Taking a road trip with my two grown daughters from LA to San Diego. First time in California, any recommendations for places to stay and what to do. on a budget. Oct 8 to Oct 14.
Thanks,
Carol

This is not a trip report. "On a budget" is meaningless.

what is a "trip report'? $85 to $ 150 a night for a place to sleep. is that clearer?

You checked the box for trip report which is what people use when they are reporting on a trip already taken.

As to your questions...LA to San Diego is not far...less that 2 hours I think. So, decide what you want to see & do in LA and stay there a few days, then go to San Diego and stay there a few days. If you do a search on this site you can find tons of hotel info plus restaurant info as well as what to see. You can also check tripadvisor for hotel reviews. Good luck.

i am so dumb. i thought it was farther than that. 7 days is a long time...should we go further south? how far is san Fransico? should we drive there in stead?

Further south from San Diego is...Mexico...

carol18: On your other thread you are asking about bus tours >>Need a few recommendations: Which bus tour of LA is best, never been there before?

Rent a car and drive up the coast. Look for lodging in Cambria for a night then go up to Monterey for a night. Either return on the coast road or if you want to get back quickly, go over to the hwy.

So you live in LA and your daughters have never seen California and are coming to visit, is that right?
Let us know what types of things they're interested in and what they like to do. There are so many road trip options from LA. That would help give you more specific suggestions.

>>So you live in LA and your daughters have never seen California and are coming to visit, is that right?

7 days - not that much. I would divide them between Los Angeles and San Diego, lots to do in both places. Buy (or get from a library) a travel guide like Frommer's and figure out what you want to see.

carol...with all due respect (if you aren't a troll), you are so all over the place we can't really help. you pick two cities you want to see but haven't even checked how far apart they are? you can easily spend 7 days between san diego and la but since you don't tell us ANYTHING about what you want to do...how are we suppose to help. pick up a book...google...look at past posts and figure out what you want to do, what your interests are, how far do you want to drive each day, have you decided if you want a tour or rental car...do your own research first. your budget is very low for a hotel room in california.

October is a great time to drive up to San Francisco, but you already have return tickets out of LAX, right? So you'd have to drive back down? Also, San Francisco room rates are sky high for most of October.

If you have 7 nights and are flying in and out of LAX I would go up to Santa Barbara or down to Laguna Beach for the first two or three nights, and then settle in to L.A for 4 nights. Parkside Inn in Santa Barbara (or Coast Village Inn) should be in your price range. Laguna Hills Lodge maybe if you head south instead of north...or Best Western San Juan Capistrano.
For Los Angeles, check ComfortInnSantaMonica.com

I would spend 3 days in L.A. One day to travel between LA & SD. Stopping along to way in San Juan Capistrano to see the beautiful old California Mission and have lunch. It is a charming little town.

L.A. I would visit Huntington Library and/or The Getty Museum which is world famous for it's art.

http://www.getty.edu/

You might be interested in visiting movie studios that have tours and shows - the one that comes to mind is Universal Studdios. I would also take a bus tour of the city. The Hop On & Off type to get a larger overview of the metro LA area and learn about the history.

In San Diego there is the
San Diego Zoo and the historic Balboa Park with wonderful museums such as the Natural History Museum, Museum of Man, Air & Space Museum, Old Globe Theatre, etc.

The Midway Museum in on the Embarcadero in downtown at the wharf and is interesting if you are interested in naval history and being on a former military ship.

The Cabrillo Monument is were a Portuguese explorer "discovered" San Diego.

Excellent neighborhoods to visit include La Jolla (The La Jolla Cove, The Scripps Institute of Oceanography tours, surfing lessons, kayaking, or swimming - check out the various shops in the La Jolla Shores and the ocean temps are very warm right now and will continue).

Coronado is a great fun town - visit the Historic Hotel Del Coronado.

Old Town a historic area and parts are now a State Park with museum and history of early San Diego.

For $85. night you might check the Mission Valley hotels - they are generally clean and safe but in an area of car dealers, large shopping malls, large corporate businesses, etc. It's not a bad area especially if you have a car and don't want to hang around the hotel all day. Most are major hotel chains and have excellent freeway access.

for hotels google -- hotels mission valley, san diego.

There are also deals in Coronado, La Jolla, Pacific Beach, Old Town, Downtown but these are more popular tourist areas. Still October is not high season. It will be very hot still in San Diego so pack very light.

something like the Days Inn (Hotel Circle/MissionValley) will fit in the budget. But anything nicer will be tough.

There are hundreds of good hotels in Mission Valley and she should be able to find deals around $100 pretty easily. I would check out reviews carefully for the Days Inn.

"hundreds"?

Thanks for your responses. i had to laugh, i do seem like a "troll". I reviewed 3 tour books from library before posting my first inquiry. i should have looked at a map.

Eventhough I am renting a car, i thought a tour bus would be a better way to navigate especially since my sense of direction is horrible and the traffic sound horrific.

Narrowed down October 8-10 to Venice. On airbnb, there is an apt in the Ellis Hotel or a nice clean,condo on Pacific Highway with a parking spot.

Ellis Hotel seems as if it might be more fun, there's a roof deck, not sure. Anyone familiar with the Ellis Hotel?

Thanks Folks

Historic Ellison Hotel built in 1913...sorry...correct name.