DH and I are planning a 9 day trip to CA from May 16th to May 24th. We will be flying in from the East Coast to Long Beach (cheaper tix that way) and will be flying home from SF. We hope to get up to the Mendocino area before returning to SF to fly home on the red eye. Are we being too ambitious? We have both been to the coast before and have spent time in LA and SF so sightseeing in the big cities is not our priority. Our goal is to amble our way up the coast taking in the views, doing some hiking/outdoors things, and exploring the small towns. In my mind, I have the trip broken up into three legs: 1)LA to SF, 2) wine country area, 3)Mendocino area. How much time would you spend in each area? Any advice on must sees or must stay places?

We don't want to venture too far out of the area on our first day as we will be arriving in Long Beach in am on the 16th and having dinner with family who will be driving up from Carlsbad that evening. Is there much to do in the Long Beach area for a 1/2 day or would you advise staying somewhere else? Any hotel recommendations? Too far north and the drive will hard on them, too far south and we'll be pulled too far off course.

Also, I know that Memorial Day weekend is likely to be crazy busy but how about week leading up to it? We are trying to decide how much hotel planning we need to.

Sorry for the long post. So many questions!

Is Queen Mary still in LongBeach? I enjoyed visiting that and the Spruce Goose (which I do think flew away).

This is personal preference to a big extent as I wouldn't rush from LA to SF, I like the area in -between. I like Santa Barbara, Big Sur, and MOnterey. So 9 days sounds okay if you are mainly driving between these places and not staying anywhere. It sounds like you really have 8 days, so if you do even 2 days each in wine country and Mendocino, that leaves 4 between LA and SF. YOu could do that, drive from LA up to Cambria or thereabouts, one night, then drive to Monterey and maybe stay 2 days there, then drive to the wine country.

Logical stops would be:

May 17 - take the freeway to San Luis Obispo, then catch Hwy 1 to San Simeon. Visit Cambria, then Hearst Castle, and stay in San Simeon. This will be a leisurely day.

May 18 - Drive up the coast slowly, visit Julia Pfeiffer Burnes State Park, Pfeiffer Beach, & stay in Big Sur. Have dinner at Nepenthe.

May 19 - Hang around Big Sur a bit. Drive up towards Carmel. Visit Pt Lobos, Carmel Beach, Carmel, & stay in Carmel.

May 20 - visit Monterey aquarium, Spanish Bay, & other stuff that interests you in the Monterey/Carmel area. Stay in Carmel

May 21 - leave around 8:30 and head to San Francisco, taking 280 when it branches from 101. Continue on 280 to San Francisco, and then the 19th Avenue route through San Francisco. Follow your nose, and head across the Golden Gate Bridge. You should get to the Golden Gate Bridge around 11:30. Look up my post here
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=35129049
and follow the route "North of San Francisco" up to Healdsburg in the wine country. On the way, you should visit the fabulous lookout in the GGNRA north & just west of the Golden Gate Bridge (Not the "Vista Point" immediatly after the Bridge. You'll need to get of 101, head back twoards SF, then just before getting back on the Bridge, head up into the GGNRS (see my write-up on the link). Then pass through Mill Valley, Muir Beach, Stinson Beach, etc. to get to Healdsburg. This will be a long driving day. No time for Muir Woods. Stay in Healdsburg.

May 22 - Explore the Sonoma Co/Dry Creek Valley wine area. Many locals prefer this over Napa Valley. Healdsburg is my favorite village in the Wine Country. Stay in Healdsburg. If you want to dine at one of the best restaurants in the Bay Area - try Cyrus (reserve well in advance - it's probably too late by now).

May 23 - Continue to explore the wine country. Drive through Napa Valley if you like.

May 24 - Visit more of the wine country, and make your way back to SFO for your flight home.

Don't see how Mendocino would fit in, unless you skip a lot of good stuff & spend a lot more time in the car - which I would not do.

Make reservations in Healdsburg ASAP - like you stated, that's Memorial Day Weekend.

Note - most wine country hotels will require a 2 night minimum stay over Memorial Day. I think there is a festival in Healdsburg that weekend.

Stu Dudley

There is a good wine country area close to Mendocino: The Anderson valley. So if the object is wine tasting, you might be able to fulfill your needs there on a day trip from Mendocino. On the other hand, the towns such as Sonoma and Healdsburg are more interesting than Boonville.

I would suggest a trip to San Juan Capistrano on your arrival day, it's about a 25 mile trip from Long Beach. It would be a good place to meet your friends for dinner. You could spend the night in Laguna Beach. Since the next day is a Sunday, you shouldn't have too much traffic heading northbound. The earlier you leave the better, because Los Angeles doesn't wake up til 'noon on Sundays, but if you're east coasters you'll be up with the birds anyway as you adjust to the 3 hour time difference.
Best Western Laguna Reef often has weekend availability, is across from the ocean and fine for one night. I'd book something because you can always cancel if you change your mind.

This is great info, thanks. Actually, we're more interested in spending time in the Mendocino area than we are in the Sonoma area(though it's beautiful there), especially given that it will be a holiday weekend and likely to be crowded. Any suggestions for a 2-3 day itinerary for the area north of the Napa/Sonoma area up to Mendocino?

The scenic way up to Mendocino along the coast will take a long time. I would not drive from Carmel to Mendocino in 1 day. Getting back will take some time too - what time of day does your flight leave in the evening?

If you're spending time on the Big Sur coast, I'm not sure the Marin/Sonoma/Mendocino coast will add that much - and you'll see a lot of road. The town of Mendocino is cute, but might bore you after an hour or two.

Stu Dudley

There is a very good arboretum just at the edge of Fort Bragg.

