khunter01

My family (husband, 10 year old daughter and me) will be ending our upcoming California vacation with a drive up the coast from Anaheim to Sacramento. Originally we planned to end the trip in LA, but the rental car drop off fees have prompted us to fly round trip our of Sacramento using free flights on Southwest. (Availability of free flights was also a deciding factor). The first part of the trip is set with visits to State Capitols of Ca and NV (life mission to visit all), Yosemite, Sequoia, Disneyland. Then we are taking 2 1/2 days to get back to Sacramento. We really could use some advice to make the most of the drive up the coast, while keeping it relaxing and fun. How should we split up this trek? Where should we stop to stay and what are "must see" stops along the way?

Placename

Do you want to visit Hearst Castle? Get tickets soon, the tours sell out. Make motel reservations soon, too. Cambria is a nice town to base a visit to Hearst Castle out of.

Big Sur is beautiful but has very limited accomodations. Again, reservations are essential. You may end up staying in Monterey. Visit the aquarium.

I hope you are not doing this over a weekend. Places will likely be sold out and many do not accept one-night weekend stays.

Go to the Tripadvisor USA forum, www.tripadvisor.com where such trips are discussed with more frequency on this board.

120aks

If you go up interstate 5 or 99 the drive from L.A. to Sacramento is about eight hours so it may be difficult to spend 2 1/2 days on this part of your trip.Also, this drive goes up the central valley of California which is mainly agriculture.You could go up highway 101 through Santa Barbara,Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo,Paso Robles, Gilroy,San Jose and cut over to highway 99 around Fremont.This way is much more scenic and you could spend a night in Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo. Also,in the valley is Universal studio which may interest you.

Shanti

By driving up the coast, I assume that you mean highways 101 and 1. Highways 5 and 99 are much faster but ugly.

Possible places to stop: Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. Another possibility, if you have time, is San Francisco. Does your daughter like museums - both the Exploratorium (http://www.exploratorium.edu/) and California Academy of Sciences (http://www.calacademy.org/) are in SF and are nice museums. My kids had a good time at the Exploratorium when they were your daughter's age. And then there's also Golden Gate Park.

Placename

I just assumed they wanted to drive up the coast. No reason to drive up I-5 or Highway 99 unless you are in a hurry.

sf7307

Actually, the OP said they were going to drive up the coast: "We really could use some advice to make the most of the drive up the coast".

What do you like to do and see (big towns (Santa Barbara, Monterey), small towns (Cambria, San Luis Obispo), tourist towns (Solvang), charming towns (Carmel), beaches (any number, but Pfeiffer Beach north of Big Sur is particularly spectacular for its purple sand and rock formations), hiking, "sightseeing" (Hearst Castle, Monterey Aquarium and Wharf), amusement park (Santa Cruz boardwalk, also beach). You'll have no problem "using up" 2-1/2 days, but you probably should get out a map and plot all these ideas (mine and the others') to see where they are and decide what interests you.

janisj

Don't quite know where the I-5/99 detour came from -- the OP clearly said they want to drive up the coast and spend 2.5 days doing it.

Also 12Oaks is confusing things just a bit mentioning the Central Valley and Universal studios "in the valley" in the same paragraph. Not the same valley . . .

khunter01: 2 1/2 days is good for a drive up the coast -- but it won't be a leisurely jaunt since it is a long ways and there is a lot to see/do. Question -- is the 1/2 day at the start or end of the drive? That makes a big difference re where you might want to stop the first night.

Suzie

How timely. Yesterday the LA times had a great article about 10 stops on the trip north from LA to SF.

http://www.latimes.com/travel/la-tr-...,2191188.story

It includes stops in Santa Barbara, Pismo, Avila, Carmel, Santa Cruz, but no mention of the Monterey Bay Aquarium but did include a favorite Dennis the Menace Park. Could be pretty cool to include Point Lobos: http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=571

khunter01

We actually have 3 full days....I was assuming that the last day might be the short day, but we can be flexible. We want to get a good "sampling" of CA. We like museums, history, big cities and small towns.... We enjoy outdoor activities - biking, hiking, kayaking/ canoeing. I am open for suggestions and would actually appreciate someone taking me by the hand and telling me what they think we should do. Thank you for the LA times article. We definitely want to have a plan and make reservations and I appreciate any help in mapping out a reasonable itinerary. We know we can't devote enough time to any one stop, but we want to make the most of it.

sf7307

One thing you might really like is kayaking in the Elkhorn Slough near Monterey -- you'll see sea otters and other wildlife.

http://www.elkhornslough.org/paddling.htm