Discussion
Just booked some last minute flights to California with the good lady. Having been a few times before I'd be interested to hear about places that you've found slightly off the beaten track.
We fly in to San Francisco and as I've never liked the place we won't be spending any time there. Ideally heading north to get out of the city. I know of Napa Valley, but is there anything else worth spending a couple of nights on? We have an idea that we would like to spend sometime in lodges in the various parks and forests around there.
Then it's the long road on the coast to LA. Taking in Monterey, Big Sur and Hearst Castle. Most likely heading to Santa Barbara and on to Vegas via Death Valley.
So if you have any little gems that we can take in on the way, I'd be keen to hear what you can suggest.
We fly in to San Francisco and as I've never liked the place we won't be spending any time there. Ideally heading north to get out of the city. I know of Napa Valley, but is there anything else worth spending a couple of nights on? We have an idea that we would like to spend sometime in lodges in the various parks and forests around there.
Then it's the long road on the coast to LA. Taking in Monterey, Big Sur and Hearst Castle. Most likely heading to Santa Barbara and on to Vegas via Death Valley.
So if you have any little gems that we can take in on the way, I'd be keen to hear what you can suggest.
Head up the Coast to Oregon, some fantastic scenery and very rural. Should be able to find some nice lodge type accommodation at very reasonable rates. Weather is a bit wet at this time of year but its pretty mild. I'm heading to Bandon Dunes in April for two weeks of golfing [ValentinoRossimode] I is velly velly appy [/ValentinoRossimode] 
tuffer said:
A mere blip of the throttle in a V8 Camaro.......go on, you know you want to.
I would love to do SF to Vancouver, but the way this trip has worked out I have a meeting in LA as well as the need to be in Vegas!Plus, I don't think the Chevy Equinox we might be hiring comes with a V8 option
How long have you got to get from SF to LA? I did what was for all intents and purposes ‘a lap’ of California last September/October but had 3 weeks to do it in. My trip consisted of SF, Sonoma (wine country), South Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Mammoth Lakes, Death Valley, San Diego; Santa Monica (wouldn’t stay in LA proper unless I had to). Then Up the coast to SF stopping off the way overnight in Cambria and Pacific Grove (Monterey Peninsula).
It sounds to me as if you don’t want to or don’t have the time to deviate too much of the coast from SF to LA. You mentioned Napa, Sonoma is smaller and a nicer town IMO. We’ve been a couple of times now the main attraction is the wine tours which are a great day out, if you’re interested I can send you the details of the tour company we’ve used and the B&B we’ve stayed in. We did the coast road South to North, only small advantage supposedly is that you’re on the inside of the road on cliff roads where there’s a steep drop.TBH I’d heard this before I went and it’s a load of tosh. Hearst Castle isn’t too far from Cambria (north of) which is a very nice little town and much cheaper to stay at than say Big Sir. From Cambria it’s a very manageable drive down to LA. Just North of Cambria you can stop of and see the elephant seals, there were literally hundreds of the beasties on the beach which is some site.
Watch your speed in CA, if you don’t you will be pulled at some point. I got pulled myself at the start of the trip but seen at least half a dozen cars pulled by the highway patrols.
andrew311 said:
How long have you got to get from SF to LA? I did what was for all intents and purposes ‘a lap’ of California last September/October but had 3 weeks to do it in. My trip consisted of SF, Sonoma (wine country), South Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Mammoth Lakes, Death Valley, San Diego; Santa Monica (wouldn’t stay in LA proper unless I had to). Then Up the coast to SF stopping off the way overnight in Cambria and Pacific Grove (Monterey Peninsula).
It sounds to me as if you don’t want to or don’t have the time to deviate too much of the coast from SF to LA. You mentioned Napa, Sonoma is smaller and a nicer town IMO. We’ve been a couple of times now the main attraction is the wine tours which are a great day out, if you’re interested I can send you the details of the tour company we’ve used and the B&B we’ve stayed in. We did the coast road South to North, only small advantage supposedly is that you’re on the inside of the road on cliff roads where there’s a steep drop.TBH I’d heard this before I went and it’s a load of tosh. Hearst Castle isn’t too far from Cambria (north of) which is a very nice little town and much cheaper to stay at than say Big Sir. From Cambria it’s a very manageable drive down to LA. Just North of Cambria you can stop of and see the elephant seals, there were literally hundreds of the beasties on the beach which is some site.
