My wife and I will be taking a short excursion to Monterey and was hoping I could get some help with this rough itinerary.

Day 1 - Thu Oct 26
Arrive San Jose airport at 10:00am.
Pickup car and head to Golden Gate Rec area snap a couple of photos then head south again.

Stop at Big Basin Redwoods State Park then continue on to Hotel.

Day 2
17 Mi Drive
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park
Hearst Castle
Back to Hotel

Day 3
Check out of hotel
Monterey Aquarium
Santa Cruz Pier
Head to San Jose Airport for 7:55pm departure.

I would be interested in route suggestions, significant omissions, and maybe one winery stop. I would love to get some casual dining suggestions. We are not fancy diners, in fact will likely bring nothing but dungarees and sneakers. I would love to stop at a good seafood shack, if one exists anywhere on our route.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Rob.

Is the hotel each night in Monterey and is the aquarium and 17 mile drive the only reason you are going there? I do think you're going to spend all your time in the car if you stick with your trip as planned...if photography is a main concern you might want to plan more time out of the car. And, where is the hotel you've chosen?

Day 1 is fine. You wont have a heck of a lot of time to spend at Big Basin, but you can spend a couple hours and still get to Monterey for dinner.

Day 2 is insane - not to put too fine a point on it - LOL. Hearst Castle is about 90 miles from Monterey and for much of that route, you will be driving 30-35 mph. That is a LONG day. I would skip Hearst Castle and not go much further south than Julia Pfieffer. If you decide you really want to go to Hearst Castle and don't mind a very long day in the car, skip 17 Mile drive, get an early start and then take Hwy 101 back to Monterey to save some time.

Day 3 looks fine.

For a casual seafood place, stop at Phil's in Moss Landing. Local institution and fits your dining requirements to a T. I was just there last weekend

Are you aware that the Golden Gate Recreation area is basically the former military area on the west side of San Francisco and on the other side of the Golden Gate bridge?

I think you're packing in too much. I used to spend a week camping in Big Basin and don't think you'll be able to appreciate it in just a couple of hours. I was fairly recently at the Monterey Aquarium. It's nice to check out the town too. Take time to enjoy and soak in the beauty of this area.

If you go to Henry Cowell State Park, instead of Big Basin, you will save a lot of driving time and still have the opportunity to see the majestic trees. Check your map - Henry Cowell is just a few miles outside of Santa Cruz.

Too much driving on day 1 and 2. Skip the Golden Gate Recreation area and save it for a trip to San Francisco.

-Bill

I agree, skip San Francisco and go directly to Monterrey. I'd only do the 17 mile drive if you REALLY have extra time. Leave early in the morning and drive to Hearst Castle. Its a beautiful drive. After you tour the castle, then go to San Luis Obispo and pick up highway 101 and head back to Monterrey. If you have time to visit the mission in downtown SLO, do so, its really lovely. On your way from the SJ airport to Monterrey, stop at San Juan Batista mission. Its just before the Monterrey turn off. Have fun.

In case ABC ever comes back.. he doesn't have to backtrck all the way to San Luis Obispo to head north on the 101. Just south of Cambria, he can take 46 east which heads over to the 101.

I truly hope he takes somw of the advice given here because like jcorrea said.....

Yes, if all you plan to do is snap a few pics at the GG Bridge, I'd skip it. Focus on Monterey, Pacific Grove and Big Sur. You can see a lot in the PG/ carmel are without going on the 17 mile drive.

Another thing...you don't mention Point Lobos Preserve just south of Carmel. You should at least take a drive through, get out and stretch your legs and breath in the scenery. I can't imagine driving by.
Have a great trip!
-Bill

Thank you for the terrific replies. I have been talked out of the SF trip and I think the 17 mi. drive. However, after visiting the websites I think I still want to stick with Big Basin State Park vs. Henry Cowell. I would love to get additional opinions on this.

New Itinerary:

Day 1
Arrive San Jose airport at 10:00am, pickup car.
Big Basin State Park
Depending on time possibly stop at Phil's in Moss Landing for dinner on the way to the hotel (Hilton Garden Inn in Monterey)

Day 2
Day trip south stopping at:
Point Lobos
Julia Pfeiffer State Park
Time and mood permitting, Hearst Castle
Back to Hotel

Day 3
Check out of hotel
Monterey Aquarium
Santa Cruz Pier
Head to San Jose Airport for 7:55pm departure.

Depending on the timing of things we will try to fit in the missions that are mentioned.

I also have a question about Hearst Castle. Can we gat away with playing it by ear and still get a tour without reservations? Is there any value in going but not taking the tour?

