Best stops for road trip from San Fran down the coast, family of 5?
 

Family of 5, young adult kids, we want to fly into San Fran and drive down the coast, end of June beginning of July. We can spend 7-10 days taking the trip. Looking for any advice on where to stay along the way and where to wind up to fly out of.. Just found out we can get away, so just starting the search and any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Some possibilities are: Santa Cruz for its 1907 boardwalk and amusement park, Monterey for the aquarium, Cambria for the Hearst Castle, Pismo Beach for a room with great ocean view, and La Purisima Conception (near Lompoc) for insight into life on a Spanish mission.

HTtY

www.pointlobos.org

Where you fly home from depends on your home destination. Burbank and SNA are the easiest airports but don't have nonstop flights to too many cities

Check other posts in here - and also google away - especially for the Big Sur area - where some of the webpages have some good maps with the various options.

Cambria is very cute with good places to dine - and a bonus would be to stay right on the beach - at Moonlstone Beach. A little more pricey - but worth it for a small splurge. :)

The family would also probably enjoy the Danish pastries in Solvang - about 45 minutes north of Santa Barbara.

Happytrailstoyou- That all sounds wonderful! I forgot about the Hearst castle and I would love that, so thank you!!

clarkgriswold- Flying from NYC area.

Tomscl- Big Sur is a must! Any specific recommendation of hotel in Moonstone Beach?

Also, I normally plan our trips myself, is this one I can do on my own or should I use a travel agent??

You can easily plan this trip yourself. Look up trip reports here to get ideas and recs. keep in mind that places along the coast will usually required 2 night minimums on weekends.

MichelleY- Great! Thanks for the encouragement :) Like to olan sooner so feeling behind the gun... will get reading those trip reports!!

Just click on California on the pull down on this page. You can browse trip reports, but other's question are also helpful in planning. There have been numerous threads on your question in the last few months and they will be helpful in planning.

How old are your adult children? If over 21, there will be plenty of wine tasting opportunities along the way.

For hotels on Moonstone beach - suggest you just google away and you will find a list of them - and pick the one with the best rates/availability - that seems to appeal to you and your family.

Even if you don't stay there - go for a walk along the great trail, etc.

And absolutely you can plan it for yourself. There really is just one road from Carmel/Monterrey to Santa Barbara along the coast - and almost all of the accommodations are on or near the Coast hiway.

Thank you MichelleY and Tonsel !!

Now let me ask, someone just told me I might prefer south Cali in the summer bc north has so much summer fog which takes a while to burn off. What do you think??And if I go south where?

Just to clarify a few things:

MonteRey is in CaliFORNIA; MonteRRey is in Mexico. Cali is a city in COLOMBIA.

/End of Geography 1A rant

Now: As to summer fog: I'm of the "So What?" school on that. California has so much going on in so many places that a little morning fog (even if it continues into the early afternoon and/or rolls in and out all day) shouldn't bug you.

Here are a few factoids to bear in mind:

-- California is the State of Microclimates. Traveling a few miles away from a given location usually brings changes in temperature and prevailing weather conditions. Sometimes extreme. San Francisco stays relatively cool year-round; hit the Wine Country (less than an hour's drive) and you could find a 20-degree temperature difference. Santa Monica (where I work) and Long Beach (where I live) are separated by roughly 35 miles, both on the ocean; Long Beach is consistently 5 to 10 degrees hotter than Santa Monica in the afternoon, and a marine-layer fog that lingers all day in Santa Monica will burn off in Long Beach by 11 AM. One brutal Santa Ana condition brought temperatures of 104 at our house; we drove four miles to the beach, where the temperature was a chilly 85. Whatever the weather where you are, drive a few miles and it usually will be different.

-- There is a little phenomenon of southern California coastal climate called "June Gloom" that blesses us with a regular morning marine-layer fog and/or overcast skies for most of the month of June. Sometimes it bleeds over into July. So it's not 100% sure that you'd escape northern-California fog by heading down the coast.

-- Where in southern California? Well, the second-largest city in the US is down here; that might be worth a few minutes of time. No one actually seems to LIKE Los Angeles (or the 100-plus cities in its vicinity) in the slightest, but a heckuva lot of people sure end up visiting here (I share the road with a lot of rental cars, year-round). San Diego is a lovely coastal city with a lot to recommend it. Don't forget Santa Barbara either.

-- The California Coastal Drive is one of the most-discussed topics on this Forum. I've seen dozens of threads on that very topic over the last several months. You're getting really good suggestions, but a bit of searching will yield pages and pages of other ideas. Solvang is fun but a bit past its prime (the faux-Danish theme is a bit passé, let's be honest); however, it's part of the Central Coast Wine Country and opens up a world of fun (you did see the movie <b>Sideways</b>, didn't you?).