Watch your speed in CA, if you don’t you will be pulled at some point. I got pulled myself at the start of the trip but seen at least half a dozen cars pulled by the highway patrols.
Thanks for that. I suspect it will be nearly 2 weeks to get to LA, so we have plenty of time to stop and admire the view. South Lake Tahoe looks like it might be a touch far, although I don't have a firm plan in my head yet.It sounds to me as if you don’t want to or don’t have the time to deviate too much of the coast from SF to LA. You mentioned Napa, Sonoma is smaller and a nicer town IMO. We’ve been a couple of times now the main attraction is the wine tours which are a great day out, if you’re interested I can send you the details of the tour company we’ve used and the B&B we’ve stayed in. We did the coast road South to North, only small advantage supposedly is that you’re on the inside of the road on cliff roads where there’s a steep drop.TBH I’d heard this before I went and it’s a load of tosh. Hearst Castle isn’t too far from Cambria (north of) which is a very nice little town and much cheaper to stay at than say Big Sir. From Cambria it’s a very manageable drive down to LA. Just North of Cambria you can stop of and see the elephant seals, there were literally hundreds of the beasties on the beach which is some site.
Watch your speed in CA, if you don’t you will be pulled at some point. I got pulled myself at the start of the trip but seen at least half a dozen cars pulled by the highway patrols.
I will have a look into the other towns that you have mentioned, just looking at Pacific Grove it seems to tick some boxes. Trying to avoid main stream hotels as I spend way too much time in them.
We will be doing the PCH North to South, as we have done it before we know what to expect.
Feel free to fire the name of the B&B you stayed in, I'm not bothered by the wine tours as I don't drink the stuff!
From memory SF to SLT would be about 3.5/4hrs, I was already in Sonoma which was a bit closer. If you don’t drink wine then I’d personally stay clear of the area, there are some pretty towns and nice scenic drives but I think your time could be better spent elsewhere IMO.
It all comes down to what your interests are, in all honesty I’ll give anything a try and the whole journey was the big appeal to me, taking in some interesting roads and scenery along the way. SLT is beautiful, you can take the paddle steamer (diesel powered) out on the lake, take the cable car up heavenly (ski resort in the winter) and admire the view. Then there are the casinos but it’s no Vegas by any stretch. We stayed 2 nights up there which was enough; there was a heat wave in September so it was hot too. TBH SLT has had a good beating from the American ugly stick, I found myself wondering standing on a beach taking in the views of the second largest Alpine lake in the world thinking only in America would someone build concrete monstrosities. I stayed on the Californian side the other end away from the casinos.
Death Valley is a destination in itself, most people just use it to break up the long (and very uninteresting otherwise drive from the coast on the way to Vegas) It’s just a unique place. We spent a couple of nights there, been to Vegas before so didn’t need to include this.
You’re in a slightly strange predicament in my eyes, too much time just to do the coast but not enough to take in places like Yosemite. You don’t like SF so may as well head straight to the Monterey Peninsula. Monterey Bay, Pacific Grove, and Carmel by the Sea pretty much merge so you’re not particularly missing out on the other by choosing any really-I'd recommend a whale wathing trip out of Monterey Bay. The drive down to LA is easily manageable from here in a day so if you need extra time elsewhere this is doable but I’d break it up into 3ish hour drives with a half way stop somewhere. Santa Barbara is a fair distance still out of LA and is a pretty big- something like 100k population. It’s worth a visit but Id choose Santa Monica over it as an over night stay, nice beach/promonade and short drive to Malibu and some other places. I’d be tempted to include San Diego too as it’s not too far off your route.
I’d go for 2 nights Monterey, 1 night to break up Highway 101, 2 Santa Monica, 2 San Diego, 2 Death Valley, 5 in Vegas. I basing all this assuming you fly back out of Vegas if not then that changes things.
ETA see from anotehr post you are flying back out of Vegas.
It all comes down to what your interests are, in all honesty I’ll give anything a try and the whole journey was the big appeal to me, taking in some interesting roads and scenery along the way. SLT is beautiful, you can take the paddle steamer (diesel powered) out on the lake, take the cable car up heavenly (ski resort in the winter) and admire the view. Then there are the casinos but it’s no Vegas by any stretch. We stayed 2 nights up there which was enough; there was a heat wave in September so it was hot too. TBH SLT has had a good beating from the American ugly stick, I found myself wondering standing on a beach taking in the views of the second largest Alpine lake in the world thinking only in America would someone build concrete monstrosities. I stayed on the Californian side the other end away from the casinos.