Again, thank you for the responses.

Just returned a few hours ago from doing part of this route on my motorcycle. Your days are way to packed to really enjoy them.

We just rode from Monterey to Cambria via Hwy 1 and then came back by Hwy 46 over the Hwy 101. It took us about three hours from Carmel to Cambria via Hwy 1 and about the same coming back.

It really isn't much faster to go over to Hwy 101 to come back if you are doing RT Monterey to Monterey, except along Hwy 46 there are many vineyards of excellent taste.

If it were me I to would skip San Francisco and from SJ head straight down to Monterey, but I would take Hwy 17 to Santa Cruz and drive along the bay to Monterey. You would have plenty of time to do 17 mile drive that same day if you don't do the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, which isn't really worth the stop. Don't do 17 mile drive at dusk or after dark, you won't see the houses and there are no street lights, it is really really dark.

If you want a really great meal try Roy's inside Spanish Bay Inn on 17 mile drive. Also in Pacific Grove is the Fish Wife. They have one down on Monterey's Fisherman's Wharf, but the original one is better.

Day 2, drive down the coast via Hwy 1. If you leave early you can make it to Hearst Castle and take one of the tours. There are several tours and you will probably only have time for one. No way you can see the entire castle in one day.

If you leave early it will probably still be foggy, but it should burn off by 1100 hrs. Yesterday, it was great until about 3:30 PM when we kept going in and out of the fog.

If you want a really great place to eat try the Rocky Point on Hwy 1. You will see it on the way south toward Hearst Castle. It is about 12 miles south of Carmel Highlands, but you have to keep a good eye out for the sign.

Day 3, I would just plan on doing the aquarium and maybe drive along Pacific Grove and Carmel, the head to the airport.

Traffic on Hwy 101 into San Jose can be a parking lot, even on the weekends.

Hi ABC123,
Your first itinerary had a very unrealistic sense of the distances involved in your proposed itineraries, the revised one is doable, although you will be driving some very steep winding roads after your flight.

It's 50 miles from San Jose to San Francisco, so you can't just pop up for a quick look at the GG Bridge. But you've cut this out anyway.

Arriving 10AM in San Jose, you will have the whole afternoon to explore Big Basin. Not really enough time for the grand tour (by this I mean the twelve mile hike from headquarters to Berry Creek Falls and back). But plenty of time to explore the park and see the biggest trees. From SJ, you will take Hwy 9 up into the hills then take Hwy 236 to Big Basin HQ. 236 is a very narrow road, you might think you've taken a wrong turn, but continue on this road and you will get to the park. Watch out for deer and wild pigs. You'll pass through dense redwood forest along this route, then just after entering the park boundaries you'll get to a stretch of the road with views over the park to the ocean. Sage scrub and little knobcone pine trees here, pull off for a short look. Another two miles an you're at park headquarters, in the heart of the redwoods. Do the short Redwood Trail with the self guiding pamphlet keyed to numbered stops along the way for a good intro to the redwood forest. After that, or before, go to the HQ for further info. If you head north from the HQ there's about two miles of old growth redwoods, fairly level along the Skyline to the Sea Trail (towards the old Maddock cabin site
www.bigbasin.org/trailsmaddockcabin.html
). The other direction along the SttS Trail is the grand tour I mentioned earlier.

But you've got to get to Monterey, so spend a few hours at Big Basin and relax.

I like sequoia's plan for Big Basin. And that is the route I would take too.

For Hearst Castle, if you don't take a tour, you can't actually go to the castle. The castle itself is up on the hill and you take a tour bus from the visitor's center up to the castle. I am not sure if you need advanced tickets this time of year of not. Considering that it is a Friday in late October, I would say you could probably just show up and buy tickets.

Good information presented here to consider. Bit further…

Day 2 as everyone mentions is questionable. The drive along hiway 1 is narrow with many tight curves. While beautiful, the drive can wear you out just one way much less RT. It’s not something I would want to do. James is right about a 3 hr drive each way. Factor in several hours for a castle tour and you may wonder why you did this. It’s been a while since I’ve done Rocky Point south of Carmel, but it was very good. That’s another couple of hours for dinner. You may want to do some more editing. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds very much like the crazy long days/drives I do sometimes. Would I want to return on hiway 1 at night in the fog when I'm tired and beat?? Umm… no!

Here’s a calendar for Hearst Castle showing closing times (5:00).
http://www.hearstcastle.com/tours/ticket_info.asp

There’s always a possibility of getting in, but it would be a shame to make the trip w/o advanced tickets.