I hate to be a killjoy, but it looks to me like you have 3 days to drive from SF to LA via PCH, see Disneyland, Universal Studios, Hollywood and then drive to SD to see the zoo and then back up to LA. You are trying to do too much IMHO.

You can drive to LA from SF on PCH in one day, but not much time to stop and see any nature. I think there is a lot to see in that stretch, so I would prefer a more leisurely pace. Plus you can't 'see' Disneyland in less than a day, so if that is part of your plan, you now only have 2 days to drive and back. Not sure what the appeal is of Universal Studios. Is it the amusement park?

If it were me, I think I would drive to LA in two days stopping in Carmel or Big Sur or Santa Barbara; spend two days in LA. One for Disneyland and the other for maybe seeing Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, or whatever and then take a flight from LA to SF for your return trip home. SD will have to wait for another trip.

Still not a lot of time for areas where there is lots to see.

Don't miss Hearst Castle ...

http://www.hearstcastle.org/

Thanks for your response. SD is not very high priority. Neither are the rides in Disneyland or Universal Studio.., but do want to go once and count it in .

If I keep 2 days to reach LA, would that be enough to do sight-seeing, stopping at beautiful spots, and spending some time just gawking at Nature's beauty ? What would be the best spot to spend the night then ? Beautiful sunset is something I would look forward to...

Then probably I would have 2 days to reach LA, 2 days to spend there and one day in spare...

What would be a good area to stay in LA ? Cannot splurge

Sorry, to be clear.., do want to go to Universal Studio at least once .. Disneyland and SD are not high priority.

Is the return to SF to avoid a drop off fee on the rental car?
Would it work for you to take the Coast Starlight from SF-Emeryville to San Luis Obispo and renting a car there for your trip south? The return train gets back to Emeryville about 10 PM. You would not be stopping anywhere if you rent the car in San Francisco.

Return to SF is because I have an International connecting flight from SFO.

You don't have time enough to do this. You will have to pick and choose.

The drive down Hwy 1 from SF to LA is a full two day drive if you stop anywhere -- and 3 days is better. Added to all the things you want to see/do in SoCal -- this could easily fill 10 days.

So,if drop off fees are OK and fit in your budget, you should fly one way and drive the other. Either fly from SFO to LAX, Burbank, or Orange County, pick up a car and spend a couple of days in the LA/Anaheim area and then drive up the coast towards SF. Or do the trip in reverse --drive down the coast and fly back to SFO. I'd personally fly down and drive back --but the difference isn't significant.

You don't want to take the train -- it is slow and often has long delays. Renting a car in SLO makes no sense IMHO since you'd miss all of Monterey/Big Sur and the gorgeous bits of the coast.

(BTW it isn't called the Pacific Coast Highway/PCH until in southern CA. In northern/central CA it is just Hwy 1, or the Cabrillo Hwy - though few people call it that)

If you MUST rent and return the car in SF -- then drive down the coast in 2 days, spend 2 days in LA and rush back on I-5 the day before your flight out. But this would be one Gawd Awful trek . . .

If it were me, I'd drive down to about Cambria on Monday, stopping along the way a few times, then to LA on Tuesday, spend Wednesday and Thursday in LA doing whatever you choose, and drive back up on Friday, again, stopping as time permits (how late is your Friday flight?). I don't like to fly in the same evening as I'm flying out -- although I'm not a "nervous Nellie", I would be afraid of missing my international flight.

As others have noted, you don't have enough time to do all you want to do.

However, to cram in as much as possible, spend your first night in Monterey. The next day drive to Los Angeles via Big Sur and Santa Barbara.

On the return, the fastest route between LA and San Francisco is about 400 miles and seven hours of driving time (if you don't experience heavy traffic).

HTTY

Note that right now, there is construction on I-5 around Buttonwillow which reduces traffic to one lane. When we were there two weekends ago, the delay was about an hour, although the Cal Trans websites says delays could be up to 3 hours (we gained a half hour back by going a different route, but if you don't know where you're going, you might find that difficult to do).

If you can determine a little in advance (a few hours) that there are delays on I-5, just head up CA-99 instead. That was the main route before I-5 was built, is 4 lanes divided, and according to Google maps, takes about 20 minutes longer to SF. I drove it to the Sacramento delta last summer and it was speedy.

That's the way we went dbdurand. Fortunately, we knew in advance about the work in I-5, because the notice on the highway was not given far enough in advance (about 2 miles, which isn't much on I-5!)