I think the drive from SF to Healdsburg on Hwy 101 is about 1 hr. You could spend 1 night there and have plenty of time to visit the wineries and explore the area. The drive from Healdsburg to Mendocino via Cloverdale/Booneville is a pleasant one and may take about 2 1/2 hrs. You can make some leisurely stops for walks and a picnic in the redwoods on that route. Recommend 2 nights in Mendocino area. Be sure to spend several hours at the Mendocino Botanical Gardens and enjoy a picnic there. Return to SF via the same route using Hwy 101,allowing about 4 hrs, and enjoy a night in SF before flying home.

If you go to Cambria, just north of Cambria and north of the Hearst Castle road, there is a beach along 101 that have elephant seals. We were there in early April and there were hundreds of seals on the beach. Not sure how long they stay there before moving on - but you will see a lot of cars stopped there.

Also, Napa Valley has increased their prices so much in the last few years. We go to Sonoma Valley/Dry Creek area wineries. It is beautiful country, more open and the wineries are great.

You have time to get up the coast as far as Mendocino - I'd follow Stu Dudley's itinerary as far as May 21 - but make that May 20. I don't think you have the time to stay that many nights on the mid-coast - so I'd drive through but not stay in Big Sur. That moves everything after back one day.

So-- Stay May 20 in Healdsburg. Next dat it is a pretty drive through Cloverdale and the Alexander Valley on 128. (Wineries there)

Stay the 21 and 22 in Little River, Mendocino, or Ft Bragg (depending on where you can get accommodations at this point) There is a very nice winery/tasting room north of Ft Bragg - Pacific Star.

Then on the 23rd wander either down the coast all the way - looong but beautiful drive, or cut back to 101 for a quicker drive to SF for your last night.

http://www.littleriverinn.com/
http://www.pacificstarwinery.com/

We live in Western Sonoma County and The Little River Inn is our favorite getaway. It's right next to a State Park where you can do some light hiking. It take about 1 1/2 hours to get to Healdsburg from SF, depending on traffic and time of day. From Santa Rosa it's a 2 hour drive to Mendocino going up 128 which is a beautiful drive through redwoods. The drive from San Simeon to Carmel is a tedious one, but everyone must do it once. We drove down to meet family in Paso Robles in the fall and decided we'd go 101 from now on. The coast along Sonoma County up to Mendocino is also beautiful, but a tedious drive. Hotels in Healdsburg can be pricy. Healdsburg Bar and Grill is excellent for a sandwich or burger.

CLynnWeg: Oh - I so agree about the Little River Inn. Rooms in all price ranges from moderate to posh, the amazing views (having the rocking chairs on the veranda outside the rooms is brilliant), decent food, good bar, and close enough to easily do Mendocino/Ft Bragg etc w/o having to pay Mendocino prices.

Stu gave you good advice ~ The CA coast is worth the trip but Highway 1 is slow going! I would spend the night in Cambria and then drive to Carmel/Monterey area. Not that many places to stay in between that don't cost $500 per night like Ventana or Post Ranch Inn. Maybe hike near Big Sur but continue on into Carmel or Monterey for dinner and spend the night. Remember the traffic is awful in and around San Jose/San Francisco at commute time. You are doing a lot in 9 days. The first thing I would do is get the heck out of Long Beach!

Hello Stu, I have bookmarked so much of your excellent past advice and totally agree with your schedule, almost a parallel of a trip we took 2 years ago. We are also great Big Sur and Healdsburg fans, have stayed in San Simeon, Carmel, visited Hearst, dined in Monterey etc but on this last trip we felt Pacific Grove won out as a peninsula base and should be given a higher profile.

PG is very nice - locals give it a high profile, but the tour books haven't caught on yet.

Stu Dudley

It seems like our schedule is pretty ambitious than I thought since we are hoping to set a pretty leisurely pace on the trip. Based on everyone's advice it may be time think about stopping in the Sonoma area instead of pushing all the way north to Mendocino. Luckily, our flight out on our final day isn't until 10:30pm so we do have a full day on that end.

We do need to stick around the long beach-ish area for our first day so that we can visit family plus after a long, early morning flight, I'm hesitant to do a ton of driving that day anyway. So, the question becomes, how do we make the most of that day?

Clarkgriswold, I searched for Best Western Laguna Reef but came up empty. There are several Best Western's in that area but none have that name.

I agree that Pacific Grove is the best - hopefully the guidebooks don't catch on

I just about had a fit when I turned on the Food channel one day and saw Bobby Flay at Phil's Fish Market! That place is busy enough as it is. LOL.

Hmmm...I thought sure they were a Best Western. Maybe they used to be, or maybe I was thinking of the Best Western San Juan Capistrano.
Anyway, there website is lagunaReefInn.com

Hi - I just got back from a Northern California Coast trip. In the past we had done south of San Francisco as far as Morro Bay. Our trips are mainly "nature" related - hiking, kayaking and such but thought I would put in our feelings. We enjoyed everything we did on the northern coast -Point Reyes National Seashore (3 nights at Motel Inverness), 3 nights Mendocino and 2 in Trinidad. Point Reyes was wonderful. Will probably go back there. We enjoyed the other areas but did not feel they matched up to the area from Monterey south. That trip we've done twice and plan to do again. Stay in Pacific Grove or Carmel. Definitely do Point Lobos State park even if you aren't hikers. If you like to kayak - Elkhorn Slough north of Monterey is awesome. Hiking is gorgeous off of Big Sur. We also did Hearst Castle and stayed in Cambrio. That is not usually our type of thing but we all loved it and will go back for another tour.

I would agree that taking your time getting to San Francisco would be very worthwhile and if you do want to go further north to wine country - keep it simple and do Healdsburg as many have advised here. It all depends on what you like to do most. Enjoy - we love visiting California.
Sue