My boyfriend and I just booked a trip for an 8 day -7 Night Road Trip along the West Coast in early October. Our plan so far is to fly early into San Fransisco, spend the day/night there, then rent a car and drive out to Yosemite (and maybe Kings) National Parks for a day continuing onward up to Redwood and Mt. Ranier National Parks. We'd end our trip in Seattle and fly home from there.

At this point, we need help planning out the timing of our trip (not sure how to really map up the drive from San Francisco to Seattle stopping-wise) and recommendations of hotels/dining along the way. Would really like to pop into Portland if possible, but not sure if that fits into the timing. We'd preferably like to eat/stay cheap at local/hidden gem restaurants along the way and splurge at least one night on a good restaurant hotel (most likely in San Francisco or Seattle, we're on vacation after all!).

Also, It's pretty obvious we're into scenic and natural beauty and as my boyfriend is an aspiring photographer, any secret spots for great shots are also appreciated!


Thanks for your help and looking forward to hearing from you all,


Rena

I'm a little confused. On a coastal road trip between San Francisco to Seattle, going to Yosemite first constitutes a 400-mile detour and adding Kings Canyon NP would make it an 800-mile detour.

A better trip would be Los Angeles-Sequoia NP-Kings Canyon NP-Yosemite NP-San Francisco-returning to LA on Highway 1 through Half Moon Bay, Carmel, Big Sur and the appealing destinations between Big Sur and LA.

HTtY

Please explain what exactly is "booked". I understand flying into SFO or some other northern California airport to go see Yosemite. You can see examples of very large Sequoias in Yosemite (Mariposa Grove) without going to Kings.
You can see large Coast Redwoods without going all the way to Redwood NP. (Muir Woods and Big Basin).
For a beautiful example of a volcano, you don't need to go any farther north than Crater Lake.
If you really wanted to see Portland and Seattle, you could take the Amtrak Coast Starlight north to Portland overnight from San Francisco (Emeryville) after dropping off the rental car where you rented it. (Rent downtown instead of the airport to save money.) Return where you rent to avoid a drop off fee.

I would fly into Seattle, out of SF. Your weather can change in October.

The above posts offer good suggestions. Yosemite is really out of the way, 2 days at least, between SF and Seattle.

If Seattle is really where you want to go, then you could take State Route 1 up the coast to some really scenic locations such as Point Reyes, Bodega Bay, Fort Ross and Mendicino. Then connect to US 101 and into the Redwood Parks. The Fern Canyon trail in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park is another really nice spot.
At Crescent City take US 199 across, good photo ops there too, to Grants Pass, OR and then I-5 into Portland and Seattle. You could stay on 101, but it will take longer going up the OR/WA coast.

At 8 days all they'll be doing is driving, especially if they spend any time at all in the 3 big cities.

Thank you all for your responses!

happytrailstoyou: I think we'll eliminate Kings from our trip. We're willing to go a little bit out of our way, but not that far out. But our itinerary from SanFran to Seattle won't change.

tomfuller: Sorry, typo. We've booked our flight into SanFran and out of Seattle. Thanks for all your sightseeing suggestions, we'll definitely take them into consideration.

boom_boom: Thanks for all your sightseeing suggestions. How long do you think it would take to drive State Route 1 to I-5?

bbqboy: We're aware of all the driving, that's why we planned it this way. What do you mean by "your weather can change"?

October is the end of Summer and the start of rainy season depending on where you are. It will still be glorious in SF while it might be too late for sun in Seattle, but no matter if you've already booked.
If you cut over at 199, you'll miss the Southern and Central parts of the Oregon Coast. Try to make it up to Newport, at least, then cut over on US 20.

If this is what you are determined to do, you might want to know that in Oregon the best ocean views from Highway 101 are from Brookings to Port Orford and from Florence to Depoe Bay.

In northern California we like to stay at the Best Western Humbolt House in Garberville, and on the Oregon coast some of our favorite places to stay are the Best Western Beachfront Inn in Brookings, the Best Western Pier Point Inn in Florence, the Fireside Motel in Yachats, and the Hallmark in Newport.

HTtY

Yosemite - as glorious as it is - simply doesn't work. Yosemite to somewhere along the No Calif coast will eat up a lot of time. Say you want to drive all the way up the coast from Marin County to somewhere on the mid-Oregon coast: SF to Yosemite to Bodega Bay is nearly 500 miles and 9+hours of 'car time'. So at best you'd drive to YNP, spend half a day and then have to leave again the next morning. You just don't have time for YNP.

Take you time - SF, then stop in Mendocino/Ft Bragg, then farther north in the Redwoods, then a couple of places along the OR coast, then Portland, then Seattle. There is your 7 nights.

<i>You just don't have time for YNP.</i>

So true. They will have a much more satisfying experience if they use your itinerary than if they try to squeeze in YNP. However, if they go to YNP and then rush up the coast to Seattle they will never know the wisdom of your suggestion.

HTtY

Looks like another NP casualty but I think we're happy with the overall outcome. Thank you for all your help!

Thank you for your gracious good-bye.