1 month trip around California
 

Hi

Myself and my boyfriend (ages 26/27) are planning four weeks in California from Mid August to mid September. Our plan is as follows:

Day 1: Arrive in San Fran
Day 2-5: San Fran
Day 6: Drive to Lake Tahoe
Day 7-8: Lake Tahoe
Day 9: Drive to Yosemite
Day 10-11: Yosemite
Day 12: Drive to Monterey and spend 1 night there
Day 13: Drive to San Luis Obispo and spend 1 night there
Day 14: Drive to Santa Barbara
Day 15-16: Santa Barbara / Drive to Santa Ynes Valley and Solvang
Day 17: Drive to Santa Monica
Day 18-19: Santa Monica/LA
Day 20: Drive to San Diego
Day 20-21: San Diego
Day 22: Fly to Las Vegas
Day 23-24: Las Vegas
Day 25: Home

Looking for advise on the above, whether we have planned too little/too much time in any place? We are interested in both city/coast and like the mix, like nice casual walks, good activity in downtown areas but not big party-goers, would like sight-seeing of main tourist areas. We would be trying to keep costs relatively low for the month also.

Thanks in advance!

On your drive from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara, you'll pretty much pass right through Solvang & Santa Ynez. Thus, I'd swap Day 14 and Day 15. Maybe make Day 16 a visit to Ojai, although in summer that area can get horrendously hot.

San Francisco gets it's best weather in September/October. Mid August can be quite foggy. Consider reversing your itinerary so you can be in San Diego in at the prime of "beach season" and in San Francisco out of the foggy season.

Also, if you plan to visit much stuff in LA - I would add a few days there. Driving on the freeways during rush hours will consume a lot of time.

I would also add 2 days to the Monterey/SLO segment. I don't think you have nearly enough time to visit all the wonderful stuff in that region - Carmel, Carmel Beach, Monterey aquarium, Monterey, Spanish Bay, Pacific Grove, Carmel Mission, Pt Lobos, Pfeiffer State Park/Redwoods, Pfeiffer Beach, lunch/dinner at Nepenthe, Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Hearst Castle, Cambria.

Odd that you mention that you want to explore the coast, and no mention of gambling and you are not "party goers" - yet you'll be on the Big Sur coast (some say the most beautiful in the US) for less than 1 day and 2 1/2 days in Las Vegas.

Here are some ideas for the San Francisco area:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

In this time period you could visit the Grand Canyon, Zion NP, Bryce Canyon, Sedona, etc. rather than some of the less iconic places on your list.

HTtY

You have a ton of time so I'd definitely adjust this bit . . .

>>Day 12: Drive to Monterey and spend 1 night there<<


It is a LONG drive from YNP to Monterey (it can take more than 5 hours - though I've done it in 4) and then you get up and leave again the next morning. There is a LOT to see in the Monterey/Carmel/Point Lobos area so you should stay at least 2 nights (which will only give you one full day)

Meant to add - if it was me I'd stay 3 nights . . .

Day 12 drive to Carmel & spend 2 nights. Visit Carmel, Carmel Beach, Monterey aquarium, Pacific Grove, 17 mile drive, Spanish Bay. Many hikes available.

Day 14 drive to Pt Lobos State park & spend 3 hrs there visiting "the most beautiful meeting of land and sea". Drive to Big Sur & spend 1 night there. We stay at the Big Sur Lodge. Have dinner or lunch at Nepenthe. IMO, Nepenthe has the best restaurant views in Calif - where you don't need to pay $100 per person for dinner. I even like it more that the places where we've paid $100pp. Visit Pfeiffer Beach National Park and Pfeiffer State park (Big Sur Lodge is within Pfeiffer State park - so visiting the park & Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park is free - Pfeiffer Beach is not free - it is a National park).

Day 15 Head south on Hwy 1 and visit Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park. This is a hike. Then continue south and visit Hearst castle. I would stay in San Simeon or Cambria instead of SLO.

Day 16 Continue to Santa Barbara and the LA area. IMO, the coastline from San Simeon to San Diego is not nearly as interesting or scenic as the coast from Carmel to San Simeon. I grew up in the LA area and lived in Laguna Beach for 5 years. I've lived in Calif my entire 68 years. When I was your age - my wife & I drove from Laguna Beach to Big Sur and Carmel on just about every 3 day weekend - and camped in Big Sur. We often departed Laguna Beach at 4AM.

Stu Dudley

Stu is of course right that you need at least another night on the mid-coast -- and you could gain that by cutting at least one night from SB.

