My husband and I are planning a 12 day trip to California during the first two weeks of June. We are forgoing our usual European spring trip this year to check out the coast here.
We are planning to arrive in San Francisco, spend two nights there, get a car, drive to Sonoma/Napa for another two nights and then head south ending up in San Diego. We are interested in seeing Monterey/Carmel, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, and L.A.
My first questions are: can we make our hotel reservations for S.F, Sonoma and San Diego and then just figure out night to night where we want to stay in the other areas or should we book things in advance?
What are some ideas as to what towns to stay in and how long given 12 days? Are there some other places we definitely need to see? We love beautiful places, like to walk/hike, bicycle, go to great restaurants, see the sites, etc and just experience a new place.

just a couple of very quick comments just now . . .

- No, you really can't just find places as you drive down the coast. Of course, there will be rooms available - but finding them, or finding them in a place you'd want to stay, could be a problem. And in areas like Big Sur there just aren't that many hotels, so advance booking is essential.

- and many if not most nice places on the coast and especially in Monterey/Carmel, Big Sur and Santa Barbara will have a 2 night minimum on weekends so that may affect your plans.

- June can be pretty cold/foggy on the coast.

The California coast is one of the grandest spots on earth. Hearst Castle is a must see. The view alone is worth the stop. There is a small inn in Monticeto(adjacent to Santa Barbara) that is affordable and charming - MONTICETO INN. Once owned by Charlie Chaplin. The "Sideways" roadtrip is a wonderful diversion(remember the movie?). Some beautiful wineries in the Santa Ynez Mountains(and some good wines - Firestone, Fess Parker).
Don't know what your politics are but a visit to the Reagan Presidental Library(Simi Valley) is a worthwhile stop.
You will enjoy this trip!

Much depends on your personal style of travel as to whether you need reservations. If you need the most romantic setting, or the perfect view, then reservations are necessary. If you can put up with having to stay a night in a boring chain motel because the nice places ended up being booked, then you can have more flexibility. The weekends would be the biggest challenge; it might be a bit difficult to find even a generic chain room at the last minute in Monterey, San Luis Obispo, or Santa Barbara. Having some sort of hotel guide, like the AAA book, is handy in those cases.

Personally, I would wing it, but then I tend to only make hotel reservations for cities where I will be without a car, or for certain special cases like National Parks lodges.

Santa Barbara & Monterey/Carmel sound like your cup of tea. I think you should do 3 nights San Fran with a day trip up to Sonoma/Napa.

2 nights Carmel

2 or 3 Santa Barbara, great hiking & biking nearby (see DailyNews.com travel section today)....

You can wing it for accomodations the first TWO weeks of June but no later, and on weeknights only, not weekends.

12 days is not a lot of time to do all you planned. I don't know if this is your first trip to the coast or not, but you really need: 1) 2 days in SF. 2) 2days 1 night in the wine country 3) 2 days traveling along the coast 4) 1-2 days in Santa Barbara 5)Newport and Laguna Beaches (1day) 6) 3 days in San Diego.

I would try to avoid the weekend in Napa Valley ~ it gets very crowded and the lodging is expensive! You can drive from Napa to the Monterey peninisula in about 3 hours if you avoid the commute traffic. Be sure to drive along the coast to Carmel there is nothing like it. It does get foggy along the coast in June. Reservations are a good idea in Napa Valley and Monterey area. San Diego proper is huge so you will have options on places to stay.

drk - dh and I drove from Orange County to Napa with only reservations in Napa - it is one of our best trips to date.

We managed to find great places to stay along the way -- Casa Madronna inn was a favorite in the San Fran area -

We found a beachy place in Santa Barbara - do not remember the name... but it was perfect --

I think you can pull it off IF you are flexible and do not have your heart set on one thing/place.

Enjoy.

I wouldn't wind it with regard to hotel reservations - not in the summertime. Lodging can be pretty scarce and not only will you likely end up staying in a boring chain motel, you will likely end up paying through the nose for the privelage, and it may not even be near where you want to be.

Friends of ours own a low end chain motel in a town inland a bit, but still reasonably close to the central coast. They make quite a bit of money off travelers who have decided to wing it, have found themselves out of luck, and are searching out rooms farther afield.

I'm trying to book a room right now in Santa Barbara during the week for Mid May and am finding that rooms I'd want at certain hotels are already booked or filling rapidly.

You could ruin an otherwise great trip by paying $300.00 a night in Santa Barbara OR Carmel for a not-so -great room. If that doesn't bother you and fits into your budget... go for it!

I am definitely getting the feeling that it would be better for me to have reservations. How does this sound for an itinerary?
2 nights SF (we have been there before)
2 nights Sonoma/Napa
1 night Monterey/Carmel(we have been there once)
1 night Cambria area
1 night Santa Barbara Monticeto area
2 nights LA
3 nights San Diego

My concern is will we be able to see enough by staying in Monterey, Cambria and Santa Barbara areas for one night? Once I have the itinerary down, I'll start checking out the places to reserve. Thanks!

la jolla is nice nr San Diego - depends how central you want to be. But it has nice beaches and restaurants, and is about 1/2 hour drive from central SD.

If possible,plan to stay one night in San Luis Obispo, perhaps instead of Cambria. It is a really nice town with some excellent lodging choices. I would definitely make reservations ahead of time along your route.

I would consider Napa/Sonoma to be a day's outing from SF, unless what you specifically want to see adds up to too many for one day.

Hi and I'm also planning a trip to CA end of June (last minute trip). I usually always book at least 6 months in advance all my lodging, sometimes even restaurants if there is a special one we MUST eat at. We will start in San Francisco and end in San Diego.
I've done this trip twice before and the spots you have picked out are all great. I planned to stay 2 nights in Napa, but finding ALL the "chain" hotels are sold out for the Thursday to Saturday nights we want to stay, so since we will have a rental car, we will base ourselves in SF, and do day trips to Sausalito and Napa. LA is not really scenic, but we enjoyed Venice Beach/Santa Monica Beach area. Mixed opinions on Beverly Hills... have fun....