We are starting to plan a California vacation for next year. About 2 weeks....we are a couple in our late 20s. We don't mind driving and like to explore. How does the following sound?
Day 1 - land in SFO around noon. Explore San Fran, 1st night here
Day 2 - day in San Fran, 2nd night there
Day 3 - day in San Fran (maybe visit Napa/Sonoma), 3rd night there
Day 4 - Drive to Monterey, lunch, visit Aquarium, 4th night Monterey/Carmel
Day 5 - 17-mile drive, check out Pebble Beach, drive "Big Sur" coast to Cambria, 5th night in San Simeon
Day 6 - Hearst Castle, lunch, drive to Santa Barbara, 6th night in Santa Barbara
Day 7 - Enjoy Santa Barbara, 7th night here also
Day 8 - Drive to Santa Monica - check out LA, maybe plan to get tickets to a show taping, drive Hollywood blvd., 8th night in Santa Monica
Day 9 - Drive to San Diego, check into & relax at a resort, 9th night in S.D.
Day 10 - Sea World-maybe, 10th night in S.D.
Day 11 - S.D. Zoo, 11th night in S.D.
Day 12 - relax at hotel or drive down to Mexico, 12th night in S.D.
Day 13 - flight home from S.D. airport

Any suggestions?
We are still deciding when to go (mid-May thru Aug)

Your itinerary looks good. I wouldn't recommend San Jose, especially when you want to do the whole state in a limited time.

I think your itinerery sounds great.

If you can squeeze in Big Basin in the Santa Cruz mountains, it is well worth the extra time. If you left SF early in the morning on Day 4, you could go to Big Basin for a couple hours on the way down to Monterey. If not, you can see redwoods in Big Sur.

Since your time is limited, I wouldn't recommend a night in San Jose. To do it, you'd have to steal a night from SF and I don't think it's worth the trade off. SJ is only a hour closer to Monterey than SF, so you wouldn't really gain anything.

On Day 5, you might want to stop at Point Lobos, which is just south of Carmel.

In San Diego, Old Town is great for some history - there is a free docent led tour every day at 11am. Point Loma has some great views of the city, the harbor, and Coronado Island plus there is an old lighthouse you can check out. For some good nightlife - check out the Gaslamp District in downtown. Lots of restaurants, pubs, and clubs.

Good itinerary. You might, as J_Correa suggested, put an Old Town San Diego tour in Day 12. It's an easy walking area, and there's some fun history (the Whaley House is one of only two historic properties in the US that the government certifies as haunted!), as well as little shops and places to get good Mexican food & drink (Casa de Bandini gets consistent high ratings).

I would normally question spending so little time in the LA metro area, but it's such an overwhelming region it rates its own trip (at least four or five days). And although I usually say "SF to SD? Take THREE weeks!", since your itinerary is thorough and doable, I say go for it as is. You'll have a wonderful time!

Hi. It looks like you have a good itinerary planned. If I were to offer any changes, I would suggest that you are shortchanging LA a bit. I would spend the 7th night in Santa Monica, and possibly the 9th as well. If you've already been to LA or don't care to see Hollywood stuff, ignore this advice, but there really is an awful lot to do there.

Summer would obviously be more crowded, so May might be a good time to visit. You will probably also escape the SF fog then. However, LA does get overcast days known as "June Gloom." I'm not sure if that applies to May.

Lastly, before this escalates into an insult-fest, I would be careful of those who tell you to visit San Jose. It is not worth your precious vacation time. Several "people" will probably tell you to visit there, but they will all be the same person using different names. One good thing to do when you get conflicting advice is to click on the screen name and see what else they've posted. If the person has about 12 posts only in about the last three days, that's a bad sign - they have an agenda.

Welcome to California. Have a great trip.

Mel brings up good points. As far as "June Gloom", it's a funny thing-- some years, it starts in May; others, it starts in July. But it usually burns off by late morning (OK, some west-facing beaches may never clear out). You'll still have a fantastic time!

Hi there,

Welcome to LA. A word about show tapings--they can be very boring and very long. You might consider a studio tour-that can be less time-consuming and more fun. Also, many shows tape in Burbank which is a bit of a drive from Santa Monica.

Good God - when is this silliness going to end? SF is a world renouned tourist destination. SJ is a nice place with some interesting stuff to see. Now lets move on so that people who are interested in travelling to this area can actually get the information they need without having to wade through this silly arguement. Our economy is suffering enough - we don't need potential toursts thinking we are all a bunch of a**holes.

Hear, hear, J! A voice of perspective among the chatter. Well said!

I live near San Jose and although it is a good town, I'm not sure it would be on the top of my list if I were visiting. Perhaps that is because I live near here. *Smile*

Another really cool place to go which can be done in a day trip, is to Catalina Island. You can take a boat over in the morning and return in the afternoon. Ports out of Long Beach, CA. I have very fond memories of this island.

Good luck!

Kudos, MMN! You've done it! You've devised a two-week trip along the California coast!

