My boyfriend and I are taking a trip to California at the end of August and are trying to see as much as we can while we are there. We prefer to travel along the coast, since that is where most of our destinations are. Our main destinations are San Diego, Carmel and Big Sur, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, and Napa or Sonoma. So... if anyone has any advice on what to see and do while we are in any of these place I would be ever so grateful! Or if you know of any places that we should stop along the way while traveling. Also, does anyone have any recommendations on which wineries we should visit, Sonoma or Napa... we only have about 2 weeks to cover this area. Anything would be helpful. Thankyou!

Your questions are way too vague and open-ended. California is a huge state, and there's a lot to do in every major site you're planning to visit.

It's a good thing you're leaving LA out of the equation, as that metro area requires a week on its own.

If you give us a bit more info to go on, it would be helpful. What are you interested in doing/seeing? Museums, historical stuff, pretty vistas, hiking, shopping, dining, what? How much research have you done prior to this? Do you realize that there's a fairly large amount (OK, understatement-- HUGE amount) of interesting stuff between San Diego and Carmel? You have to give us some parameters.

There are have been many threads on this forum discussing exactly the things that you wish to know.

A lot depends on your tastes. For example, there are plenty of recommendations on which wineries to visit, depending on whether you wanted to taste chardonnays or pinot noirs.

In the "Search the forum" box above, just type in key words like "Big Sur", "Sonoma", etc. to pull up many past threads.

Happy reading! And when you are done reading, if you still have questions, please come back and ask more specific questions! The members on this forum are more than helpful. I've gotten superb recommendations asking for specifics, such as "seafood restaurant in San Francisco".

It would be a shame not to see Yosemite or Lake Tahoe. Where will you be flying into and leaving from?
Is there a specific reason why you want to visit Santa Cruz?
Other than wine tasting, what is it you like to do?
Have fun planning.
-Bill

Husband and I flew into San Fran, rented a convertible and drove to LA on the coast in a six day period. 2 nights San Fran, Then onto Carmel 2 nights, stayed at the Carmel Valley Ranch. No one was there at all, rates were good and "rooms" we like private villas. Went whale watching from there, very rough and cold beginning of Sept.) but did see whales. Drove around Pebble beach-beautiful, hubby is a golf nut, so he loved it. Then on to Santa Barbara, got there at night. We did not have reservations, but stumbled on the cutest B & B: The Chesire Cat Inn. Had a great lunch the next day on the main street in town and headed to LA for a wedding. The downside of the whole trip was LA. If not for our best friends' wedding we would have skipped it and ended up in San Diego.

Check out Fodor's "Coastal California" book, it helped us a lot.

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions so far!! There is so much to do and so little time... I cant wait to go! So I will just ask about some interests and see what you guys think.
1. San Diego - from what I have read Balboa Park and the SD Zoo have peaked my interest. Any favorites here??? Also, we both love sailing, or any type of boating and I have read about a bunch of excursions, so any advice here would be great too! I have also read some about the gas lamp quaters... any suggestions on shops or restarants... we love seafood, but also love to try out the foods of the areas.
2. We plan on driving the "17 mile drive" and visiting Big Sur, Carmel, and then staying with friends in Santa Cruz... Any suggestions on golf courses in the Pebble Beach area.. my boyfriend is also a golf fanatic??
Thats all for now, seems like quite a lot. So whatever you come up with will be great! Thanks again.

Since you mention sailing, you might want to check out sunsetkidd.com, up in Santa Barbara.

Oh one more thing... any suggestions on haunted houses or ghost tours???

I can only comment on San Diego's Whaley House, which is government-certified haunted. It's in Old Town, and there is a tour. The guides are young and funny and tell cute stories, but "sensitives" do feel the presence of The Other Side in certain places (top of the stairs, children's room, etc., a ghost dog h*mping one lady's leg-- I'm serious!). I'm not really a believer, but it was actually fun. I understand that there is at least one ghost at the Hotel del Coronado as well. SD is a fairly young city, so it hasn't had enough of a chance to build up its supply of ghosts, but....

Too bad you won't get up to LA, as the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel is haunted by Montgomery Clift and Marilyn Monroe. Maybe they like the acts at Feinstein's Cinegrill (that alone is worth an evening visit).

There are plenty of haunted places up in the Bay Area, so I'll let the experts comment up there.

There is the Winchester Mysterey House in San Jose.

I'm glad Balboa Park piqued your interest-- it's a beautiful park with museums and fun stuff to do and see. The Zoo is wonderful, of course. The Aerospace Museum is touchingly dated, but if you have even a passing interest in aviation and aerospace history, it's actually quite cool.

I've never taken a boat out on the Harbor, but I'm sure there are little cruises or similar things. I mean, if we can support an "AquaLink" water taxi service up here in Long Beach, they'll have something really nice down there! And there is something wonderful about boating on open calm Pacific waters....

The Gaslamp is a pretty happening little part of San Diego, so it is worth a dinner and pub crawl.

Have you checked out the official visitor's bureau website, www.sandiego.org? It's got just about everything you'll need to know.

And more crucial: Have you even arranged your lodging yet? The clock is ticking...!

We are looking into renting a car for the time that we are out there. Any recommendations on a rental car site??? I found one with hertz for a free double upgrade... it would cost around $600. Any sites that may rent out convertibles within this price range??

Will you be flying into San Diego, driving northward and then dropping the rental car in San Francisco and flying home from there????

we are flying into san diego, and then flying out of seattle