>>Day 15-16: Santa Barbara / Drive to Santa Ynes Valley and Solvang<<

You can visit both of these on your drive from SLO/Pismo Beach/Cambria/Morro Bay/wherever to Santa Barbara.

I think you're shortchanging yourselves in some locations, so I would do the following:

Day 1-4: Arrive in San Fran (3 nights)
Day 5-6: Drive to Lake Tahoe (2 nights)
Day 7-9: Drive to Yosemite (3 nights)
Day 10-11: Drive to Monterey (2 nights)
Day 12-13: Drive down the coast, (2 nights somewhere on the coast)
Days 14-15: Drive to Santa Barbara (2 nights)
Day 13-16: Drive to Santa Monica (4 nights)
Day 17-20: Drive to San Diego (4 nights)
Day 21-24: Fly to Las Vegas (3 nights)
Day 25: Home

The flaw that I see with your plan and sf7307's is the drop off fee for the rental car from SFO dropping at San Diego.
The way that could work is to spend only 2 nights in San Francisco and follow sf7307's plan to day 10-11 and then return the car to SFO and head into San Francisco for your 3rd night and then take the Amtrak bus over to Emeryville in the morning to get on the Coast Starlight arriving in Santa Barbara about 6PM. Spend a night in Santa Barbara and then rent a car for your trip to Santa Monica and San Diego for 3 nights. Take the car back to the Santa Barbara airport (Goleta) and fly from there to Las Vegas.
There is good bus service from downtown Santa Barbara out to the airport in Goleta.
The Amtrak station in SAB is within walking distance of the pier and several good hotels.

I agree with adding another night to Monterey, there is a lot to see and do in the area.
I would also stay in Pismo Beach or Cambria rather than SLO which is inland and hotter. College will be out and not much to do there other than a Thursday Night Market. If interested there are some very nice wineries in Paso Robles just inland from Cambria on Highway 46.
Hope you have your reservations for Yosemite.

tom - give it a rest. Not everyone is traumatized by drop off fees. Besides, all those extra train fares, bus fares and air fares will cost more than most any the drop off fee. Not to mention - they create a totally convoluted itinerary.

I realize that the hotel rooms in San Francisco will be over $100/night so the budget for a drop off fee may not be an issue.
The train fare for from Fisherman's Wharf (including the bus to Jack London Square) to Santa Barbara is $106 for 2 coach seats (8/29/16). Not driving from Monterey to SLO would be worth it to me. San Luis Obispo is not on the ocean. The train does stop there if you must see it.
I may be wrong, but a flight from Santa Barbara to LAS should not be any more than a flight from San Diego.

Tom is well meaning and a helpful poster but is a big fan of trains. You will NOT see Big Sur taking the train. Nor should you fly. Your original plan with a few minor tweaks sounds good.

Don't a number of major car rental companies waive drop off fees? I would ask.

Taking the train throughout California can be very expensive. It is also not very practical as you'd still have to rent a car (for example) in LA then return it and possibly take a cab to the train depot (which is not centrally located), then take the train to San Diego (and rent another car) and I know there aren't car rental agencies near the train stops either in Solana Beach or Downtown. It would not be user friendly to explore the coast of California by train, unfortunately.

And with gas so cheap now, driving a car here were there is not efficient or good public transport is probably your best bet.

My suggestion was to rent 1 car in Santa Barbara and cover everything south of there with the rental car.
I gave the coach fare from Fisherman's Wharf to Santa Barbara. Avis, Hertz and Enterprise are within walking distance of the Santa Barbara station and a bus to the airport is possible.
The Burbank Amtrak station is across the street from the Burbank (Bob Hope) airport if you would rather rent a car and fly from there.

nanabee, yes many of the third party overseas brokers like carhire3000 and their parent company, rentalcars.com, usually waive the oneway dropoff fee on this very popular route, but starting last year, they were charging the fee for July and August.

Tom -- Please stop. You mean well but most people would not have <i>any</i> interest in taking a bus to Emeryville, and train to Santa Barbara and miss Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur etc etc. This only time that would make sense is if one cannot drive (too young to rent a car or no license)

I will hand it to you that you do create some of the most imaginative itineraries. Drop off fees (if they even apply - they don't always) will not kill anyone if it means actually SEEING the best bits of the coast.

As one who recently took the train from Sacramento to Santa Barbara I agree that driving would be much more interesting. The train doesn't go through scenic areas for most of the time, and the trip is long and tiring.

<i>Tom -- Please stop.</i>

Singular. Imperious. Offensive.

HTtY