe Valley follows the San Dieguito River below Lake Hodges, along the eastern reach of Rancho Santa Fe where Del Dios Highway drops out of the gorge. Oak-lined river bottom, preserved hillsides and a golf course fill most of the land, and the planned neighborhoods of 4S Ranch and Del Sur rise just across the line on the east and south sides. ... See Full Page

Up a winding drive from Del Dios Highway, Cielo is a guard-gated hillside community on the eastern side of Rancho Santa Fe. It climbs the slopes between the Covenant and Lake Hodges, with Elfin Forest over the ridge to the north, and most of its streets look out over open canyon country. ... See Full Page

Golf greens, farm fields and the Via de la Valle corridor make up Whispering Palms, the low-lying southwest edge of Rancho Santa Fe below the Covenant. The name goes back to 1960, when a developer bought 300 acres of the old Osuna land grant here and opened a golf course five years later. Solana Beach and Del Mar are the next towns west. ... See Full Page