10 days vacation in California
 

Hi
We are from India and plan for vacation for 10 days in California in September this year.
We will be landing in LA and flying out from SFO to India.
The thought as of now is to drive from LA to SFO.

I need to firm up my itinerary and need your advise on what places to visit, attractions, duration of stay at each place, any recommendation of hotels to stay.

Appreciate any help.

Cheers, G

Here is some thing to do & see around the San Francisco area.

http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

Google the words "California Coast Drive" and read the many returns.

From L.A. start by driving through Santa Monica and along the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH - Highway 1) through the very long municipality of Malibu going west.

Look for an iconic seafood restaurant on your right after there was a stretch with no buildings outside of Malibu, it's called Neptune's Net. It's a landmark and good for a snack and a look out onto the ocean. If you're lucky, there may be a school of parasailers in action. http://neptunesnet.com

Keep going through Oxnard and join the 101 freeway, it will say "North" but at that point it actually is going almost due west.

Now the choices begin. Do you want to drive from Ventura along 33 up to Ojai and stay overnight? It’s a very nice, upscale place up in the hills - see www.ojaivisitors.com

Or keep going until you get to Santa Barbara and make that your first night’s stop? See http://santabarbaraca.com

If so, I recommend the Harbor House - http://harborhouseinn.com, but there are many other options.

Now, instead of staying on Highway 101, I recommend taking a much more scenic route:

Find highway 154 leaving Santa Barbara going north, it goes up and over the San Marcos mountain range; stop and look back over Santa Barbara and the channel islands, beautiful views from several vantage points.

Then the scenery changes drastically, with interesting geological formations and colors as you drive down into the wine country, past Cochuma Lake.

Near Santa Ynez look for a turnoff to the left, onto highway 246, in the direction of Solvang. It is a cute village done in the style of Denmark, with Danish specialties etc

Keep going west on 246 and soon, in Buellton, you’ll rejoin the Highway 101 going north.

When you get to Pismo Beach you’re close to the waterfront. I recommend pulling off, driving to somewhere near the pier, and walking out. See if the cantankerous pelican is there, he thinks he owns the place.

Then keep going until you get to San Luis Obispo where you turn left towards the coast onto Highway 1 (the PCH again). Soon you’ll be in Morro Bay, followed by Cambria and then San Simeon.

You might want to book lodgings around there, and plan on visiting Hearst Castle the next day - see http://hearstcastle.org If so, book way ahead and be there on time for your tour, down by the highway. A shuttle will take you up to the castle. Most interesting!

Now you’re at the beginning of a famous stretch of coast road that takes you to Pfeiffer Park in the Big Sur region. Read up on this, on one of the many websites that came up when you first googled "California Coast Drive"

Soon you’ll be in the Carmel/Monterey region, worth another night or two and a look around.

Then Santa Cruz, also an interesting town, an eclectic mix of highly-paid software people, homeless beach bums, visitors to the Boardwalk with carousels and other family entertainment, university students of all looks and stripes, and just a few regular people (I’m joking).

Now take your pick if you wish to follow the coast road (1) for the most scenic approach to San Francisco, or if you want to head inland, due north on highway 17 (becomes freeway 880) through San Jose, merging onto 680 north, and - near Dublin - switching to the 580 going East. It becomes 205 east, then 120 East, and takes you to Yosemite National Park. Look that up, it is worth a few nights in the region but requires some planning, accommodation is not plentyful.

https://www.nps.gov/yose/ and www.travelyosemite.com

There are many more variations on this theme, and locations in directions I didn’t suggest - surely others will add to this.

Whichever way you do it - enjoy!

Where the above poster tells you to rejoin Hwy 101 near Buellton I would recommend cotinuing on 246 through the wine country , passing La Purisima Mission and joining Hwy 1 in Lompoc . This is "Sideways" country

Places to stay nearby include Buellton, Lompoc, Pismo Beach, Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo.

You can rejoin 101 in Pismo Beach.

Pismo is a great walking beach.

mlgb - thanks for that suggestion, I don't know why in all the years of traversing that region I have never thought of doing that. Is there anything worth seeing at the air-force base?

Highway 1 is currently closed through part of Big Sur:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist9/road_con/Road_con.html
While the mudslides will be cleared by September, there is structural damage to the Pfeiffer Canyon Bridge. Caltrans will have to do an inspection and provide an ETA for repairs once they can get to the bridge. If it is serious then part of that road could still be closed. Check the Caltrans website in the link I provided (enter '1').

You have to reserve tours in advance. My brother had a science package that went up on a launch and we were able to tour the launch pad that had been built for the Space Shuttle, plus the night launch is pretty cool.

There was a little display of rockets and things off to the side of the road that my nephews had fun with.


You can drive out to the golf course ("Marshallia") which is open to the public, has a pro shop/coffee shop with good prices. If you play golf it's quite challenging with all the ice plant and you often see deer there.

Other than that it's a scenic drive.

Also if you drive down Ocean Ave in Lompoc you can actually get to the beach!I think you drive through part of the base property to reach the ocean.

If you continue on the Lompoc-Casmalia Road eventually you reach the Casmalia Hitching Post restaurant. Although famous for their beef they do also serve chicken and halibut. Anytime you can find fresh halibut on the menu in this area I recommend it

http://www.hitchingpost1.com/AboutTheHP.html

In Lompoc we used to like Sissy's Uptown Cafe (great pie and local wine list) as well as halibut.. although their hours need to be verified in advance!

Good recommendations.

It's fun to visit wineries/ vineyards, too, of which there are many choices all along the way.

We recently drove Palo Alto to LA.

We stayed one night at Best Western Cavalier, by Hearst Castle. Nice place, oceanfront, restaurant, fireplaces in most rooms, and reasonably priced.

The next night in Santa Barbara at the Castillo Inn, a motel-style place across from the marina.

It is a beautiful drive. Post more questions for lodging and restaurant recommendations when you decide on your plan.

Look at the tripadvisor.com site on California for a wealth of useful information: https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowForu...alifornia.html

Be aware that the coastal highway, Highway One, has sections that will be closed for some time because of storm damage.