Cut a night from SF and a night from Napa, giving you 2 in Monterey or Carmel or Pacific Grove to base for Big Sur.

I agree with Michelle. On the other hand, we have gone as far as Big Sur as a day trip (but didn't hike or anything), where we stopped at Pfeiffer Beach, Capitola and Nepenthe. Here's my report of that day:

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/little-trip-report-day-trip-down-the-ca-coast-part-way.cfm?38

Maybe you should skip San Francisco altogether on this trip? (Personally, I'd skip Napa, but I'm in the minority - I think it's very beautiful, but I'm not into wine tasting, so I wouldn't spend more than a day).

The drive time from Napa to Monterey is less than 3 hours if you avoid commuter traffic. I think I would start in San Francisco, go to Napa, then to Monterey/ Carmel, then to the SF airport (SFO). If you spend the first night in SF, driving the next day (Sunday) to Napa will take 1 hour. You could spend one night but two very full days in Napa, heading to Monterey/Carmel at 6 or 7 PM on Monday night. You will arrive by 9 or 10 PM. Traffic will not be a problem. Then you would have 3 nights for Monterey/Carmel/ Big Sur.

If you chose to spend Sun and Mon nights in Napa, you will avoid traffic problems if you leave for Monterey/Carmel about 9AM.

Driving from Monterey to SFO requires leaving by 10 or 11 AM to avoid San Jose area traffic, which starts to get busy around 2 PM. The reason I suggest going from Monterey to SFO last is because the airport is south of San Francisco.

Thanks everyone... this was very helpful!

@elnap29: our flight leaves around 11 AM on Thursday so I do not want to stay too far from the airport on Wednesday night... which is why I was planning on saving Napa for last. The other alternative is to head straight from the airport on Saturday (flight gets in at 1 PM) to Big Sur and spend Saturday and Sunday there, then head to Napa and end our trip in SF on Wednesday night.

Why not just rent a car the day you arrive at SFO and drive straight down to Monterey/Big Sur? SFO is south of SF and therefore would be less of a drive for you to get there. It'll be about a 2 1/2 hour drive to Monterey.

Weather may be a factor, it may rain (please G$d! Let it rain!) or it could be foggy. You may want to have some alternate plans in case the weather is not too friendly along the coast.

<<<so I do not want to stay too far from the airport on Wednesday night... which is why I was planning on saving Napa for last.>>>

Coming from either Napa or Monterey you will encounter plenty of traffic if you leave during commute hours (which you'll have to do if you want to arrive at the airport around 9:30). If it were me, I'd plan my itinerary, but either way stay overnight near SFO (have dinner and a stroll on the very nice Burlingame Avenue)

Thanks everyone... We have decided to rent a car and head straight to Monterey, then on to Napa and end our trip in SF. It makes the most sense after looking at a map (duh!)

nspotz: glad you looked at a map! Just kidding.

Here's what I'd suggest:

April 6 From SFO, drive down I-280, the more scenic route, as far as San Jose, then get on Highway 101, cross over to the coast on Highway 156 to Highway 1, the coastal road. Don't stop in Monterey. Just keep going on Highway 1 until you get to Point Lobos State Reserve. About 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive from SFO to Point Lobos.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=571

Point Lobos isn't in quite Big Sur, it's just a few miles north, but it's one of the crown jewels along this part of the coast.

You will have enough daylight to enjoy PL for about 2-3 and afternoon is a good time to be there, as there may be fog in the morning.

Spend the night in Carmel. Have dinner there and stroll around a bit.

April 7 Start driving south to Big Sur. Don't remember if you wanted to hike or not, but the best place for you to see the redwoods and do some hiking would be Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park

http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=570

Pfeiffer Big Sur has all kinds of trails - long, short, hard, easy. You can decide what you want to do at the ranger station once you're inside the park. Enjoy Pfeiffer's redwood trails.

Lunch, drive just about 3 or 5 miles south of Pfeiffer Big Sur and have lunch at Nepenthe. The view is wonderful. The food ranges from average to very good.

http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

You could drive further south on Highway 1 after lunch, but you do have to drive back along the same road and get yourself back at least to San Jose by nightfall, so budget your time accordingly.

The furthest south I'd advise going is Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park to see the waterfall.

Then you should start going back north, back along Highway 1 to Highway 156, crossover to Highway 101, go up 101 until San Jose. If you're too tired or it's too dark, there are several basic but good, clean hotels in the area where you could stay the night. There's a Hilton Garden Inn hotel in Gilroy or further north There's a Residence Inn in South San Jose.

I really suggest staying somewhere here, as the hotels are easy to find and you can do a quickie one-night stay with very few hassles.

April 8 Start in the early morning for Napa. It's important that from Highway 101 in San Jose you then take I-680 and avoid going into San Francisco or to Oakland - bad traffic. You'll be on I 680 for about an hour. On I680 once you have cross the Carquinez Bridge (Martinez, Benicia are the towns), get on I780 towards Vallejo (Do NOT continue on I680 towards Sacramento!). I780 is a very short connector road that will take you to I-80. You'll not be on I-80 long either, only a couple of miles before you see the signs for "Napa".

Spend the day in Napa. Not quite sure why you want to be in Napa. Overnight in Napa.

April 9 Most Fodorites, including me, prefer Sonoma Valley. You could either spend this day in Napa or cut over to Sonoma.

April 10 SF

I like sf7307's idea of staying the last night near the airport. For an 11am flight, you want to plan to be at the airport a couple of hours ahead of time (you still have to return the car).

April 11 Fly home


I just realized something: more vineyards will most likely be open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays instead of during the week. You may have to do this in reverse after all or have to make appointments ahead of time to those vineyards that you want to visit during the week.

Generally, it's best to visit the Napa Valley during the week. Much less busy and accommodations are less expensive. The wineries are mostly open seven days a week so don't worry about them being closed.

Sonoma Valley does not compare with the Napa Valley. Those that suggest Sonoma are usually talking about the Northern Sonoma Wine Region around Healdsburg but that is not the Sonoma Valley.

@easytraveler: thank you for taking the time to put together that suggested itinerary, it sounds right on par with what we want to do. Would it be a bad idea to stay in Carmel again on the second night after touring Big Sur and drive up to Napa in the morning? (As opposed to staying somewhere in San Jose that night).
As far as the Napa area goes, we have never been and have always wanted to go. Also, we made reservations at the cottages at napa (which is near yountville). Is it possible to tour a little bit of both Sonoma and Napa in one day?

@nspotz: I'm planning almost this exact trip in June. However, I've never been to SF before. I'll be following this thread closely and really hope you publish a trip report!

Sorry, Otis is correct. I meant to say Sonoma County, not Sonoma Valley.

Yes, of course, you could spend another night in Carmel. Then you could drive down much further along Highway 1 in Big Sur.

Not advisable to try and do Napa and Sonoma in one day. However, you have two days. The vineyards usually don't open until about 10am and if you leave Carmel early enough you'll have an entire day in Napa.

Whether you should attempt to go over to Sonoma or not really is a matter of personal taste. One day in Napa may not be sufficient for your purposes, in which case, you'll need to spend the second day in Napa. Even two days in Napa is a short visit. The wineries in Napa are fairly easy to find - they're mostly on a north-south axis on two roads, Highway 29 and the Silverado Trail; with some really nice wineries in the short crossroads between these two.

Sonoma is more the way one would imagine wine country to be: winding roads going all over the place with vistas and vistas of vineyards rolling over hill and dale. I believe the mustard will still be in bloom when you come, so the yellow adds some bright, happy color to the green landscape. However, because of these conditions, you will have to do more driving between wineries and so can't visit too many wineries, so you'll have to select a few of your choice, make certain they will be open, and use your GPS or TomTom.

At this point, one might ask: just what exactly in Napa is attracting you? Are there specific wineries that you wanted to visit there?

Also what about restaurants? Napa has some wonderful restaurants (again, comparatively easy to reach). You may want to stay in Napa just for the food experience. Other Fodorites can give you lots of good restaurant suggestions.

Hope this gives you a bit more info on which to make your decisions.

@mindibiz: Will try and post a trip report! We would definately allocate more time to SF if we had never been before... It is a great city!

@easytraveler: Thanks for the follow up. I am currently trying to make a list of things I would like to do/see in wine country and then try to make an itinerary from there. Like I mention earlier, we made reservations near Yountville so this area will be our base to explore from. We have reservations at Ad Hoc on Monday night. Other than that I don't have any other restaurants in mind that we must visit. Would like to see Oakville Grocery though. I think we would like to visit 2 or 3 wineries max. Maybe one that is more established where we can take a great tour and then a smaller more off the beaten path one for a tasting. I would also like to have a picnic at one of them. We have some friends who biked around Napa and they highly recommended it. We are not professional bikers by any means but we love to rent bikes when on vacation instead of touring in a car the entire time. Not sure if this would be advisable given our limited amount of time in the area...? Sonoma appeals to me because of how you just desciribed it...we love beautiful views.

<<<We have some friends who biked around Napa and they highly recommended it.>>>

I highly DON'T recommend it. There is far too much traffic for safe biking (not that I don't see people doing it all the time, but I've also seen more than one biker downed by a car on the Silverado Trail).

I wouldn't bike either. Too many distracted drivers going too fast.

And "slightly" tipsy drivers from a bit too much winetasting.

As between Napa and Sonoma, this is really a tough call with the limited time that you have. To fully enjoy Sonoma at leisure, I'd say you need at least a day or a better part of a day. Maybe you could give up the day in SF.

Maybe we could do Sonoma before we check in at our hotel in Napa on Monday and save Napa for Tuesday.

Ha ha.. that sounds like a resounding "no" on the biking.

If you wanted to do both, it'll make more sense to do Napa first and then Sonoma, then SF.

Over 15 years ago I would regularly take afternoon bike rides up the Silverado Trail and across the Oakville grade. I had a matter involving the Silverado Country Club that required numerous visits and I would put my bike on the back of my car, change into biking clothes and go for a ride after my meetings were over. I couldn't do that anymore--there was an explosion of wineries, restaurants and visitors in the 90's and a concurrent explosion of traffic and clueless drivers. Biking backroads in Napa is one of those things whose time has come and gone (for me at least).

Biking is fine in the Napa Valley. Disregard what the naysayers have to say. Thousands of people do it and the bike rental companies can help you with itineraries.

Yes, I would avoid Silverado Trail but there are plenty of other roads to bike on. Hwy 29, for example, has a wonderful frontage road that runs from Yountville to Napa. Yountville Cross Road and Yount Mill Road are also wonderful roads to explore on a bike.

There are also new bike trails through Carneros where you can bike through the vineyards and hardly spend any time on the road. Check with your bike rental or tour company for details.

Also, the Vine bus service runs up and down the Valley and can carry your bikes if you want to explore the different towns.

We love the little town square of Sonoma. And years ago - we loved biking around Napa/Sonoma and would ask the bike rental companies where are there some less congested back roads.

My brother in law had a small ranch a few miles outside of Sonoma town - and we loved bicycling around there.

Would also recommend you head south from SF to Carmel/Monterrey - and from there - go the "back way" up to Napa/Sonoma - avoiding the Bay Area traffic.

Tom, what "back way" would that be? You can avoid going through San Francisco, but you can't avoid going through the Bay Area. There's as much traffic during rush hour on the east side of the bay as on the west.

I am having a hard time narrowing down wineries to visit for our one full day in Napa. We will most likely be visiting Frog's Leap in Rutherford before checking into our hotel in Yountville on Monday afternoon. On Tuesday we would like to visit one or two more wineries and have a picnic. Do ya'll have any suggestions for a winery that has great views and allows you to bring your own food for a picnic? Thanks!

The two Napa wineries with great views that come immediately to mind are Artesa and Domaine Caneros (very close to each other). There are several others further north, but their names escape me for the moment. There's one on the Silvarado Trail that had a really nice view. I really don't know about their picnic facilities tho. You might ask the concierge at your hotel. They usually have the most up-to-date information.

Rutherford Hill has nice views and a great picnic area. You have to reserve it though. Same with Kuleto.

Rutherford Hill Winery does have a picnic area with lovely views over the valley. It is located off Silverado Trail up a hill.

Peju Winery is in Rutherford on Highway 29. They have beautiful grounds with several grassy areas for a picnic if you have a blanket. There are also a few tables in a small patio area. Their Savignon Blanc and Cabernets are among my favorites.

Another winery with a rustic but pleasant picnic area is Casa Nuestra Winery on Silverado Trail north of St Helena.

BM

Quickly scanned the replies, so I may be repeating some info - Your 3 stops are doable, but rushed. I think I would pick up a car at SFO and drive to the Napa area. I would stay 2 nights, but probably in Yountville, which is a nice walk around town, plus you could do some wine tasting. Depending on what time you get there and how much wine tasting you like, 2 nights is fine. At that time of year, I wouldn't avoid the Silverado Trail. That's your best bet for the big wineries you've heard of (with tours, etc.) I'd then drive to Carmel for one night - about 3 hours. Cute town and close to Big Sur ( a view is probably all you'll have time for). Then I'd drive to SF for the other 2 nights - lots to see and do. You're covering a lot in 5 days, but if all are interesting to you, and you may not be back for a while, it's doable.

We migrate twice a year between FL and the Pacific Coast of Washington, and frequently route ourselves thru CA. We like to find out-of-the-way, less crowded places. We last passed thru Big Sur and SF in spring 2012. I would skip Napa. If you want to visit wineries, see the ones in Paso Robles or one of the other wine regions that are more accessible from Big Sur. If you have not been to Hearst Castle, continue far enough south to see that. Nearby are the Northern Elephant Seal rookery at Piedras Blancas. We love the charm of Moonstone Beach in Cambria. Monterrey is lovely, so are places like Asilomar Beach. Check out the Holiday Inn Express in Pacifica. Its a lot of value for the price point. The Marriott Courtyard in Larkspur (just north of Sausalito)is another great value, plus you can take the Larkspur Ferry to downtown SF and not have to worry about where to park the car. There have been a lot of restorations and improvements of the Golden Gate Recreation areas and we thought the views from Fort Point National Historic Site were incredible also. Muir Woods is another great natural sight, although very crowded and hard to park on weekends. We had not been to the DeYoung museum in SF before and fell in love with it. If you are foodies, that is another area to explore in SF.

April in wine country is awesome and the crowds midweek are non-existent. Check this site for some non-touristy stories about the area...nice photos too.
www.readkip.com.
As far as wineries...go to Raymond and Schramsberg (stories about both at the above link.
Good luck.

With all due respect to hotzim, I would not swop the Napa-Sonoma area for Paso Robles.

Thanks for all of your input... Our whirlwind itinerary is set and we have made all hotel reservations. We know it's fast-paced but we have previously spend a week in SF and wanted to get a taste for the other areas. Here is what we have decided on:

Saturday: Fly into SF airport, pick up rental car and spend night in Carmel. Hopefully get there early enough for a quick visit to Point Lobos.
Sunday: Drive down Big Sur, haven't planned this out in detail, hoping to stop at Pfieffer Beach and Nepenthe.
Monday: Drive up to Napa area, visit a winery before checking into our hotel in Yountville.
Tuesday: Wine tasting, possible rent bikes at Calistoga Bike Shop (they have a route in Calistoga that has little traffic and stops at some of the smaller wineries in the area. Has anyone done this?)
Wednesday: Drive to SF , drop off rental car. We have a hotel reserved in Union Square. Hoping to visit the ferry building and china town. I am wondering what the best route into the city would be... would love to drive over the bridge and/or stop for some nice photos before we get into the city. Also want to avoid (as much as possible traffic. Any tips?

Also, still stuck on the best route from Carmel to Yountville and how to avoid traffic. I've read mixed opinions on this forum and elsewhere. Thanks!

Timing is everything. Travel after 9 and before 3 and you will be avoiding the commute hours.

As far as the route, others may have a better suggestion, but I would go from Carmel on Hwy 1 to 156 thru Castroville to US 101. Head north on 101 up thru Gilroy, Morgan Hill then take 680 up thru Dublin, Walnut Creek to I 80. You will be on I 80 west for a very short stretch before getting off on Hwy. 12 which take you to the Napa turn off.

Michelle has given you the same route I have. That's the best way with the least traffic congestion.

To get from Napa to SFO for your car return, go south on Highway 29, then take Highway 37 (westbound) which runs along the north shore of San Francisco Bay. Merge into Highway 101 going south to SF.

This will take you across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Stay towards the right lanes, you need to exit onto Highway 1 and not continue on 101 once you are across the bridge, so watch closely for the signs for "Highway 1, 19th Avenue". It's either the first or second real exit (I've done this so many times over the years, I can't remember).

Highway 1 at this point runs through the width of San Francisco, but don't let the city streets scare you. I've crossed the width in 20 minutes, so it's a pretty fast and smooth transit.

Stay in the middle lane. You'll see signs for I-280 and the road will curve towards the right. Get onto I-280. Go about 4-5 miles on I-280 and then take I-380. Just follow the signs to SFO and to the return car lot.

Take their shuttle back to the terminal and take BART back to SF.

http://www.bart.gov/


Try and avoid I-80 like the plague.

Hope this helps a bit.

When you pick up the car, take 380 to 280 to 85 to 101 to 156 to 1 to get to Carmel. Point Lobos is amazing; could easily soak up an entire day. It's got that classic Monterey / Carmel scenery you always see in photos.

The next day, I'd advise grabbing a lunch to go before leaving Carmel and skipping Nepenthe. The views are great, but the food is just so-so, and it's quite expensive. And you might get a table with just a so-so view. Stop there for their coffee kiosk and check out the views. Then take your bag lunch to Julia Pfeiffer Burns or Pfeiffer Beach parks.

I'd say both these parks are must-dos. JPB is farther down the road (hitting some awesome scenery on the way down), but really pretty, although you can't go down to the beach. The view from the bluff of the waterfall spilling onto the beach is iconic. At Pfeiffer Beach, you can walk around on the beach and check out the just-offshore sea stacks with the surf gushing through their sea caves. It's all worth an early start out of Carmel.

Take your roadside pictures on the way down through Big Sur, since you'll be on the oceanside; it's a lot easier than on the way back when you'll have to pull across traffic into the scenic waysides.

Definitely 1 > 156 > 101 > 680 is the route to go up the East Bay and over the Benicia Bridge. Not sure about whether you should then do 780 > 80 > 37 > 29, or 80 > 12 > 29; it's been a while since I went that way. As long as you're not in the San Jose area from 7:30am to 9:30am, you should be fine. Avoid 880.

On the way into SF, don't hit the Golden Gate Bridge between those same hours approximately and you should be ok.

easytraveler's advice to SFO is good. I think it's the first exit now after the toll plaza (used to be the second exit), but it comes up fairly quickly.

But if you want to take the car into SF, don't take that exit, stay on 101 which becomes Lombard Street. Take a right, on Van Ness, then a left on Bush. If your hotel is on the north side of Union Sq, park at the Stockton-Sutter garage (entrance right from Bush, right over Stockton bridge). Otherwise, park at Ellis-O'Farrell garage - take a right on to Mason from Bush, then a left onto O'Farrell, go a block and a half, garage is on the right. Both garages are city-owned and are (only!) about $32 overnight.

Thanks for the great tips this has been very helpful.
@kbob88: I was wondering about the food at Nepenthe, I think we would rather have a picnic lunch and stop for the views/coffe. Thanks!

@easytraveler/kbob88: We have actually arranged to drop of the rental at their location in downtown SF. I was originally going to drop it off at the airport and take BART into the city but thought that might not be the best use of our time. What do you suggest?

Thanks!

Easytraveler and kbob: giver spotz directions to take a drive thri the Seacliff area etc, the over to the Cliff House and back thru GG Park, before returning the car. So beautiful!

780>80>37>29 is shorter.

It sounds like you will be arriving late afternoon(?) at SFO?

If so, then you can keep the car until at least late afternoon and Michelle's idea of driving around SF is very good.

How much driving you can do in SF depends on when you have to return the car and when you plan to leave Calistoga for SF; IOW, how much time do you really have with the car while in SF?

If you could let us know then we could plot out a "drive-around SF" route for you before you have to return your car.

Sorry for all the typos.

Spotz could get off the GG Bridge and visit Fort Point then head along the bluffs over to Cliff House etc.

Good idea about the driving tour of western SF. Off the top of my head, I'd probably see Fort Point, wander around the Presidio, go through Seacliff to the Cliff House area, then down Ocean Blvd, go east through GG Park, up through Cole Valley or the Haight and around to Twin Peaks, and then go downtown via Market St. Depends on how much time you have and how much daylight is left.

I think dropping the car downtown and taking BART out is fine. Although BART to the airport is slooooww.

<<<Although BART to the airport is slooooww.>>>

Meaning 35 minutes. Still shorter than driving to SFO, filling up the car, returning the car to car rental, and taking the airtrain to the terminal.

Also, I would be very hesitant to drive downtown ON Market Street -- it's a mess of people, cars, bicyclists and trolleys.

Hi, we are scheduled to drop off our rental at 2:00 at the Dollar location at 364 O'Farrell Street. We can adjust the time if need be.

>> Meaning 35 minutes. Still shorter than driving to SFO, filling up the car, returning the car to car rental, and taking the airtrain to the terminal.

Maybe, but if you drop in the city you've still got to spend the time to fill up the car and return it. Just on a different day. In any case, dropping at O'Farrell on Wednesday will be fine. You probably will want to fill up somewhere before you get downtown (unless you do the fuel option), as gas stations downtown are scarce and expensive.

Driving on Market St is fine, although not very quick once you get down to about 6th St or so. The real problem is that you can't turn left anywhere after Van Ness. Your best options are probably to either turn right on 5th, right on Mission, right on 6th, cross Market, and go right on O'Farrell, or turn left onto Franklin and then right on O'Farrell. The latter option would completely miss the area of Market that sf7307 is concerned about. In fact the other option mostly would too, as Market doesn't really get too many pedestrians and bicyclists until about 4th St.

Anyway, let us know how much time you think you'll have for a driving tour of SF, and we'll suggest ideas.

Although I agree with kbob that Market (heading downtown) doesn't get bad for drivers until about 6th St., given the choice, I'd go the other way - i.e. Franklin to O'Farrell to Dollar Rent-a-Car.

Yeah, it's not like there's anything scenic on Market from Franklin to 6th, unless seeing homeless people pee on the sidewalk is your idea of scenery. And Franklin actually is halfway scenic as you go up the hill towards O'Farrell. At least the passenger can get a decent view if they turn around

If you leave the Napa Valley early enough, you'll have time to do the "Scenic 49 Mile Trail" which will take you to most of the important points of SF that you can do by car.

http://www.sftravel.com/scenic-49-mile-drive.html?gclid=CLTAkdX6jLYCFSSCQgodsxMABg

http://www.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=215772342072528291217.00000112f4faa640a37f8

I would suggest that, in the interests of saving time, that you

a) after the Cliff House, do not drive all the way along the ocean (you're not going to see much of the ocean anyway, because of the sand dunes), but cut across into Golden Gate Park. There's a windmill, so just get the road to the windmill and you'll be in GG Park. Just follow John F Kennedy Drive and you'll reconnect with the original route.

b) cut out the second huge loop in the Mission District. so when you get on Dolores Street, make a left turn onto 16th and go all the way almost to the Bay, turn left on 3rd Street, then right on King and you will have reconnected with your route.

c)At the end, when you have seen Crissy Field, get on Highway 1 and go straight south. When you get to Geary, turn left. Go all the way down Geary, which becomes O'Farrell. At some point, stay in the middle lane. Particularly when you see a modern white church on the right, the Cathedral of St Mary of the Assumption. Geary is a major east-west road and will take you to your destination.

Hope this helps a bit. Download the map and see if this itinerary works for you or not.