Buffalodad

My wife and I will be taking the kids (son-13,daughters 11 and 8) to California at the end of June for a two week vacation. I have been reading the posts to help plan our trip (I've found them to be very helpful) We will be staying in San Diego, L.A., Montery/Salinas, Yosemite and S.F. I have set up our itinerary as follows:

Sat 6/26 -Fly into San Diego arriving early afternoon. Staying 3 nights at Marriott Resort on Coronado
6/29 - Leave S.D. early evening, drive 2 1/2? hours to L.A. Spending three nights at Magic Castle Hotel. Day 1 - universal
day 2 - Hollywood and ?
7/2 leave LA early AM and drive 5 1/2 ? hrs to Montery. Visit Aquarium and Cannery row, shop and have dinner. Drive to Salinas for overnight stay at Residence Inn.
7/3 - Leave Salinas early AM and drive 4 1/2? hours to Yosemite. Spend 4 nights at Tenaya Lodge in Yosemite
7/6 leave Yosemite early AM and drive 4 1/2? hours to S.F. Spend 4 nights in S.F. at Best Western Americana

Questions: Do drive times make sense? What are the must sees/things to do at each city?Any comments on the lodging selected?
Thanks in advance for your help.

clarkgriswold

L.A. Zoo
Museum of Natural History

viamar

Sounds like you have a great trip planned. Most of your driving times seem about right except it probably won't take you 4 1/2 hours to go from Salinas to Yosemite. Unless you have a reason to visit Salinas I would stay a night in Monterey instead. It would only save you about 20 minutes or so in drive time staying in Salinas.
The Best Western Americana isn't exactly in the greatest part of town. There isn't much of interest in that area.
You may want to try the Kimpton Group properties or the Joie de Vivre properties. The have great specials and packages, some w/ free parking and breakfast. They won't cost much more (if at all) than the BW.
Here are their web addresses:
www.kimptongroup.com
www.jdvhospitality.com
The Tenaya Lodge is supposed to be lovely but for myself I'd rather stay in a tent cabin in Curry Village to be able to be right in the Valley. There is nothing like waking up to Half Dome in the morning. If 4 nights is too much for such spartan accomidations than you could maybe split it up w/ 2 nights at Curry and 2 at the Lodge. Your kids will love the atmosphere at Curry Village , it's like a big summer camp. They have ranger presentation every night and they have a swimmimg pool.
A good family trail is the Mist Trail. Very pretty but not too challenging.
In Hollywood don't miss a drive down Sunset Blvd. through Beverly Hills just checking out the amazing homes.
Have fun!

curmudgeon

I would take a day from Yosemite and give it to Monterey area (either that, or skip Monterey altogether). I don't think it is worth doing the zig-zag back and forth across the state for an afternoon/evening in Monterey. With more time, you can drive up Highway 1 from San Luis Obispo to Monterey (will add a couple of hours vs sticking with hwy 101) and have the next day for Monterey. Salinas is farm country, not really a tourist area; if you can manage cost/availability, you would find Monterey (or even Seaside) much nicer as a place to stay.

Jun20

Any chance for a little adjustment on the days? July 2nd is the first of 3 nights of July 4th Fireworks Spectacular for family, fun, and food at the Hollywood Bowl. Great patriotic music and celebration. I hope there would be some way that you could attend this special event!

Patrick

I'll second the Hollywood Bowl. I've worked my trips around going there, usually end of season or Labor Day concerts. It's a very special way to spend a night. The only bad part is the nightmarish parking and waiting up to an hour since you get blocked in. But if you're ambitious park in Hollywood or even stay at the Renaissance and walk from there.

OaktownTraveler

Looks great!

One major no-no. You can not stay in Salinas. Please, pick any place just not there.

The rest is excellent.

Enjoy,
Oaktown Traveler

Treck

Nice itinerary, but I do agree with the others here about not staying in Salinas. Oh what a terrible place. If I were you I'd suggest driving a little further north on 101 and staying the night in San Jose. There is so much more to see and do in a big city than in the farming area of Salinas. San Jose to Yosemite is about 4 hours. Your kids would definitely enjoy the Tech Museum. The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum would also be fun for them if they are into seeing mummies and such. The downtown area is the most convenient part of the stay to stay.

Have a nice vacation.

tracys2cents

Skip the San Diego zoo and do the Wild Animal Park instead, then go see the LA Zoo which you can do the same day as Universal (3 hrs zoo, 5 hrs Universal).

Definitely change your SF hotel, if you can get the ColumbusMotorInn they include parking and much better neighborhood near Fishermans Wharf.

KathrynT

If you drive 5 1/2 hours to Monterey, I wouldn't continue driving from there after visiting but would try to stay there instead. Visiting the Aquarium alone can take a big part of your day as it is a wonderful facility. I am almost tempted to suggest you extend your stay there one more night as facing the drive to Yosemite makes for two long driving days with 3 kids. I hate to suggest taking a day from Yosemite or SF but I think it would make for a more relaxing time. You could then do the Aquarium on day two and not rush day one so much.

Also, no Disneyland? That would be heresy to my children. You might also consider the LaBrea tar pits as an interesting stop. Personally, I think a zoo and Universal Studios would be too much in one day.

sparky67

I would also recommend just staying in Monterey, since you'll already be there. There's nothing really wrong with Salinas, but you can probably get an OK deal in Monterey or PG. It sounds like you just need a place to stay for the night before getting on the road for Yosemite. Marina/Seaside might be a good, inexpensive alternative.

