AsmaS1

Hi all, We are a family of 4, 2 adults and 2 kids 7 & 11 years old.

We are planning a 2 week trip from San Francisco to San Diego. We fly into Francisco, and we will be renting a car and doing the road trip down to San Diego all in a 2 week duration. We fly out of San Diego on day 16 of our trip. I have been reading a lot of helpful tips on this forum and am hoping you guys can guide me on a detailed itinerary on how to get the most out of our days on this trip. Where to go, what to see and how long each day/days? i am hoping to see all the possible highlights in this area!

So far I know we want to see a lot of San Francisco, Big Sur, Pismo Beach, Monterey, Carmel, San Simeon, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara , Disneyland, , LA & San Diego etc

I would appreciate any and every help that i can get at this point! Thanks in advance...

janisj

>>We are planning a 2 week trip from San Francisco to San Diego. We fly into Francisco, << . . . WHEN?

That will make a huge difference re your route. If it is this year you can't drive through Big Sur because the road is blocked. You can drive down a ways into Big Sur but then you have to retrace your route back up to Monterey and go over to Hwy 101 to continue south rejoining the coast south of Big Sur.

Two weeks will be doable but VERY rushed since places like SF, LA (inc. Santa Monica) and SD each would fill a minimum of 3 days, while Monterey/Carmel and Disney each need two full days. So adding one day for San Simeon/Pismo Beach, and one day for Santa Barbara -- there goes your 16 days.

I would seriously consider dropping San Simeon.

rjw_lgb_ca

What janisj just said.

This topic is easily one of the most heavily-rehashed on this forum. There must be HUNDREDS of posts about driving Highway 1 up and/or down the California coast. And with the current closures, every scenario becomes a bit more complicated.

The typical post boils down to: "We're planning to join hundreds of thousands of other tourists on an incredibly heavily-traveled, frequently-discussed coastal route up and/or down a huge state with MILLIONS of fascinating and exciting things to do, passing through several world-class cities that would each require one or two weeks to thoroughly explore, and we have maybe two weeks to see EVERYTHING. Please provide a detailed itinerary."

We need a bit more guidance. What are your collective interests? Do you want to maximize beach time? Hit the theme parks (most in the southern part of the state)? Do museums interest you (there are excellent facilities throughout the state)? History? Cars? Some things will have to come off of your (actually rather vague) list. Come back with a bit more information, and you will get a world of great advice.

MichelleY

With kids that age, skip San Simeon, Santa Barbara, maybe Pismo ( even though going for a dune buggy ride would be fun)

AsmaS1

Thank you for the replies.

janisj: we are interested in Museums, history, theme parks, beaches (need suggestions on which ones are the must do), nature. I do realise that somethings will have to come off our list. So would appreciate suggestions on the absolute 'must do' places/attractions on our trip.

DebbieDoesDulles

When is your trip?

Which theme parks are you planning to include. Disneyland?

If you stay 3 nights in San Francisco, 4 nights Los Angeles/Anaheim, 3 nights San Diego, then that gives you 4 days of driving/touring. Maybe 2 nights Monterey, 1 on the central coast/San Simeon, and 1 for Santa Barbara.

There is a "search the forums" box on the upper right, you can search each city for previous advice, and search California Coast as well.

jamie99

Visit Disneyland for 2-3 days and maybe the San Diego Zoo. They are a bit old for Legoland for the most part.
For some California history, visit one of the missions, IMO the ones in Carmel and Santa Barbara are the prettiest although Mission San Luis Rey near Oceanside is awfully nice as well.
They might like the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA.
Time of year is important, as our ocean water never gets very warm, September will probably be the warmest down near San Diego.

AsmaS1

Thanks Jamie99. Really appreciate the info. I have kept 3 days for the road trip from LA to SFO. What would be the must do places and attractions? We plan to stay 2 nights in Monterey and 1 night in Santa Barbara maybe?

jamie99

Normally I would not drive from Monterey to Santa Barbara but with the Highway 1 closure you could do it with a combo of Highway 1 to Bixby Bridge, backtrack to Monterey and to Santa Barbara via Highway 101.

AsmaS1

hi all, thanks for the detailed replies. But we have had a change of plan. Now we are flying into San Diego and going all the way up the coast to San Francisco. So posting a fresh query...

janisj

There probably wasn't a need to start a new thread since all the stops would be the same -- just in reverse order

But in any case see my post on your other thread . . .