Hello, My wife and I are taking a trip down the california coast from San Fran to L.A.
We plan on camping in Big Sur and staying with some friends in Santa Barbara. Other than that its wide open. I was hoping some of you who are familiar with this trip could help with some places to see or things to do. The perfect day for my wife and I would be relaxing on a remote beach or we also enjoy hiking or exploring. If you know of any remote or secret beaches along the way, Please let me know. Also i know we will be passing through some great citys so please offer advice on things to do if you know. We have 5 days to make the trip, so really the itenerary is wide open. Thanks in advance,
Sean

Make sure you have a reservation if camping in a state park unless you plan to arrive early in the day and the week. You might want to stay a couple of days in Big Sur State Park and explore the Monterey peninsula from there (Carmel, the Monterey Aquarium). Go down highway one rather than inland (from SF take 280 and then follow the signs to Pacifica). At most it adds half an hour to your journey and it is prettier than the inland route. You may want to stop in Big Basin, or even camp there, to hike around the redwoods.

"San Juan Capistrano in Santa Barbara?"

I suspect you mean the mission in Santa Barbara. San Juan Capistrano is a city between Los Angeles and San Diego, also with a famous mission.

the drive from carmel to san simeon is one of the most spectacular i have ever experienced. and big sur is amazing. give yourself plenty of time in big sur and on the drive to stop and marvel and walk and take pictures. I odn't know if you want to spend any time in SF or in LA--if you are driving at non-rush hours--which is a big if--you can get from Sf airport to carmel in 21/2-3 hours. I' suggest that you stay 2 nights in the monterey/carmel/big sur area--and a night at san simeon.

Awesome thanks for the advice so far, Keep it comming. The plan looks like this so far. We arrive at 10 am on tuesday in S.F.. I plan on staying in S.F. till about 7pm and then heading to carmel for the night. (if anybody can offer advice on directions from S.F. to carmel, much appreciated) Wednesday explore carmel, see the moterey aquarium and then head south to camp in Big Sur. Most likely at one of the many state parks. Spend Thursday exploring different things in Big Sur. Friday drive slowly down the coast to San Simeon to camp. In San Simeon we plan to kayak through the caves and see the castle. How long does the castle tour take? and is kayaking and the castle too ambitious for one day? From there on saturday we head to Santa Barbara to see some friends and will be leaving tuesday. If Anyone knows of any awesome beaches along the way, or might reccomend doing something else please let me know. Thanks again,
Sean

Two other places to stay are Morro Bay and Cambria -- on 2 different trips. Morro Bay has some lovely scenery -- Cambria is a nice little town -- with a great view of the ocean at that motel

In the first case we stayed at the upscale inn there. In the second case in a motel right across PCH from the ocean.

I think this is where we stayed in Cambria: http://www.cambriashores.com/

Here's the Morro Bay link: http://www.innatmorrobay.com/

There are basically 3 routes from SF to Carmel.

Since you are leaving SF in the evenning after wandering around SF all day, you may want to take the quickest, straightest route which would be Hwy 280 south to San Jose, Hwy 101 south past Gilroy, Hwy 156 west at Prunedale to Hwy 1 and then Hwy 1 south to Carmel. For this route I recommend Hwy 280 from SF to SJ rather than Hwy 101 all the way because Hwy 101 from SF to SJ is a crappy road - pot holes and things like that, plus it goes through a fairly industrical area. Hwy 280 is nicer and doesn't take anymore time. This route should take about 2 hours.

On the otherhand, if you want to drive all the way down the coast, your timing will be perfect to see the sunset. In this case, you take Hwy 280 south from downtown SF, and then follow the signs for Hwy 1 South/Pacifica. Then follow Hwy 1 south all the way to Carmel. This route should take about 2 1/2 hours.

The other option is Hwy 280 south from SF to SJ, Hwy 17 over to Santa Cruz - this road takes you through the Santa Cruz mountains - then Hwy 1 south to Carmel.

All are good routes, it just depends on what you want to do.