In any even, do NOT backtrack to San Jose so you can turn around and drive back to Yosemite -- I think that suggestion must have been a joke!

tcl

If you decide to go to a Hollywood Bowl performance, try park and ride instead of parking at the Bowl. They have pick-up locations all over LA (I've used the Pasadena and LA Zoo ones). Sorry, but I don't remember how much the fare was.

A fun place for your kids to visit would be the Ruben H. Fleet Science Center in San Diego (in the Balboa Park area) http://www.rhfleet.org/. It's not as big as the Exploratorium in SF, but it has a number of hands-on exhibits for kids to try. There's also the IMAX theater too.

questionmotives

Great itinerary, sounds like you've allocated time between driving for actual sightseeing, which is my style of travel as well.

IMO, it all sounds fine except the part about driving to and staying anywhere other than the Monterey area, while you are already there! Salinas is just a farm town and San Jose is just landlocked suburban sprawl. Figure about 5.5 hours to Yosemite from Monterey, perhaps not even that, if you are staying outside the valley at Tenaya Lodge.

Just to let you know, it's quite a little drive into and out of Yosemite Valley each day, if like most visitors, that's where you plan to spend your time. Twisting, one lane mountain road, about 30 mph, and you will probably be stuck behind tour buses and motor homes the entire time. You may want to consider some valley lodgings if you plan to be there a lot -- if they say there are full, keep trying, people cancel all the time. Be aware that you will most likely get either a tent cabin or a cabin without bath, which means a shared communal bath facility. If private bath is really important and you don't mind lots of driving every day, then Tenaya should be fine.

sparky67

Treck, Lake, Hann, (now we're waiting for Guarto and the rest of the 'gang' to the join this thread) . . .

Why, why, WHY would the OP drive an additional 75 miles just to sleep in San Jose (LMAO, BTW, nice try!), when he is driving that day from LA to spend time in MONTEREY? Has nothing to do with the 'merits' of SJ, just makes no sense. Should he drive to SJ after dinner?

Pull up YahooMaps; it is roughly the same distance to Fish Camp (where they are staying at Tenaya) from Salinas as SJ, so why would you possibly suggest adding the driving distance between Monterey/Salinas to SJ to their trip?

Buffalodad, I won't be posting to this thread anymore, but please do take a careful look at a map before you take any of the advice on this forum. I think someone is pulling your leg! I think you have a good trip planned and I hope you enjoy your stay in California.

BayArea

Definitely stay the night in Monterey, not in Salinas, not in San Jose. San Jose is another HOUR north of Monterey. Salinas is dumpy and gives me the creeps.

You will have had a LONG drive up from LA, no reason to make it any longer.

Definitely look at a map before you construct a hard and fast itinerary. Fish Camp is at the south end of Yosemite, so coming from Monterey is not such a big deal. Even from Monterey, you will have to do a small amount of back tracking to get to fish camp.

I think you can do it in 4 to 4 and a half hours; there aren't a lot of stops on the way. I would strongly suggest that you get the earliest possible start. Temperatures in the central valley really soar in the summer, you will cook if you are travelling at midday, stuck behind all the RVs.

viamar

San Jose is not closer to Yosemite than Monterey. In fact it's probably farther when you factor in all the valley traffic. From Santa Cruz Yosemite is no more than 4 hours away , so it can't be much more from Monterey.
From Monterey you would take 1 to 156 to 101 to 152 to 59 and then 140 all the way into the park. It's a pretty easy drive. Flat hot and boring until you get to 140, then curvy, high and beautiful the closer you get to the park.

janis

Buffaloed - I'm sure you realize staying in San Jose one your way to Yosemite makes absolutely no sense.

FYI - just in case, you would be well advised to save all the above information. The resident Fodors madman (initials L, H and R so far, but more posts are sure to follow once he starts disrupting things) has hit your post. If it follows form, Fodors editors will either delete your whole thread - or disable it so no one can post to it anymore.

viamar

I just did a check on Mapquest and the distance from San Jose to Yosemite is 185 miles and from Monterey it is 198. So yes San Jose is a wee bit closer to Yosemite. But since San Jose is the "largest city in northern California" it will most likely take longer with all the traffic. The drive from Monterey is pretty much all through rural areas so it should be a more relaxing drive. Plus I think the highway 140 entrance into the park is much more scenic than highway 120 entrance.
I hope you have great trip to California. You are visiting at a great time of year since the tourist season doesn't really get going until July and August. Expect crowds though, it just won't be as bad as later in the summer. Plus the waterfalls in Yosemite should still be pretty full in June.

tpl

Viamar, this is not directed at you, because I think your post was intended to be helpful. Just wanted to point out that the original poster would have to drive an extra 75 minutes (or more, depending on traffic) north from Monterey to San Jose to save those 13 miles. LOL . . .

Maggi

Buffalodad, good choice on the Marriott Resort/Coronado! We enjoyed the hotel and the island immensely last year. The only other advice I have for you is to echo a few others who have described the long slow drive is it once inside Yosemite. It seemed to take us forever to get anywhere in this huge national park. You will spend a lot of time getting from point A to B if you stay outside the park. Also, I shouldn't have been, but was surprised at some of the harrowing mountain roads we drove on the way to the park from Monterrey. Maybe it was just my mood that day, but I was white-knuckling it part of the way. Anybody else found this to be true?