California (San Francisco, Napa,Carmel/Monterey,Santa Barbara,San Diego)
 

Hi Everyone,

I am looking to go to California this summer. Here is my current itinerary:

San Francisco - 3 nights
Napa Valley - 2 Nights
Carmel or Monterey - 2 Nights
Santa Barbara - 1 Night
Los Angeles - 1 Night
San Diego - 2 Nights

For Napa Valley - I can't figure out where is the best place to stay? We are wine lovers and heard Yountville might be the place to go... However, I also heard Calistoga and St. Helena is nice too. I just do not want to stay in downtown Napa. I want the rolling hills and wineries close by. Somewhere we can do biking would be nice too.

I am not sure whether I should stay in Monterey or Carmel.

We would like to do the 17 mile drive and Big Sur.

Any advice on my itinerary or places to stay would be appreciated. I have never done a trip like this before and we are going for our one year wedding anniversary at the end of August.

Thank you

Too many cities; not enough time.

Your itinerary has you driving north to Napa from SF, then south past SF to Carmel. I think you should concentrate on one area: like northern CA, and drop San Diego. Maybe drop L.A, too. One night there will only be frustrating.

Or, you could replace Napa with wineries down by Santa Barbara.

Have you already bought airfare?

You have just over 1 day for Monterey / Carmel, almost no time in Santa Barbara, half a day in LA, 1.5 days in SD.

I agree with Tabernash. Cut back on destinations or add days . . .

Hi,

No I have not bought airfare.

If you base yourself in SF, you could do a day trip to Napa, or Sonoma (which I prefer), instead of staying there, and then move south to Monterey/Carmel, but the southern portion of your trip does seem worryingly short. I think you could have a wonderful trip dividing your 11 nights between SF, wine country and Monterey/Carmel, have enough time to enjoy them, and save the southern part of the state for another trip.

I agree, it was my husband who absolutely wanted to go to San Diego, but after the comments here I think I convinced him to remove both Los Angeles and San Diego.

Good decision. Maybe you can get to Yosemite now.

I agree - fewer destinations will make for a better trip. You'll just have to come back for another trip to CA to see the southern part :)

With 11 nights you could add Yosemite, or you could stick to the coast. You might want to go as far south as Cambria or Pismo Beach - drive through Big Sur, visit Hearst Castle.

Whether to stay in Monterey or Carmel...

Carmel is a very (super, uber) cute, romantic town with a gorgeous beach. It is upscale with plenty of galeries and shops.

Monterey is larger and busier. It is on the bay and has some nice rocky coastline and some beaches. More of the tourist attractions are in Monterey - most notably Canery Row and the aquarium. You have more of a diverse atmosphere in Monterey than in Carmel.

In between the two is Pacific Grove - nice small town with a beautiful, rocky coastline. It is quieter than Monterey, but not as upscale as Carmel. The downtown has quite a few shops and restaurants.

I personally prefer Monterey and Pacific Grove to Carmel, which is just a little too upscale for my tastes - and I can only handle so much cuteness before my teeth start to hurt ;) It is nice and a lot of people absolutely love it, it's just not my style. All 3 towns are within minutes of each other though, so you can easily stay in one and visit the others.

>>>All 3 towns are within minutes of each other though.<<<

Carmel and Monterey are only about 5 miles apart. Monterey and Pacific Grove are actually adjacent to each other (part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is actually IN Pacific Grove).

Why Napa? its crammed with tourists and limo's with wedding parties. If you like wine, head for Healdsburg in Sonoma County. Easier to get to, right up #101 from the Golden Gate bridge. Lovely rolling hills, great food, charming wineries. So much nicer than Napa.

Thank you so much for all of your feedback.
I am trying to revise my itinerary. We plan for August 17 to August 28.

Kleroux: I will take a look and research more on Sonoma instead of Napa.

I would love to go to Yosemite but I think I would be missing out on the drive through Big Sur. Not sure if i can add that in or I might have to do that on another trip.

November_moon : I really like your idea of : You might want to go as far south as Cambria or Pismo Beach - drive through Big Sur, visit Hearst Castle. I will look into that.

Anyone been to Paso Robles?

I've been to Paso Robles. Nice small town (but so are so many).

We also prefer to stay in Pacific Grove. For a beautiful B&B where they know how to treat their guests and have excellent breakfasts, views that are the best in town....try The Seven Gables Inn. We have stayed there twice and loved it both times.

http://www.thesevengablesinn.com/

Another vote for staying in Pacific Grove - the beaches are much less populated than in Carmel & very scenic, and it's close to the Aquarium which is a "must see" in my opinion.

