QC

Hey all:

Am planning a California vacation for this August. I have been to SoCal before, but I am unsure of driving times between locations. Guidebooks often have "idealized" times or leave out important details. Any Californians who can provide advice?

My plan:

Day 1 - Fly from NYC to LAX in AM. See some favorite LA sights in afternoon. Overnight in LA.

Day 2 - Breakfast in LA. Drive the 101 to Solvang. Lunch in Solvang. Continue on 101/Hwy 1 to Pismo Beach. Overnight in Pismo Beach.

Day 3 - Breakfast in Pismo Beach. Take Highway 1 to San Simeon/Hearst Castle. Take Hearst Castle Tour. Continue on Hwy 1 through Big Sur. Dinner in Monterey. Overnight in Monterey.

Day 4 - Breakfast in Monterey. Continue on 1 to Santa Cruz. Lunch in Santa Cruz. Take 101 to San Francisco Airport, Drop off Rental Car. BART to SF Hotel.

Days 5, 6, 7, 8 - San Francisco.

Day 9 - Fly home to NYC.

Catbert

Sounds great. Enjoy!

StuDudley

I think you are spending too much time in the less scenic portions of the coastal drive. The best section, by far, is from Hearst Castle to Carmel. I would try to make it to Hearst Castle as fast as possible - skipping the overnight in Pismo Beach & staying near Hearst Castle instead.

After the Hearst Castle tour, take a leisurely drive to Big Sur and have lunch at Nepenthe. Perhaps consider an overnight at Big Sur. Next morning, drive to Pt Lobos & wander around this beautiful park, drive to Carmel and have lunch there & spend the day browsing the shops, walking along the beach, 17 mile Drive, driving around Pacific Grove, etc. Personally, I'm not a big fan of Monterey at all - especially since Pacific Grove & Carmel are so close and I enjoy them both a lot more. Same with Santa Cruz - I'm not a big fan - spend the time in the Carmel/Pacific Grove area instead.

I live within 10 mins of the SF airport. I think you will loose a lot of time returning the car at the airport & getting into SF from there. If you are staying at a downtown hotel, it's less than 20 mins to get there by car during non-rush hours. They have rental return places downtown. If you are not comfortable with city driving, that's another matter.

Stu Dudley

dina4

That was good advice from Stu. I agree with both making a longer drive on Day 2 and with just driving right into San Francisco. Equip yourself with a good map, and you should be fine.

I might add that the driving along the coast near Big Sur will be slower-going because of the curvy roads, and be sure to bring dramamine if anyone in your party gets carsick.

I live in California and have driven different pieces of that route several times. I use mapquest.com to estimate driving distances, and I find it to be pretty accurate.

Have a great trip,
Dina

ed

We have done the LA - Monterey trip many times and find that the best way is to stop in Camabria/SanSimeon before Hearst Castle and then north, an easy and beautiful trip.

We usually stop for lunch in Slovang going up through the San Marcos Pass but for a first timer the drive from Santa Barbara to the Gaviota pass is probably better - Much more scenic :-B

mlgb

I agree with ed on the first night's stop. I also have done this many times. Another option, though, is to spend overnight in the Solvang area (including Los Olivos) and partake of a Sideways-type winetasting and dining evening. Gaviota Pass but take the 246 through the Santa Ynez Valley, head over to the Coast Hwy around Cambria.

mapper

LA driving is good between 10AM-3PM, commuters are NOT jamming the freeways then.

Driving up the coast is great! Lots of great restaurants along the way. I would eat lunch or dinner in Santa Barbara and bypass Solvang. Solvang is a tourist trap, avoid if possible. It used to be nice back in the late 70’s, but not now. Los Olivos/Santa Ynez/Buellton are better. The area is a good place to hit a few wineries. Foxen Canyon on a sunny day is one of the nicest drives in the state. It’s lined with horse ranches, wineries, huge shady oak trees and white ranch fences.
Also, check out the Madonna in in SLO! The rooms are wild and a laugh! It’s a must see.
www.madonnainn.com/
http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...alifornia.html
www.bestrestroom.com


Take your time on the coast highway. Every bend has another great view. And GREAT State Parks.
www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=578


Have fun!

jtrandolph

I disagree with Stu on the car drop-off. I would drop the car off at the airport and BART into the city. With the large new rental car building north of the airport and the tram-like thing between that and the airport and the BART station, it is a snap. And you don't have to deal with city traffic and finding the drop-off place in the city.

