2 WEEKS BETWEEN LOS ANGELES AND SAN FRANCISCO
 

WE ARE FROM FLORIDA 2 WOMEN , WE WANT TO VISIT THAT AREA STARTING IN LOS ANGELES ON NOV30 .WE WANT TO RENT A CAR AND DRIVE TO SAN FRANCISCO.<BR>PLEASE NEED ADVICE WHAT TO VISIT, HOW MANY DAYS IN EACH PLACE, NICE HOTELS NO TOO EXPENSIVE.NEED TO GET BACK TO LOS ANGELES ON DEC 13 TO FLIGHT BACK HOME ON DEC 14. THANKS

Start by searching here to read some of what has already been covered. In the textsearch box above put 'la to sf', highlight 'california' in the list of places and press find.

SOLANGE,<BR><BR>Using all caps like you have is considered shouting and rude. <BR><BR>As Cyril recommends, do a search. This question has been asked and answered a thousand times.<BR><BR>Future Reference

I have a couple of suggestions based on our recent trip. Cambria is a very pleasant town, with nice restaurants and shops. While there, you might be interested in visiting Hearst Castle in San Simeon. A few miles north of the castle, there is a place to pull off and view the elephant seals. It's marked fairly well along Hwy 1. We were too late to see them when we went, but, from what we were told, late November/December is when the males arrive on the beach to stake out their territory. That might be quite a sight!<BR><BR>I would also recommend you allow at least a couple of days on the Monterey peninsula. By doing a search you might figure out if you would prefer Monterey, Pacific Grove or Carmel, but it is such a lovely area! Have fun!

You must plan on visiting Hearst Castle!<BR><BR>Why not fly into LA and fly back home out of SF? Or plan on taking the coastal route up to SF and then on the way back to LA, you need to go through Yosemite.

If you like snow, you might consider taking a few days and driving up to Lake Tahoe.

Santa Barbara is a jewel on weekdays. Hit it coming or going, but bypass it weekends when LA overflows into it.

Try to set aside a day and night to visit Yosemite

Solange,<BR><BR>Definitely stop to enjoy the Central Coast from Big Sur to the Monterey Bay Area www.monterey.com. Hearst Castle www.hearst-castle.org is highly recommended as is the Monterey Bay Aquaruium, Fisherman's Wharf, and 17 Mile Drive. Don't miss the quaint town of Carmel www.carmelbythesea.com with its many shops and cafes. From Monterey you should take Highway 1 north to Highway 17 north into San Jose www.sanjose.org The city has a number of worthwhile attractions including the Tech Museum of Innovation www.thetech.org the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum www.rosicrucian.org and the Winchester Mystery House www.winchestermysteryhouse.com to name a few. Downtown San Jose has many great restaurants especially in San Pedro Square www.sanpedrosquare.com and nightlife especially along South First Street. You can see Broadway shows at the American Musical Theater of San Jose www.amtsj.org North of the city off of the scenic 280 freeway on the way to San Francisco I would also recommend a stop at the Filoli Estate www.filoli.org for a tour of the Georgian Mansion and gardens.<BR>have a great trip

If you haven't purchased your air tickets yet, it makes more sense to fly INTO one city and RETURN from the other. No backtracking.

I'd stop in Santa Barbara for sure. There are alot of nice motels and inns near the beach.Big Sur would be another nice stop.Carmel and Santa Cruz are also nice.Capitola in Santa Cruz is very quaint. Our weather at that time of year can be pretty wet. It's supposed to be an El Nino year which means lots of rain.You never know when the rainy season will start though. Sometimes the rain doesn't start until the end of Dec. If there is a big storm highway 1 sometimes closes near Big Sur. Have fun anyway in our Golden State.

See Carmel if you have class, see Santa Cruz if you're a dried up old hippie looking for a good time.

to a little advice - I guess I don't have any class, and I probably don't have any principals either, because I prefer Santa Cruz to Carmel. I'm not a dried up old hippy though. <BR><BR>Solange - Carmel and Santa Cruz are very different places and appeal to different people. It just depends on what a person is looking for. Carmel is a very upscale little village with lots of art galleries and expensive restaurants. Santa Cruz is a beach town and much more diverse than Carmel.