Death Valley is a destination in itself, most people just use it to break up the long (and very uninteresting otherwise drive from the coast on the way to Vegas) It’s just a unique place. We spent a couple of nights there, been to Vegas before so didn’t need to include this.
You’re in a slightly strange predicament in my eyes, too much time just to do the coast but not enough to take in places like Yosemite. You don’t like SF so may as well head straight to the Monterey Peninsula. Monterey Bay, Pacific Grove, and Carmel by the Sea pretty much merge so you’re not particularly missing out on the other by choosing any really-I'd recommend a whale wathing trip out of Monterey Bay. The drive down to LA is easily manageable from here in a day so if you need extra time elsewhere this is doable but I’d break it up into 3ish hour drives with a half way stop somewhere. Santa Barbara is a fair distance still out of LA and is a pretty big- something like 100k population. It’s worth a visit but Id choose Santa Monica over it as an over night stay, nice beach/promonade and short drive to Malibu and some other places. I’d be tempted to include San Diego too as it’s not too far off your route.
I’d go for 2 nights Monterey, 1 night to break up Highway 101, 2 Santa Monica, 2 San Diego, 2 Death Valley, 5 in Vegas. I basing all this assuming you fly back out of Vegas if not then that changes things.
ETA see from anotehr post you are flying back out of Vegas.
It is a slightly strange predicament. Essentially what's happening is that we fly in to SF, I have a meeting in LA that I would like to attend around 2 weeks later and then I have a trade show in Vegas 4 days later.
So the plan would be, land in SF, head to somewhere to put our feet up, enjoy some nice scenery, get over the jet lag and then head off. As for interests, it depends on my wife really (long story!), so we won't be going anywhere to active. We had a pretty hectic couple of years, so the chance to stay in a nice B&B, do a couple of day trips (whale watching, lazy walks etc etc) will be very welcome. So outdoorsy and natural stuff, without being too hectic.
PCH will do as a nice road for me, it'll be a hire car, so it's not going to be something that's involving. I know that the road can be clogged with tourists, so that's not a concern. I'll just join in enjoying the scenery.
I think your plan is about spot on, the LA / SD / DV split is going to be dictated by the meeting in LA and when I need to be there. I think we will have less nights in Vegas just due to the timing of it, and for my sanity! My lady hasn't seen San Diego, Death Valley or Vegas (I've done all three), but will be happy to act as a tour guide.
I think an overnight in Death Valley is a must, and fits in the pace of the trip we are planning.
Then on to Vegas for a couple of nights before she heads home from Vegas, I stay on and fly home from LA a week later.
As for LA, I know it well and love the place. Have a couple of native friends there, so I should be sorted for things to do (Still have a long to-do list for the city) and will most likely be based in Santa Monica as there is not finer place to watch the sun go down
Thanks for the input so far, I'm going to spend tonight planning out the nights and when we need to be in places...
So the plan would be, land in SF, head to somewhere to put our feet up, enjoy some nice scenery, get over the jet lag and then head off. As for interests, it depends on my wife really (long story!), so we won't be going anywhere to active. We had a pretty hectic couple of years, so the chance to stay in a nice B&B, do a couple of day trips (whale watching, lazy walks etc etc) will be very welcome. So outdoorsy and natural stuff, without being too hectic.
PCH will do as a nice road for me, it'll be a hire car, so it's not going to be something that's involving. I know that the road can be clogged with tourists, so that's not a concern. I'll just join in enjoying the scenery.
I think your plan is about spot on, the LA / SD / DV split is going to be dictated by the meeting in LA and when I need to be there. I think we will have less nights in Vegas just due to the timing of it, and for my sanity! My lady hasn't seen San Diego, Death Valley or Vegas (I've done all three), but will be happy to act as a tour guide.
I think an overnight in Death Valley is a must, and fits in the pace of the trip we are planning.
Then on to Vegas for a couple of nights before she heads home from Vegas, I stay on and fly home from LA a week later.
As for LA, I know it well and love the place. Have a couple of native friends there, so I should be sorted for things to do (Still have a long to-do list for the city) and will most likely be based in Santa Monica as there is not finer place to watch the sun go down
Thanks for the input so far, I'm going to spend tonight planning out the nights and when we need to be in places...
andrew311 said:
How long have you got to get from SF to LA? I did what was for all intents and purposes ‘a lap’ of California last September/October but had 3 weeks to do it in. My trip consisted of SF, Sonoma (wine country), South Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park, Mammoth Lakes, Death Valley...
