14 day Fly Drive LA to San Francisco
Nov 3rd, 1999 | 06:51 AM
#2
Guest
Posts: n/a
Definitely drive to San Francisco along the coast. You may want to visit Santa Barbara, missions, Hearst Castle, Monterey, etc.
Be sure to save some time for San Francisco for Muir Woods (northwest), Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, boat tours, Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, museums, and many more attractions.
There might even be time to slip over to Yosemite National Park (but check the weather).
Try these websites . . . http://www.gocalif.ca.gov
http://www.sanfranciscoonline.com
Be sure to save some time for San Francisco for Muir Woods (northwest), Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, boat tours, Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, museums, and many more attractions.
There might even be time to slip over to Yosemite National Park (but check the weather).
Try these websites . . . http://www.gocalif.ca.gov
http://www.sanfranciscoonline.com
Nov 3rd, 1999 | 06:51 AM
#3
Guest
Posts: n/a
Definitely drive to San Francisco along the coast. You may want to visit Santa Barbara, missions, Hearst Castle, Monterey, etc.
Be sure to save some time for San Francisco for Muir Woods (northwest), Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, boat tours, Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, museums, and many more attractions.
There might even be time to slip over to Yosemite National Park (but check the weather).
Try these websites . . . http://www.gocalif.ca.gov
http://www.sanfranciscoonline.com
Be sure to save some time for San Francisco for Muir Woods (northwest), Golden Gate Park, Chinatown, boat tours, Fisherman's Wharf, cable cars, museums, and many more attractions.
There might even be time to slip over to Yosemite National Park (but check the weather).
Try these websites . . . http://www.gocalif.ca.gov
http://www.sanfranciscoonline.com
Nov 3rd, 1999 | 10:04 AM
#4
Guest
Posts: n/a
Helen: You are blessed to have so much time! Take your time driving Hwy. 1. Make sure you allow 3-4 days at the end to fully explore San Francisco -- it's a wonderful city. You should also allow at least 2-3 days at the beginning to explore LA. But in my opinion, the really breathtaking stuff lies in between!
I drove up the coast in July and had an incredible trip. If you do a search on this forum by typing in the words "California coast" you will pull up a bunch of threads that will help you plan your trip, including one I wrote called "Trip report: Just back from California coast!" It covers everything from our car rental to restaurants, sights, accommodations, etc. As you will see in more detail if you read it, highlights for us were Cambria, Hearst Castle (a must -- www.hearstcastle.org), Big Sur (especially Point Lobos State Park), and the Monterrey Aquarium (http://www.mbayaq.org/). We also liked Santa Barbara, Morro Bay, and Pacific Grove. We thought Carmel and Monterrey were overrated and overcrowded with tourists, but they shouldn't be as crowded at this time of year.
We found the Frommers California book most helpful in planning our trip, in addition to this forum. Also, here is a great website with links to a lot more informaition: http://www.pelicannetwork.net/bigsur.places.htm
Good luck and have a terrific time!
I drove up the coast in July and had an incredible trip. If you do a search on this forum by typing in the words "California coast" you will pull up a bunch of threads that will help you plan your trip, including one I wrote called "Trip report: Just back from California coast!" It covers everything from our car rental to restaurants, sights, accommodations, etc. As you will see in more detail if you read it, highlights for us were Cambria, Hearst Castle (a must -- www.hearstcastle.org), Big Sur (especially Point Lobos State Park), and the Monterrey Aquarium (http://www.mbayaq.org/). We also liked Santa Barbara, Morro Bay, and Pacific Grove. We thought Carmel and Monterrey were overrated and overcrowded with tourists, but they shouldn't be as crowded at this time of year.
We found the Frommers California book most helpful in planning our trip, in addition to this forum. Also, here is a great website with links to a lot more informaition: http://www.pelicannetwork.net/bigsur.places.htm
Good luck and have a terrific time!
Nov 3rd, 1999 | 03:53 PM
#5
Guest
Posts: n/a
A couple years ago my husband and I drove from the SF area down to San Diego and back. We put over 1000 miles on our car one way, crisscrossing back and forth, took 1 week to do it, and we didn't need the extra days in either big city as we have lived in both. So, in my opinion, you have the perfect amount of time, but not too much. All of the above suggestions are good. Consider also adding Santa Barbara Co. Wineries (if you like wine--it would be the Solvang/Buellton area--do a search for Santa Barbara Wine Route to get maps of the wineries), the missions---Santa Inez and La Purissima are lovely as well as Sta. Barbara, the "Queen of the Missions", Cambria and the crazy Hearst Castle, Big Sur (if the weather is good--and it still is, so far), Carmel,Monterey, the 17 mile drive and Pacific Grove, and perhaps even crazy Santa Cruz,aka "Surfcity, U.S.A." Then up to lovely little San Francisco. Your route will basically be 101 north except when you want to cut back over to the coast on Hwy 1 (don't do the whole trip on Hwy 1, however, it takes too much time)Hwy 1 from Santa Cruz to SF is pretty unremarkable and only a two lane flat road, so my advice would be to cut back to 101 at this point.As soon as you can (San Jose) cut over to 280 and drive up to SF that way--much prettier and an easier drive without the trucks. Sounds like a truly wonderful trip. I wouldn't try to get to Yosemite in that amount of time.You could, however, include Pinnacles National Monument if you are interested in national parks. It's quite pretty in a strange sort of way and is the place in California that experiences the most earthquakes of all. You are obviously from the U.K. so I think you'll enjoy just experiencing the California culture. Have a great time. Let me know if you need anything more.