I agree with Stu about skipping Pismo Beach and staying nearer Hearst Castle.

Be aware that you need to make reservations for the Hearst Castle Tour, and if you don't get the first one in the morning, you will be hard pressed to enjoy your drive up the coast to get to Big Sur/Monterey.

Although I live in Santa Cruz and love it (yes, Stu, I am a fan) I agree with him that your time would be better spent in the Carmel, Pacific Grove area. We are interesting, but they have more tourist-oriented venues. Ignore Monterey itself. That is unless you had time to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which it looks as if you do not.

If you make it up to the Carmel area on Day 3, there are some nice b&b's in Paciric Grove.

If you want to drive up Hwy. 1 to Santa Cruz and then cut over to main roads, I would take Hwy 17 from Santa Cruz to Hwy 280. Beautiful freeway. From that look for the turnoff to the airport, Hwy. 380. Hwy 101 is the dregs.

Much easier than driving into the city, trust me.

It sounds like a wonderful trip. Enjoy.

Escaping_from_CA

ooooh -- if you are going to do the drive from Monterey to Santa Cruz... it's a short drive 35-45 minutes -- I would make three suggestions:

1. If you like Pub food and a little local color check out the “Mucy Duck” on Alvarado St. Good food, great pints, friendly people. It's in a good "walking" downtown area as well.

2. I would take a morning coffee downtown Monterey -- on one of the piers and then make your way toward Santa Cruz around lunch time -- My favorite little place to eat is a seafood place called "Phil's Fish Market." It's near the MBARI ships, as you head toward Santa Cruz. The little town is called Moss Landing -- I will sometimes drive the four hours from Sacramento just to eat there.

3. Before you get to Snata Cruz you can jump pff the highway at Capitola -- also known as "Capitola by the sea." Take the main Capitola exit, turn west and drive until you hit the village (on the ocean). By this time you'll be ready for a coffe and you can hit up Mr.Toots Coffee shop right in the village, backing up to the beach. It's a cool place to see some surfing, get your toes in the water, etc without the hustle of Santa Cruz.

Oh yea, and don’t forget to knock out “Cannery Row” by Steinbeck before you go – it’s a classic! (Hint: it’s definitely Steinbeck at his finest (?) -- sparknotes.com may help you get through it is you’re not a lit major!)

Just some thoughts.

Hope you enjoy the west coast!

vagabondsoul

Hi QC [are you in quebec?]!

If you're set on your itinerary, I agree w/others and would overnight in the St. Ynez Valley [which includes Solvang].

I've spent tons of time there, including my wedding!, so I may be a bit biased ... but I think it's fabulous.

General info: http://www.santaynezvalleyvisit.com/

Melissa5

Driving through LA is horrible. You might as well know this in advance and that way you won't be surprised. There seems to be traffic on the LA freeways at all times, even the middle of the night! However it is true what someone above said, if you must drive through LA, then drive between 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. Actually, I would say drive LA between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm, even 3:00 pm is getting into risky traffic time.

The other areas you are headed are very scenic. Once you get away from LA it's beautiful! Allow as much time as you can between Monterey and San Francisco, beautiful areas.

I see you are from NYC, so bad traffic is probably nothing new to you. Let us know which is worse traffic-wise, NYC or LA! Have fun.

fishee

My ideal times to drive through L.A. is between 9 pm and 4 am. The traffic is horrible and I'm originally from the bay area where the traffic is also horrible. Definitely get off the fwy or out of L.A. by 2 pm at the very latest. It's miserable to sit in that traffic, it completely sucks. really. Same goes for the bay area -- being on the 580 or 80 anytime after 2:30 pm is an exercise in futility. My entire family calls it their daily commmute --I love Chicago for its relatively great traffic, despite the groaning of all the locals here.