I would agree with J Correa. Santa Cruz and Carmel are different places and each are nice to visit depending on your interests. Carmel has more of an upscale older crowd. Santa Cruz is a college town with and therefore, has more of a younger crowd. The coast along Santa Cruz is also very scenic. You can always sleep in Santa Cruz and go to Carmel for a day trip. In Santa Cruz I would advise staying at the West Coast Santa Cruz Hotel www.westcoasthotels.com Each room has an ocean view.

I do this trip every Thanksgiving for 10 days, it's a great vacation. My favorites include: <BR><BR>- Drive down to Santa Diego for a few days and maybe take a few hours to go to Mexico (40 minute drive). See the beaches, the zoo and museums of interest. Stay at Hotel Del or someplace in Coronado.<BR><BR>- Stop in Santa Barbara for a few days. Stay right accross from the beach at the Ramada. Shop, dine, walk the beaches. <BR><BR>- Continue up Highway 1 (a must) stopping at Ojai, Harmony (population 16) & Cambria for browsing/shopping. Stay overnight on Moonstone Beach, take a walk along the boardwalk in the morning.<BR><BR>- The Madonna Inn is cute for a quick stop.<BR><BR>- Don't miss the Hearst Castle (get there early) or the drive through Big Sur.<BR><BR>- Stop for a few days to explore Monteray (I stay at the Doubletree) and Carmel. Shop, dine & walk the beaches. Visit the aquarium, Pebble beach, the 17-mile drive (best seen by renting a bike), go to the Tuesday evening farmers market in Monteray, eat Ollie Berry pie, visit Bubba Gumps for lunch and Awakenings for breakfast. Take a yoga class.<BR><BR>See the sunset from the nude beach at Half Moon Bay (in November you'll have the beach all to yourself, no admittance fee - it's beautiful!! - find it on Hwy 1 after you pass the regular beach at Half Moon Bay on the way up to SF).<BR><BR>Stay in San Fran for a few days (in Union Square). Take a ride to the Cliff House, see the crooked street, fisherman's wharf, giaradelli square, take a ride on a cable car (at 6 or 7 AM there's no line), shop in Union Square, walk the Golden Gate Bridge and through the Golden Gate Park, get a tour of Alcatraz (rent the tape).<BR><BR>Stop at Muir Woods to see the Redwoods and drive to Stinson Beach.<BR><BR>Head to Sonoma for a few days. Stay at a spa, hike a mountain at Jack London State Park or Bartholomew Park (at the winery), get a massage or take a mud bath. Eat dinner at the Sonoma Mission Inn and breakfast at the Big 3. Go to Oakville (1 hour drive). Visit the Oakville Grocery (great wines & picnic food), Cakebread, Silver Oaks and Mondavi wineries (take the tour at Mondavi). <BR><BR>Skip Copia (overrated) but stop at Vincenzia on Rt 39 (great tastings of jellies, mustards, sauces, etc - good views & picnic food). <BR><BR>If the "Heart of the Valley" charity event in going on, attend (Sunday after Thanksgiving). $10 gets you lots of food and wine tastings with all proceeds going to charity. <BR><BR>If you have time left over, I'd suggest a few days in Yosemite or Lake Tahoe.....<BR><BR>If you can, change your flight so that you fly out of San Fran. <BR><BR>

Linda's itinerary is not a bad one, but I don't recommend taking highway 1 north of Santa Cruz. For one thing, in the winter this road can be quite treacherous, especially for those that are not used to driving on a narrow, winding road. Also, the coastal scenery north of Santa Cruz is not nearly as spectacular as it is in the Monterey Bay Area. Your best bet would be to take the inland route from Santa Cruz to SF via 17 north to 280 north.

I agree with the warning about Hwy 1 during a storm. I like Hwy 1 north of Santa Cruz - different than outh of Monterey, but still beautiful IMO - but, the highway can be scary during a heavy storm, especially around Devil's Slide, as the name implies. <BR><BR>If the weather is stormy, I suggest taking Hwy 17 over to San Jose. <BR><BR>If the weather is not stormy, I suggest taking Hwy 9 from Santa Cruz over to Saratoga, which is next to San Jose. Hwy 9 is a 2 lane road which will take you over the mountains right through the redwoods and several small towns that were originally summer resorts. Lots of places to stop, shop, hike, have lunch or get a snack. Hwy 17 goes through the redwoods too, but it's a 4 lane highway which by-passes all the little towns. You can stop in Felton at Henry Cowell State Park for a little hiking. Roaring Camp railroad is right there too. You can take a tour through the redwoods on a steam train there. Outside of Boulder Creek, which is further up the mountain is Big Basin State Park.

