Ok, I know there are a lot of questions on this subject so bear with me.
Yound married couple traveling for the first time to CA in October. I want to go to SF, Sonoma, Carmel, Santa Barabara, LA, and San Diego. Good destinations?
How many nights should we go in each place. 10 nights is really all we have. (We can always come back and visit the places we really like).
In October we were planning on driving from North to South to try to end in warmer weather but I see a lot of posts that say just the opposite...
Please help.
Thanks so much!

I think that that's way too much to do in 10 days. You should probably sit down and sort out your priorities, i.e., museums, beach, wine tasting, shopping, etc. Then you will know better where you want to spend your time.

OK, my husband just walked by and says that you can do this in 10 days. Start in the wine country and spend 2 days there. Do a couple of wineries and see the Di Rosa art collection. It's fabulous. make a reservation on their website. Spend 2 days in SF and see the basics; GG Bridge, Chinatown, maybe lunch in Sausalito. One day in Carmel & maybe the Monterey aquarium. Hearst Castle is a must & it only takes about 3 hrs. If you stop in Santa Barbara you should see the mission, the beach & the nice museum there. From there you could spend three days in LA/SD: the Getty, Hollywood, lunch in Venice, the SD zoo or the wild Animal Park...the destinations are endless.

I'm back to my original opinion which is that you need to think about your priorities.

I would skip San Diego and end in LA. You CAN see everything in 10 days, but by the time you get to San Diego you will be trashed. Packing up and moving 2 days at a time is very taxing.

I'd say San Francisco 3 days, on the last day pick-up your rental car and take a nice day trip up to Sonoma. Next, 2 nights in Carmel and then a leisurely drive on the 3rd day down to Santa Barbara. Just one romantic night at maybe the Harbor View Inn unless the beach weather is nice, then 2 nights. Final nights in and around LA...Santa Monica if you want beach area and West Hollywood or Beverly Hills if you're into nightlife. If you're not as tired of moving around as planned, you can always take a day trip or an overnighter down to San Diego which is just a 2.2 hr drive.

Try to hit LA on a weekend when the traffic is much more manageable. Also, Carmel and Santa Barbara will be less expensive on weekdays.

I agree with laurelt. Too much to see in 10 days. This would amount to a 700 mile from Sonoma to San Diego. Assumming no stops and taking the inland as opposed to the coastal route, 1t would be about a 10 hour drive. I would probably skip the Sonoma and SF and start in Montery/Carmel. The Monterey and Santa Cruz Mountains above San Jose have some excellent wineries as well. From there take route 1 south to Santa Barbara, LA, and end in San Diego. You could fly into San Jose and out of San Diego. I would plan for 2 days in Monterey/Carmel, 2 days in Santa Barbara, 3 in LA and 3 in San Diego.

http://santacruz.winecountry.com/

We did this trip in 10 days and had a great time. It provided a great overview, and have returned again to revisit places we especially enjoyed. here was our itinerary:
>Flew into San Fran. 2 nts here. Saw alcatraz, Golden Gate Park, walking tour of Chinatown(walkwiz.com). ,pier, trolley cars.
>Drove north-visited Muir woods FOR 1/2 day.Sausalito in afternoon.Spent 3rd nt. at Embassy Suites in San Rafael.Drove north to wine country.Stayed 4th nt. in Santa Rosa. Next day toured Sterling Vineyards, and 2 others. Drove late day to Monterey.
>5th nt. in Monterey.Stayed in hotel on the ocean.Went to Monterey Aquarium next day.Did the scenic drive thru Big Sur in the afternoon. Drove ocean route to san Luis Obispo.
>6th nt. just a stopover at Embassy Suites here. Next morning on to santa barbara.
>Enjoyed the ocean and pool here.Also lunch out on the pier.Spent 6th nt. here. Next morning visited one of the Missions.
>Drove to Santa Monica.(2 nts. here) Enjoyed the ocean and did a tour of Hollywood.Also 3rd St.promenade,and the pier.
>Drove to san Diego. (2 nts. here) Went to the zoo one day. Trolley tour of san diego the next(Old Town Seaport village, hortons Plaza). Flew home from here. I know it is a lot to cover but it was very enjoyable. Also had a 12 and 15 yr. old with us. I know we missed hearst Castle, but this did not appeal to any of us. Have a great time!

I also agree that you are trying to see too much in 10 days. You'll spend most of your time driving and hardly have anytime for sightseeing. I like Maggiano's itinerary. We did a trip similar to what Maggiano has outlined and we had 2 weeks and still did not get to see everything we wanted.

