California for two weeks 3 days Sept-Oct. Itinerary- comments please
 

Husband and I are flying into SF mid Sept. where we have 3 nights at the Hotel Rex, Sutter (we need another night in SF but Hotel Rex is full so suggestions of hotel nearby for one night please)
Then we collect hire car and drive to El Portal for Yosemite where we have 3 nights (hiking). Our itinerary from there on is much more fluid but roughly this is the route we plan.
From Yosemite to Kings Canyon/Sequoia NP (2-3 nights), then to Pasadena (visit the Gamble House). We will then have roughly a week to drive the coast via Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, San Simeon for Hearst Castle, Pacific Grove, Santa Cruz and back to SF.
Does this seem a reasonable itinerary? We want to travel slowly staying in small hotels & finding good food places. So any suggestions of places to stay or good restaurants will be gratefully received.
Thanks in anticipation

It seems fine.
Are you going to stay in Santa Barbara, SLO, etc, each night?
All those cities are within a few hours drive of each other.

Sounds like an excellent itinerary. There are many, many great restaurants in Carmel, Pacific Grove, and Monterey.

You've selected the best time of the year for such a tour. Late September should be beautiful everywhere. Endless choices for great food ... take a Fodor's guide with you and you can't go wrong. Your itinerary contains a lot of distance, but is very doable for the time frames you put down. When coming up the coast on your final leg from Pacific Grove, stop in the town of Capitola. Nice restaurants and area. Then head into Santa Cruz for fun. If you're continuing up the coast to San Francisco (instead of inland), a good spot for drinks on the deck over the Pacific is at the Moss Beach Distillery, just north of Half Moon Bay. Enjoy!

Hi Bellini-
From your itinerary it sounds like you want scenery. I'm not sure if driving all the way to Pasadena for the Gamble House is going to be worth the trip for you. It's a nice historic CA. architectural piece that can be done in a hour or two. If you were a family member visiting I wouldn't go out of my way to take you there. Just my two cents.

Do you like wine? The Paso Robles central coast region is beautiful and most people, unless you live here, never really get to experience it. Ojai is also a lovely town. And of course the Ojai Valley Inn is breathtaking.

I'm not trying to encourage you to change anything- just wanted to throw it out there. If you stay on your course, you can always visit Ojai on the way up to Santa Barbara. It's about a half hour drive off the 101 near Ventura exit Highway 33.

You are going to have a such a memorable trip with your luxury of time.

The Gamble House and its neighborhood full of Greene & Greene residences is very interesting, but not a "destination" in and of itself. If you're there, though, I would go. However, the Huntington Museum & Library, also in Pasadena, IS a destination in itself. I'd go to LA just to visit again.

Out of the many many great restaurants you will read about, consider Passionfish in Pacific Grove. Wonderful food, casual (in the sense that we showed up without a reservation in shorts and tank tops, and they told us we were dressed just fine, after all its a beach town, etc., etc.), nice service, very reasonable prices. We loved it.

Thank you for your contributions. Gamble House is a must for my husband who is keen on art and architecture so we'll book for the docent-led tour on Sunday afternoon.
Thanks for tips about wine country and places to eat too.

On your way up the coast, Santa Barbara is a great beach town, with tons of great restaurants. For a fun lunch or dinner on the wharf, try Brophy Bros.
On the way up the coast, Highway 1, Moonstone Beach, just south of Hearst Castle, has many neat motels and B&B's, plus a couple great sea food restaurants. Moonstone is a favorite weekend get-a-way place for many Californians.

http://www.visitcambriacalifornia.co...one_beach.html

Highway 1 north to Monterey is twisty and slower than 101, but you have a week. It is so much more interesting, with beautiful views of the Pacific. The Big Sur area is a beautiful forested area.

Thank you everyone for wonderful suggestions! Already looking forward to our trip from England.