Going to California in April, what are the "must see" places

[buzzer]

We are flying into San Francisco on a fly drive mid April, We want to do the grand canyon, maybe Las Vegas (but not sure on that one..)

We have 2 weeks, where do you guys recommend we visit?

Also, would you hire a convertible?

Any tips appreciated

[mondayo]

I did that trip with the misses last April. We flew into SF and had 4 nights there, then picked up a hire car and headed down the coast. We stayed 2 nights in Monterey; it's a nice town and then there is Carmel next door, plus 17 mile drive which a private road which you pay to go on and its pretty decent with lovely sights and lots of famous golf courses.
After that we headed down Pacific Coast Highway (Route 1 I think) and that was just stunning....round virtually every corner there were stunning views and it was great driving roads.
On our way down the coast/California we stopped at a place called Madonna Inn (which is a bit mental but good laugh and with superb food) then. Everyone raves about Hearst Castle but we didn't manage to make it there.
We stayed one night in Santa Barbara and wished we stayed 2 as we really liked it there. We then went to Santa Monica which we didn't like so much, then skipped round LA and went on to SD for a few nights as have friends living there.
We then ditched the car and got a flight over to Vegas for 3 nights before coming home. We did Cirque du Soleil and GC helicopter trip (plus a little bit of partying) whilst there too.

Do search threads on here as there is loads of info and people who've done it. And there are 101 ways of doing the California road trip thing. We were away for 17 days, but if you skipped San Diego 14 would be fine.

I emailed people I found on here and they all were very helpful with tips and advice and if you have any other questions for me, just drop me a message. We got excellent deals on hotels and car hire....it seemed to be a good time to go and it was my best ever holiday.

we hired a convertible and went through Hertz. Booked the default convertible with their neverlost/sat nav system and joined the gold drivers club. When we got to the car hire pick up we were nice and polite and probably very lucky and got upgraded to a mustang....which was brill, certainly added to our holliday...we were lucky with the weather too I think. The price was quite a bit less than hiring a Mustang and not getting an upgrade, but about 3-4 weeks before we flew there was a 25% discount off car hire in California....you just have to hold your nerve and keep checking everyday.

[SimonV8ster]

If your going to Grand Canyon do Canyonlands, Death Valley, Hoover Dam, Bryce Canyon, Zion Nat Park, Moab, etc,etc. (not necessarily in that order!) Can go on a round trip and get it all in.

Oh, and Yosemite, suppose to be fab but haven't done it yet.

[K50 DEL]

Here's the trip report of a 3 week, 6000 mile road trip around CA, AZ, NV, UT, and OR that I did

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/forum/showthread.ph...

Should be plenty of ideas there..... do not miss Hearst Castle, whatever else you see, it's worth the flight out there on its own.

[FUBAR]

Hey buzzer, give me a as we pass. I'm going in the opposite direction up the PCH (LAX to SF) the middle 2 weeks in April. Sounds like the road is going to be full of PHers

[fatboy b]

Recommend Yosemite. Try and do it for 3 nights to give yourself 2 full days. Try and get into Yosemite Lodge - very reasonable, and has a decent bar & eating facilities. Magic place.

[melv]

Deffo Hearst Castle -I could live with that!!

Spend a bit of cafe time/people watching in SF

Seals on Pier 39

Cable cars.......

Drive Highway One -stunning scenery

Don't try and do TOO much -we spent four days in LA, took over two weeks driving up Highway One (but that incl Laguna Seca and Pebble Beach as it was Aug) and 3 days in SF...

Got fed up with the same old hotels/motels though and the food quantities!! Try and find somewhere different if u can!

[Targarama]

fatboy b said:

Recommend Yosemite. Try and do it for 3 nights to give yourself 2 full days. Try and get into Yosemite Lodge - very reasonable, and has a decent bar & eating facilities. Magic place.

I agree that Yosemite is nice, but the effort in getting there IMO wasn't worth it. Plenty of equally lovely spots in The Alps IMHO. Only uniquely cool thing was the giant Redwoods, but there are other forests with these in too.

San Francisco to the Grand Canyon is a very long drive, so check your distances and make sure you don't end up driving the whole time and having no rest days.

[mondayo]

FUBAR said:

Hey buzzer, give me a as we pass. I'm going in the opposite direction up the PCH (LAX to SF) the middle 2 weeks in April. Sounds like the road is going to be full of PHers

We saw quite a few mustang and sebring hire cars on the PCH but on 17 mile drive, at virtually every stop there were half a dozen mustang convertibles!