I second J Correa's suggestion of Felton/Roaring Camp Railroad and Big Basin. The redwoods in Big Basin are nicer than the ones in Muir Woods.

Madonna Inn is in San Luis Obispo and comes before you get to Cambria.<BR><BR>If it's a stormy season, Hwy 1 will likely be washed out prior to your arrival. That means that you won't be able to drive from Cambria to Monterey on Hwy 1. <BR><BR>Another thumbs down for Santa Cruz. Tried it 3 times and never found anything more than gang members and skateboarders.

Santa Cruz is a very charming and unique town. The tourists always end up at the Boardwalk and only see other tourists.We have long beautiful beaches and towering redwoods. Capitola and Aptos have wonderful restaurants and inns.So don't let a few grumps keep you from visiting here. Carmel is very nice and the beach is wonderful but it tends to feel a little boring after a day or two.

Dont miss Monterrey and Hearst Castle at San Simeon.

No offense Linda<BR><BR>But I would not choose Bubba Gumps as my restaraunt for Monterey. It always looks better than it tastes.

Charm is a relative word. I would NEVER apply it to Santa Cruz. The campus is one of the nicest examples of blending nature, scenery and education. But the the rest of the town has yet to offer me anything worthy of another visit. I've been there on 4 occasions and always found it to be the same boring, hippie town.

You should stay away from Santa Cruz then,the last thing we need around here are more uptight stick-in-the-muds clogging up our streets.Right now we're enjoying crystal clear weather,82 degrees at the beach and no tourists. Ah I love September! It's hard living in paradise.

I don't really don't understand all the Santa Cruz bashing on here. I guess all those "old hippies" must be doing pretty well to be able to afford a $600,000 fixer upper and all the BMW's I see in the grocery store parking lots. Must be the same people who bash San Francisco. Oh well too bad for them,they don't know what they are missing.

Since when do BMWs and over-priced fixer-upper shacks equate to class?

Albionetti's on Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey is a much better place for lunch than Bubba Gump's. Hwy 9 over the hill through the redwoods is beautiful but be sure nobody in the car suffers from car sickness---it's really switchback at certain points and if foggy you can easily lose your way. As far a Sta. Cruz vs. Carmel---that's just another example of diversity of California.

I never said BMW'S equal class. What I was saying was that Santa Cruz has a very diverse population .Some people seem to be under the impression that the only people who live in Santa Cruz are old hippies. We have our share of hippie types but no more than any other artistic or culture rich area. Granted most tourists head straight to the tourist areas and might not see the real Santa Cruz. They should try to explore some other areas. Capitola is nothing like downtown Santa Cruz, Boulder Creek is nothing like Aptos. I doubt if any one who has a meal at The Shadowbrook restuarant will think they are in a town full of old hippies. It has to be one of the most beautiful restaurants in California. Carmel is a great place,my wife and I spend a weekend there about twice a year. But to compare Santa Cruz to Carmel is foolish,they are two different places. It's like comparing San Francisco to Los Angeles, both are great cities for different reasons.

I disagree with Tom's posting. Highway 1 between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay is far prettier than between Monterey and Santa Cruz. Unless it is blowing a gale, it is more enjoyable than 17 and driving up Silicon Valley to SF. If Devil's Slide worries you, just turn right on 92 at Half Moon Bay to 280 north to SF. On the return trip, go to Columbiaville north of Yosemite, Yosemite (of course) but also Sequoia.

Michael, I disagree with your assessment of Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz. I have travelled this road many times, and the stretch south of Santa Cruz is much more scenic that that north of Santa Cruz. To say that Highway 17 is not scenic is totally unjustified. Highway 17 through the Santa Cruz mountains is one of the most scenic drives in Northern California along with the 280.

Highway 17 is scenic,but hopfully only for the passengers. I wouldn't want the driver admiring the views while going 55 mph with all the "super commuters" passing you on the right going 70 mph. 280 is a lovely drive though,especially if the hills are green. Just a word of warning re: 17.