Too much! For our itinerary, we flew into LA, left immediately and headed north. 8 Days later, flew out of San Fran (never saw it, just drove into SF and left). Spent the whole trip enjoying the places along Highway 1 (AWESOME views). It was a full trip packed with beautiful places to see. This summer we will hit SF for a few days and then drive north from there. Did San Deigo on a 5 day trip and still need to see LA. To do California well, my opinion is just the coast needs 3 separate trips of 8-10 days...San Francisco plus north of SF for one trip, LA and San Deiego for trip #2, and between LA & SF for trip #3, and this trip skips seeing anything in LA or SF, simply arrival and departure locations. So, there's my 2 cents!

Well I disagree with the nay-sayers: I think your proposed destinations are perfectly do-able in 10 days. I like a good overview-type of trip the first time I go to a place myself, and since this is your first trip to CA and, as you correctly point out, you can always come back for extended visits to places you really like, I think you have picked good destinations and should stick to your original plan. Covering 600 miles or so in 10 days averages out to driving 60 miles a day for heaven's sake - I commute that much to work every day and still have plenty of time to work for 8 or 9 hours, cook meals, do laundry, and clean the house (unfortunately) - as well as do things that are more enjoyable!

I don't think it makes a lot of difference, in terms of weather, whether you do the trip North to South or vice versa in October (it's the warmest month of the year in San Francisco, and the first rain of the season doesn't usually come until the first part of Nov.). People who don't like driving on the outside lane of winding seacoast roads prefer the South to North route.

I think laurelt gave a good general itinerary in her second post, and jd's looks good to me too.

You have some real treats in store for you at the places you've chosen to see! Go for it and enjoy yourself...

I say go for it - like you said, you can always come back and revisit the areas you liked best.

It can be done, but it will be busy. I personally enjoy those kind of vactions, I like to stay busy and I don't mind the driving. I would start with three nights in San Francisco, using one of the days for a daytrip up into the wine country. Wine country is the type of place that you will either need several days, if it is your kind of thing (meaning a trip back) or the type of place that a daytrip might be enough, just a matter of what you like. From SF I would go to Carmel, spending a couple of nights there, or maybe spending the second night in the Cambria area if you would be interested in the Hearst Castle. Next would be a couple of nights in Santa Barbara. I put a couple of nights here because I really like Santa Barbara and it would give you some time to catch you breath and relax a little. The next three nights, I would split between LA and San Diego, depending on where you interest lie. I'm not an LA fan, so if you left Santa Barbara early you could probably have time to take in the NBC tour and get a glance at Hollywood, if you want to do that Hollywood-type thing. Spend the night in that area, then the next day you could visit Santa Monica and/or Venice Beach before heading down to San Diego for the last two nights (or maybe spend that night in Laguna beach, heading out early and spending the last night in San Diego) In San Diego you could visit Balboa Park (zoo) and then maybe head over and spend the night in Old Town, giving you a chance to visit that area also.

My husband and I will sit down and take all of your posts into consideration.
We personally like to road trip so a couple of days here and there are not a problem. We will either extend our trip or focus our time in a couple of places.
Thank you for all of your replies.

There is too much on your plate for a 10 day trip. Try to drive 600 to 700 miles in the span of 10 days will allow for minimal sightseeing along the way. Equating the drive time for your journey to a 60 mile commute to work as SFE has done is somewhat misleading. Highway 1 is a slow stretch of road. You'll want to make frequent stops to enjoy the scenery. When you commute to work, you don't care about seeing the scenery and attractions.

I agree with Maggiano's itinerary. LA, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Carmelyou will have more than enough to fill 10 days.

Have a great trip.

I love busy trips and my husband and I cram in as much as possible but this does look like a very busy one! Possible of course but like others have said be sure of what you want to see and do and how long you want to take. You can come back of course, I say that all the time but then I tend to go somewhere else I haven't seen rather than go back even if I really loved it.

Planning update...
We have picked October to go to California for 6 days. We are going to LA and are either staying at the Mondrian or any other suggestion? Then we are driving to Santa Barbara and staying at either Harborview or Inn at spanish garden.---------------
We are planning a winter trip to San Diego. Any great spots in Southern California for a young couple to ring in the New Year?

Depending on what you want to do when you're in the LA area, there are many choices for lodging. When I think of "Le Mondrian", I think of Attitude. Oh, and Sky Bar (and more Attitude). Views can be spectacular, but for the money there are far, far better choices. Oh yeah-- how much money do you want to spend? Do you want the ocean nearby (you do know the Mondrian is well inland, right?)? Do you want lots of nightlife around you? Shopping? Cultural outlets?

You may want to start a new thread for this LA metro/Santa Barbara trip.