I would suggest the following minor "tweeks":
a) Either skip the 17-mile drive or do it and Big Sur on different days. You need time to get out of your car and be doing things: dining at Pebble Beach Lodge, walking among the redwoods, launghing and pointing at the seals and sea lions, climbing down to an isolated beach... If you drive both in one day, that's a lot of driving.

b) I'd skip Big Basin in favor of the redwoods in Big Sur. No need to repeat. If you had more than two weeks and enjoy moderate to difficult level hikes, then wind your way into Big Basin. Otherwise, the redwoods in Big Sur will please you just as much. Stop at Julia Feiffer Burns State Park in Big Sur.

c) Unless you have some particular reason for spending two nights in Santa Barbara (relatives, friends, etc.),I'd recommend staying only one night in Santa Barbara and using the extra day in Los Angeles. There is just so much more to do and see in Los Angeles.

d) Time of year to come - hard to say. All summer is a good time, but, probably the earlier part is better than the later part.

Welcome to our beautiful state! And have fun!

Another vote for Old Town in San Diego. We visited San Diego for the first time last month, and that was one of our highlights. We also enjoyed Coronado Beach on Coronado Island. As well, as jason stated, you may also want to spend trade the second night in Santa Barbara for another night in L.A. But all in all, the itinerary looks good. Oh, and heed Mel's advice...

You're going to be hitting a lot of the same places as me as I head down to San Diego and back from San Jose, so I think your itinerary is great (and I grew up in California and have been along the coast many times).

About San Jose, of course you should skip it but you already knew that when you didn't put it on your itinerary in the first place. It's a nice place to live but one of the big selling points is it's close to a lot of other cool stuff like San Francisco, Monterey, etc.

Wow! Thank you all so much for all the great advice.
We are planning a short LA stint b/c I don't know if it will be our thing. But I do want to see the Walk of Fame, the foot/handprints, the Boulevard, and maybe a studio tour. Is there anything MAJOR missing in there that I can't see in one day? Will probably take the advice to do the studio tour and avoid the tapings - seems like they take up a LOT of time.
San Jose is definitely out - I don't think we have enough time to add this & we tried to focus our interests a little.
We will plan on Day 3 doing the side trip to Napa/Sonoma & visiting a winery or two.
QUESTIONS:
How long would we spend on 17-mile drive? My husband is an avid golfer so he wants to see Pebble Beach (wants to play....) and we would have lunch at the clubhouse....I'm guessing doing that drive is the only way to see these golf courses....is that true?
(We may actually add an extra day somewhere in our itinerary for him to play a round somewhere)
Any more details on what to see & stop for at Big Sur would be appreciated. That is the one part of our trip plan I still don't know much about.

It looks like a good trip. My suggestion is to cut the number of nights in San Diego to two or three. Personally, I love Sand Diego, but there is a lot you are missing earlier.

If you like wine and food add a day for Napa/Sonoma.

I am not keen on Carmel, but the surrounding area is a joy. If you like to hike look at visiting one of the parks along Big Sur.

The time from San Francisco to Santa Barbara seems a little rushed. I would suggest an extra night in Cambria, but that is because I like that part of the country very much.

We did the LA to SF portion during May last year. Weather was perfect. Be sure to get a convertible. You probably won't have to pay a drop off fee.

Since your husband is a golfer, make sure to get him a tee time at Torrey Pines. A great course, and since it is public it is reasonably priced.

Enjoy.

Hi, MMN!

Re: Your question on golf -

Here are some golf courses along the way (named in my order of preference, but I'm not a golfer!):

a) #1 Golf Course - Pebble Beach, but it's BIG BUCKS to play there. Better to have lunch and ask for a table overlooking the golf course and the ocean. Gorgeous view.

b) Torrey Pines - offers some breathtaking ocean views as well.

c) Golf course in the Presidio in San Francisco. When the Presidio was demilitarized in 1995, the generals wanted to hang on to this golf course! It's set in a pretty hilly area of the Presidio (yeah, right! as a hiker, I almost got beaned by one of those golfers! Nice views, but not much ocean. The ocean views are off the golf course, but still in the Presidio.

4) Napa, the Silverado Golf Course. We've only stayed there in their resort, but have not played. Supposed to be a first rate golf course. Nice rolling hills views.

All these golf courses should have their own websites, so you can check them out.

Re: 17-mile drive - how long to drive? As long as you want it to be! It is - ah - 17 miles long! It curves around a lot and there are plenty of places where you will want to stop. So, it really depends on how many stops you make and how long you stay at each stop. I would give it at least a couple of hours, without the lunch break. With the lunch break, well, that depends on how much California wine you consume during lunch!

Yes, you're right, you can only see the golf course if you enter the 17-mile drive. Pebble Beach Golf Course, the clubhouse, the exclusive homes, etc. are all within a gated community. Once you pay at one of several gates, you enter into the confines of this community.

You will most likely enter through the Pacific Grove Gate, i.e., the north gate. I would recommend that you drive along the ocean from Monterey, through Pacific Grove, to that gate. Depending on the time of year, the ice plants along the beach at Pacific Grove will be in bloom. Starts about April and goes through June - give or take a little - it's a spectacular sight of fields of brilliant magenta blooms cascading down the cliffs.

Re: Big Sur - look up Point Lobos, Andrew Molera State Park, Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park, and Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park on the web. These should give you a good idea of what to expect. Also go to

bigsurlandtrust.org

click on the first pasture scene, which will lead you to the second picture. The second picture will give you an idea of what Big Sur looks like and the kind of road you will be driving on.

You might also want to check out Bixby Bridge on the web.

Have fun on the web!