Where did you stay in Death Valley? Was it the Amargosa Opera House at Death Valley Junction?theboyfold said:
Because I'm picking the car up in SF and dropping it off in Vegas I can't hire anything nice from Hertz. The best I can get is a Mustang from Avis.
Out of state drop offs (one way rentals) are no problem with Hertz. There is a surcharge of $300 for the privilege but you can do it. My last Hertz rental was pick up at SEA and drop off at LAX.Strangely Brown said:
Out of state drop offs (one way rentals) are no problem with Hertz. There is a surcharge of $300 for the privilege but you can do it. My last Hertz rental was pick up at SEA and drop off at LAX.
You can drop off a standard car out of state, but not anything from the fun collectiontheboyfold said:
You can drop off a standard car out of state, but not anything from the fun collection
OK, fair enough. I had a Saturn Outlook SUV for the trip down from Seattle to LA so I suppose that's "standard". All of the Fun Collection rentals that I have had, whilst being dropped off at a different location to pickup, have at least been in the same state.Strangely Brown said:
OK, fair enough. I had a Saturn Outlook SUV for the trip down from Seattle to LA so I suppose that's "standard". All of the Fun Collection rentals that I have had, whilst being dropped off at a different location to pickup, have at least been in the same state.
Yep, that's the issue. Although I've been offered a very cheap SUV thing for 2 weeks for a little over £200... So I might just end up going with that and try and play the upgrade game when I pick the car up.I/we did a 17 day trip last April. I know you've said you don't like SF, so that takes 4 days off what we did, as we had 4 days there without the car and had a fab time.
Hertz then recommended an inland route down to Monterey.
After that (and you may have done some of this on previous trips) but we had 2 nights in the Monterey area before heading down the PCH. Hearst Castle is supposed to be amazing, but we never made it. We stayed at a place called the Madonna Inn, which is some weird 70's homage type hotel near San Louis Obispo (sp). Rooms aren't the cheapest, but we rang out and asked for an internet rate and got a good discount....it's all very OTT but the service and food are superb. We stayed in the jungle rocks room.
We really liked Santa Barbara and again just turned up and found a room when we got there, got a good rate and some nice bars with micro-breweries on site. We only stayed one night, but wished we stayed two. Had one night in Santa Monica, which was ok and then onto San Diego. Stayed the weekend out of town with friends, and then had one night in the gaslight district...can't remember the hotel name, but it was very nice and had views straight into the local ball park. Plus some cool bars and restaurants nearby.
If you haven't already booked the car, we found it cheaper to hire a mustang for about 9 days, then ditched the car at SD airport and got a cheap internal flight to Vegas.
The wife wasn't too sure about the trip intially, but loved it so much, has suggested we do it again at some point. From my perspective, I use a wheelchair and loved the accessability of everywhere we went.
Hertz then recommended an inland route down to Monterey.
After that (and you may have done some of this on previous trips) but we had 2 nights in the Monterey area before heading down the PCH. Hearst Castle is supposed to be amazing, but we never made it. We stayed at a place called the Madonna Inn, which is some weird 70's homage type hotel near San Louis Obispo (sp). Rooms aren't the cheapest, but we rang out and asked for an internet rate and got a good discount....it's all very OTT but the service and food are superb. We stayed in the jungle rocks room.
We really liked Santa Barbara and again just turned up and found a room when we got there, got a good rate and some nice bars with micro-breweries on site. We only stayed one night, but wished we stayed two. Had one night in Santa Monica, which was ok and then onto San Diego. Stayed the weekend out of town with friends, and then had one night in the gaslight district...can't remember the hotel name, but it was very nice and had views straight into the local ball park. Plus some cool bars and restaurants nearby.
If you haven't already booked the car, we found it cheaper to hire a mustang for about 9 days, then ditched the car at SD airport and got a cheap internal flight to Vegas.
The wife wasn't too sure about the trip intially, but loved it so much, has suggested we do it again at some point. From my perspective, I use a wheelchair and loved the accessability of everywhere we went.
theboyfold said:
Where did you stay in Death Valley? Was it the Amargosa Opera House at Death Valley Junction?
We stayed in the national park at Stovepipe Wells; think there are only about 3 places that you can stay inside the national park proper. Stovepipe is just a simple/basic motel but has views of the sand dunes and has the feel that you're actually in the desert. Boulder is another place you can stay which is closer to Vegas.Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff