paula1470

I am planning a 5 day trip from North San Diego area to San Francisco and back with stops at Hearst Castle and Carmel. I will be traveling with my daughters (17 & 21). My 17 yr old has never been to NoCal. My older one just got back from a trip there but hasn't been to Carmel or Monterey. I have been to all the locations except Hearst Castle and Carmel. There is some great advice about this trip on this forum but I have a couple of questions. We will be traveling from Dec 27-31 and I know the weather can be iffy so we will take that into consideration and play it by ear.

Day 1 - Leave North SD early, drive to SLO. Want to get to SLO by lunch-we can use carpool lanes through LA which will help. Was going to stop and have lunch at Madonna Inn and then drive to Cambria. Arrive there by 2:00 pm. Have room reserved at Moonstone Landing, looks really nice, right on Moonstone Beach. This time of year it gets dark around 4:30-5:00 so should we just skip Madonna Inn and drive straight to Cambria? Want to have some time to look around town. Dinner that night (Sow's Ear maybe).

Day 2 - Breakfast early - drive to Hearst Castle. Reserved tour #1 at 8:40 am. Finish tour and movie by noon. Begin drive north. Stop to see elephant seals. Girls want to see redwoods so thought we would stop at Pheiffer Big Sur and also want to stop along the way at Nepenthe or somewhere else for late lunch. Question-If we leave San Simeon around noon, can we get to Carmel by dark stopping along the way? We could skip Point Lobos this day and go back to see it the next morning since it is only a short distance south. The other option would be to stay in Big Sur (Glen Oaks Motel or Big Sur Lodge), get up early and drive into Carmel in the morning. Look around there for an hour or two, stop in Monterey for lunch and then cut inland and drive to San Francisco.

Day 3-4 San Francisco (I have a couple of hotel questions but will post those later).

Day 5 - Drive back to North San Diego. My daughters want to be home for New Year's Eve. I have done this drive before and it's not bad with three drivers.

If we stayed in Big Sur and the weather was bad, there wouldn't be much to do except have dinner and go to bed. The lodgings I mentioned don't have TV-other hotels are not in my budget. In Carmel during the week do shops close up early or could we still walk around after dark?

Also, we could try to head up to Carmel sooner-do Hearst Tour #1, skip the movie and that give us more time for the drive. Besides the fact that I know the drive is slow, weather permitting we want to make some stops. Also my 17 yr old does get carsick. I will have her take Dramamine-has anyone had this experience and does Dramamine help on this winding road? Thanks for all your help. I know this trip covers a lot in a short time. We are trying to please everyone. My older daughter and I want to go to Hearst Castle and Carmel, my younger one has never been to San Francisco. I would like to spend more time in Monterey but at least they can get a feel for it. Both girls like to shop so would probably like Carmel better but I'll take input on that also. thanks.

paula1470

ttt

J_Correa

Since the weather could be stormy, I would plan on staying in the Monterey/Carmel area rather than Big Sur. This way, if Hwy 1 is trecherous or closed the day you plan to drive north, you can detour on Hwy 101 and still easily get to Monterey for the night - you can cut over to Hwy 101 from Cambria. If you have to miss Big Sur because of the weather, you can still go to Point Lobos and get a good feel for the coastline.

For redwoods, if you have to miss Big Sur because of weather, you can see redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains and at Muir Woods north of SF. Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is easy to get to - it is right outside of Felton, which is just up the hill from Santa Cruz. You could stop here enroute from Monterey to SF. For Muir Woods, you could combine that with a drive over the bridge and maybe a stop in Sausalito or someplace while you are in SF.

paula1470

J correa - You confirmed my thinking about staying in Big Sur. As far as the redwoods are concerned, I appreciate the tips for other locations. I have made the drive through Santa Cruz but was just skipping that to get to SF quicker-so that would be an alternative. The reason I was not going to Muir Woods was because I figured when we were in SF I would just park the car and leave it until we were ready to drive back home. But Sausalito is very nice and we could combine that with Muir Woods per your suggestion. Thanks.

Concerning Cambria, will everthing be closing up at 5:00 pm during the week? Will we need more than a couple of hours to see the town and visit the shops? We've made the trip on 101 through Santa Barbara, etc before. Is is faster to get to Cambria going up I5 and then cutting over on Hwy 46? Miles wise it's about the same but thought the 5 might be a little quicker. We would then skip SLO or use this route if the weather is not so good.

J_Correa

For your route from Monterey to SF - whether you go through Gilroy or Santa Cruz, there isn't really much difference in drive times -maybe 10-15 minutes. The only time the Gilroy route is significantly faster is if you encounter beach traffic in Santa Cruz or there is a bad storm which makes it slow going over hwy 17. Beach traffic wont be an issue, so your only consideration would be weather. By the way, I think redwoods are at their best in the rain. Which ever way you choose, when you get to San Jose, I would recommend taking hwy 280 into SF rather than 101. Both highways run basically parallel, but hwy 280 is a much nicer route - both with regard to road condition and scenery.

I think your idea of parking the car your entire stay in SF is a good one since you wont need it in the city and parking is a pain. Plus, SF is one of those cities that is better seen on foot than in a car. If you haven't seen redwoods yet, definitely take the car out for a few hours.

For Cambria, I've never been there during the week, so I don't know when the shops close up - I would imagine they close up early though because it's a small town. I don't think you would need more than a couple hours to wander around there though.

I've never taken the I5 to 46 route to Cambria before, so I don't know. I'm thinking it might be a good route though since you would avoid all of west LA and all that.

paula1470

Thanks for the info on the drive from Monterey to SF. I was thinking of going inland because I thought it might be faster. If the weather is not an issue we can go through Santa Cruz. The only other issue there would be how my daughter is doing with her car sickness. If she had a bad day, the day before we might forego Hwy 17. Thanks for the tip on Hwy 280, I had just planned to go 101 but would be looking at map before I actually head out.

As far am Cambria is concerned, if I don't get any other comments on this thread, I will start a another one for Cambria/Carmel info. I know there are several other authorities on that area on this forum. Missing traffic in West LA and through Santa Barbara might be a good reason to take I5.