California Trip - Please HELP!!
 

I just took a new job and so I have a week off in between and my husband and I are planning on flying into SF and covering the following:
- Sonoma wine country
- Carmel / Monterey
- Big Sur / Cambria
- San Francisco

We have 8 days, 7 nights - so a few questions:
1) Can we cover this in this timeframe?

2) Recommendations on lodging, restaurants, wineries, things to do, etc in these locations.

Unfortunately, this would be coming up here very soon (Aug 4 -12). Please advise on suggestions and also if this time of year is good in terms of weather.

Thanks in advance Fodorites!

whoa...weather sucks everywhere right now. I suggest doing the wine country mon-thursday and skip weekends. Weekends are better in SF cause you won't have the traffic from city workers.

I would focus on SF/Sonoma. Use the search feature and you'll find many trip reports and suggestions regarding sample itineraries for this area.

What do you mean by sucks? Hot? Rainy? Foggy? Should I reschedule? Thanks.

Why not Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur? Thanks

Right now it is very hot all over California. No, you don't need to reschedule.

If you really want to hit all those areas I would break it up as follows:

SF for 3 days
Carmel/Monterey for 2 days
Big Sur / Cambria for 1 day
Wine Country 2 days

for a more relaxing trip I think it was recommended to focus on the northern part SF & Sonoma but if you are fast past travelers then by all means hit all four. Just know that driving will take at least a few hours to get to each spot (but the CA-1 drive is awesome).

You can count on the weather being cooler along the coast. It will be hotter in Sonoma.

You might want to do a quick search on Sonoma and Healdsburg. There are tons of threads about it. Personally, I'd stay in Healdsburg. www.wineroad.com for an interactive map with lots of accommodation and winery info.

Depending on how long you want to spend in each place, you could fit it all in but you can't spend too much time anywhere. I think the suggestion to skip Carmel, Big Sur, Cambria was in the interest of time and cutting off some long drives.

Hi shelja, CA is have a heat wave right now, but isn't the rest of the US?

May I suggest as a start you go the SF Chronical website which is www.sfgate.com. You will find a wealth of information there that would give you a good idea what you might like to see and do. Are you flying in and out of SFO? And congratulations on your new job!

I should have added that the day of the week that you arrive might influence the order of the sites. I agree with LLinda that you should do the wine country during the week as the weekend is a complete zoo.

Sorry, I was being a smart a** about the weather- it is hot everywhere, even my friends on vacation up north are sweltering! What activities do you enjoy? My husband and I love going up the coast into Mendocino- very romantic!

Ahem, it is not "hot everywhere". Seattle was in the upper 60's and completely cloudy for most of Monday and barely into the 70's on Tuesday.

Though I did note that the nation's Icebox, Grand Junction, Colorado saw 101 yesterday.

Thank you all for your suggestions. We are coming from Ohio where it has been extremely humid and hot (over 100 deg) so we should be able to survive but I do appreciate the feedback.

In terms of things we like to do - we are in our 30s and love great scenery, food, wine and are looking to relax. DH and I work and travel very much and this is the first week off in 2 years! We do not want to spend the majority of the week in a car though!

Here is what my tenative plan is so please let me know your thoughts:

1) Fly into SFO on Aug 4 late night. Wake up on 5th (Sat) and either drive to Half Moon Bay or spend day in SF?
2) Wake up on 6th and move on to Carmel / Monterey area - stay at Quail Lodge. Enjoy some good food, beach, golf, spa there for a day. Stay there until the 8th and then head on to Sonoma. During our time in Carmel, we may try to do a day trip to Big Sur or Cambria - is this possible?
3) Spend 8th - 11th of Aug in Sonoma. Stay at Lodge at Sonoma Renaissance. Not sure which wineries to go to yet?
4) Spend 11th -12th in San Francisco.

So basically, 3 days Carmel/Monterey, 3 days Sonoma, and 2 days in SF. Let me know what you all think of this.

Also, based on what you have posted what is there to do in Mendocino and how does it compare to the Carmel area. Perhaps it makes sense to go there instead of Carmel. However, I do want to drive along the coast and experience that. Please advise.

Thanks so much!!

Other recommendations on this site are to stay in Pacific Grove area or Santa Cruz - any feedback on these places? thanks so much :)

You can easily make a day trip from Carmel to Cambria and back. Highway 1 is a beautiful drive and if you're interested you could do a tour of Hearst Castle - it's located just a few miles from Cambria.

Since relaxing is a main objective of yours, I think the Mendocino idea is a good one. If you decide on Carmel, however, get some good advice from the locals about when to hit the freeways from San Francisco southward, as there are times during the week when you'll spend way too much time in your car if you're not careful.

What is there to do in Mendocino? What type of town is it? Thanks again.

While you're in the Carmel area, make sure to go to Point Lobos go early as they limit the number of people they let in...it opens at 9 AM as I recall. PL is a state park with some of the most beautiful coastline the state has to offer. On our last visit my sister who has lived in the area for the last 35 yrs. commented that she thought it might be the most beautiful place in the state. That's quite a statement (not sur I agree) but, it is easy to feel that way when you're walking the trails above the booming surf watching whales & dolpins breaching & leaping.

You could go south from Carmel on the Pacific Coast Highway for an hour or two and then return to Carmel. Maybe turn around at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. or so...that will let you see the most spectacular stretch of the coast...no need to go all the way to Cambria if time is short.

Here's a link to an image from our visit to Point Lobos in Feb. It was the only sunny week they had last winter (lucky us).

http://www.pbase.com/peterb/image/56550980/medium

Shelja, we live in KY and I highly recommend flying into Sacramento. Never had as much traffic trouble. Southwest goes there, which is great for us! Well, I've been to Mendocino 3 times and have to go back yearly. It's like an old hippie town with weathered houses, water towers, quaint B&Bs, great restaurants,art galleries, shops, beautiful state parks,redwoods, and many good wineries abound. It has the most gorgeous ocean cliffs, and the ever present roar and squall from the ocean. Here's a county website:
http://www.gomendo.com/
We're going to Carmel in April, I still haven't been, but I've done the Northern Coast and lots of Napa/Sonoma and SF. If you want to avoid lots of traffic time, travel 101 to Sonoma. Napa is almost always a traffic nightmare. Still, I'd rather travel from SAC anytime. We almost missed a flight once out of Oakland, too, cause we got stuck in traffic for 3 hours. As far as weather, we went in April this year and it never stopped raining! I'm not sure anyone can predict what weather will be like- golly, Europe's been an oven lately!

I just don't understand LLinda's advice re Sacramento airport. Shelja said she wants to go to Half Moon Bay or SF for the first night.

Hmmm...fly into SFO and drive 15 miles into downtown SF or 25 miles into Half Moon Bay. Fly into Sacremento and drive 90 miles into SF or 120 miles into Half Moon Bay. I'll take my chances with some traffic.

If you are leaving Sonoma to catch a flight that day I would head out extra early so you don't take any chances.

Just my opinion but for your travel plans I would rule out Sacramento unless you got a great deal on flights.

Southwest also flies into Oakland, which would be a lot closer than Sacramento, but still less convenient than SFO.