Hearst Castle is fun/interesting, but if you can swing the cost, stay in Big Sur instead of Cambria. Cambria a cute beach town, but there's not much more than a boardwalk & some small restaurants - although the lodging is much cheaper than Big Sur. I would skip on Paso Robles personally.

If you need less expensive accommodations, keep your eye on travel deal sites like travelzoo, there are often lots of deals for Carmel/Monterey and Cambria - although in August it will be pricier.

Seven Gables is beautiful and in a terrific location. It is above my budget, so I have never stayed there, but if I could, I would :)

I am very familiar with Paso Robles. In August, it is bound to be very hot. I would avoid it and stay on the coast in that region, Cambria would be my favorite. Cayucos is a smaller town on the coast. If your stays are Sunday - Thursday along the coast the prices will be a lower than Friday- Saturday.

<i>We are wine lovers and heard Yountville might be the place to go... However, I also heard Calistoga and St. Helena is nice too.</i>

St. Helena is a charming little town, which I really like. Yountville is nice too, a little less charming, but with better restaurants. I think Calistoga is too far north for the best Napa wineries, but it might be the best option if you wanted to spend one day touring Napa and another day touring Northern Sonoma.

<i>Why Napa? its crammed with tourists and limo's with wedding parties.</i>

Nonsense.

<i>If you like wine, head for Healdsburg in Sonoma County.</i>

If you like wine, you would know that both Napa and Sonoma have excellent wineries.

<i>So much nicer than Napa.</i>

I have no idea why some insist upon slagging on Napa so much. I suspect they think it "cool" to say that they prefer Sonoma as if they are somehow clued into some secret, when Sonoma hasn't been a secret in years.

Personally, I have a great time in both Napa and Sonoma, but I like wine a heck of a lot more than I like silly reverse snobbery. In both places, the wineries we go to are invariably staffed by great people serving great wine. There are great restaurants in both places. And all these "tourists and limo's" must be heading to different wineries than I do. If being around <gasp> tourists like you is particularly bothersome, going on a weekday takes care of that better than switching valleys.

I would also note that the contrast offered up is grossly overplayed. Sonoma is not some low-key Eden and is probably the second most commercialized wine tasting experience you will find in the US. Is it marginally more low-key than Napa? Sure, but the difference is not nearly as great as some would have you believe. Sonoma and Napa are far more alike than they are different.

You want low-key? Keep driving up to Philo...

I LOVE Cambria, we stayed at a fab "motel" this past November right opposite the ocean on Moonstone beach and next door to an amazing seafood restuarant ( the Seachest - closed Tuesdays) it's also only a few minutes drive away from Hearst castle. You could stay here 1 night and do HC either on the way or the following morning.

I also LOVE Carmel and like its cuteness, you can base here and do the 17 mike drive and visit Monterey. Great food in Carmel too.

I liked Yountville,( although we last stayed there 8 years ago) again great food and you can visit the Mumm winery too!

Just realised I didn't write the name of the "motel" in Cambria, it was called the sand pebbles inn, I would stay there again for sure. We had an upstairs seaview room.

It does seem to be the "thing" to bag on Napa. My own father "doesn't drink" wine from Napa. Yeah, whatever dad. Miss out on some good wine in order to be "cool" ;) No problem - more for me.

I do think that sometimes visitors get too focused on Napa - it is the big name area that they have heard of and that focus sometimes limits their thinking. So I do bring up other areas as possibilities, but not to convince people not to visit Napa, just to consider the other possibilities - make sure they know the options.

I used to love the Napa Valley (and still enjoy LOTS of wines from there)

My main issues is the TRAFFIC all through the Napa Valley. Can be downright horrible crawling down hwy 29 through Calistoga/St Helena/Napa. It would be great w/o all those other people!!

<I>My main issues is the TRAFFIC all through the Napa Valley</I>

Just use the Silverado Trail.

Silverado Trail is getting bad too. The secret is out.

<i>Silverado Trail is getting bad too. The secret is out.</i>

I was there as recently as April (on a weekend) and traffic was a non-issue on the Silverado Trail.

I was there on a weekday. Trying to get on from a cross road was next to impossible.

If you're wine lovers, consider visiting the Central Coast wine country on your way south to Santa Barbara. There's incredible wine happening from Paso Robles (2 hours north of Santa Barbara) down to the Santa Ynez Valley (40 minutes north of Santa Barbara). The scenery easily rivals Napa/Sonoma and accommodations will be much less expensive. You can also do day trips from Santa Barbara.

Trip took place the summer of 2013.

Harriett - this is an OLD post.