-- Seven to ten days for the California Coastal Drive is a pretty tight time window, to be honest. You'll have no real time to explore and enjoy San Francisco (a great city) or any other large city in the state; this will be a sampler of the state's extraordinary riches. Personally I could spend that whole time in San Francisco and the Wine Country (it'd be pricey, but hey...!). But that's me.

Jet Blue has a 10am flight out of Long Beach airport or a noontime flight out of San Diego. They also have overnighters (9:30pm )arriving around 5:30am at JFK, from Long Beach, San Diego or easy-peasy Burbank airport.

I would check car rental rates between these cities before booking flights though, as it looks like San Fran airport to Los Angeles or San Diego airports might have the lowest one-way rates. Prices could be high if you are traveling into the 4th-of-July weekend , also coastal accomodations may have 2 or 3 night minimums.

Clarkgriswold- Wow! Thank you so much for the info... Yes you are right I have to consider the 4th of July with all of this-thank you!!

Check out the Madonna Inn- if even for a meal on the way down!

This information is for the span between Morro Bay and Santa Barbara:

I agree with HappyTrails regarding La Purisima Mission State Park – much overlooked on the forum.

If you are at all interested in the early Spanish life in CA this is perhaps one of the most educational of the missions.

http://www.lapurisimamission.org/ http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=25178

If you pass through San Luis Obispo on a Thursday they have an evening farmer’s market with many BBQs and other attractions. It’s a weekly ‘event’ that attracts thousands. Young adults may like that.

They may also like Avila Beach which is a bit warmer and just a few miles north from its sister beaches Pismo Beach and Shell Beach. You can find 4th of July fireworks shows in some places but sometimes the fog rolls in and blocks the show unless you’re right on the beach. Don’t trust ‘one hour before the show’ for what it may look like. Micro-climates can change visibility very rapidly that time of year.

Pismo Beach does have some great views from hotels and a good place for kids to romp, perhaps even try their hand at surfing. It’s a very small community with a very large beach extending out to Oceano Beach and dunes where driving on the beach is permissible.

By the way, you can rent kayaks in Morrow Bay and Shell Beach.

I wouldn’t miss Solvang unless you’re in a big hurry. Quaint town with great pastries! It is east of highway 101 heading towards Lake Cachuma and eventually into Santa Barbara. La Purisima mission is west of the 101 in the same vicinity.

Don't let the two-night minimum hotel stay scare you. That mostly applies to the Monterey/Carmel area. Further south there are hotels where you can stay for one night sometimes just minutes from beach areas if you don't need to stay in the heart of things.

RobinbinNYC- Thank you fo rthe suggestion. i will look iy up.

Bear900- Thank you for all the details... at 21,18 & 16 (two birthdays on the trip)I think trying surfing would definitely be something they would want to try!! Hadnt even thought of that so thank you!!

I woild love to tsee the missions, will look at the link you gave :)

If you don't end up further south, LA and beyond, you could try surfing near Pismo and Avila Beach.

Avila Beach is very pretty - but the ocean/surf will be warmer in San Diego - where my niece enjoyed taking surfing lessons a few years ago - at Pacific Beach.

Thank you for posting their ages.

At those ages, and any age for that matter, I would encourage hiking at least a few of the most beautiful trails on the central coast. They are all beautiful and the first two are basic hiking with stunning scenery. The third is a test of endurance with added beauty. They won’t forget either for the rest of their lives.

1. Point Lobos, south of Carmel on highway 1. Eassy to moderate hiking trails.

https://www.google.com/search?q=poin...w=1441&bih=621

2. Limekiln State Park hike to the waterfalls, South of Big Sur on highway 1. Easy hike.

http://www.hikinginbigsur.com/hikes_limekiln.html

3. Dipsea Trail/Steep Ravine Loop, Mill Valley, north of the Golden Gate Bridge

http://www.bahiker.com/northbayhikes/stinson.html

Pismo Beach has a number of activities such as large kite flying that will drag you across the sand, surfing, kayaking at Shell Beach, ATV rentals at Oceano Beach and Hummer rides on the dunes at Oceano. All three beaches are connected with short drives between them. The dunes in Oceano are huge and it is the only beach in CA that one can drive on.

http://www.classiccalifornia.com/sup-boarding.htm

My other recommendation would be East Beach in Santa Barbara where they can have a beach meltdown (we call it ‘laid-back’) but still some very active quintessential California things to do. Cabrillo Blvd is lined with palm trees where they can roller blade, or bike down to the Biltmore Hotel area and back, get into some great volleyball games, and walking lower State Street.

http://www.californiasbestbeaches.co...ast_beach.html

These are some of the most unforgettable experiences I did along the central coast at their age and beyond.

I lived in SD in my mid-twenties and also agree Pacific Beach is a great beach to hangout and has warmer weather. Between SF, the items HappyTrails posted and recommendations for the central coast you will run out of time.

I live on the central coast and stay active (camping, fishing and hiking). If anyone needs further details for the immediate area between Big Sur and Santa Barbara I can be reached at [email protected]

Best!