Drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco stopover/sightseeing advice
 

Road trip taking my time from LA to San Francisco. please help plan my itinerary, or any ideas with places to visit things to do places to stay.

>>taking my time from . . .<<

How much time? -- makes a HUGE difference. How man days in LA, how many in SF and how many in between?

And - when? - time of year also matters a bit

leaving on the 25th and return on the 1st of january.

i would like to take advantage of the road trip and stop a long the way to the most interesting places and really take advantage of the road trip if Im only 1 or two days in san francisco i will be okay with that. 25the to the 1st or 2nd of january

joseph, you'd need to tell us at least something about your interests before anyone can recommend the "most interesting places". California is a huge state and just about whatever you want can be found here.

Beaches? Mountains? Solvang? Etc. Give us a few examples of what you would consider most interesting.

A week is not terribly long for a round trip but is definitely doable. If you spend 2 days in SF that leaves 5 or 6 days for everything else - up and back. Assuming you take the scenic coastal route one way that leaves one day to dash back down I-5 or 101. So about four-ish days for the coast.

The biggest problem is you won't know the weather until a few days ahead. Driving up hwy 1 is not fun in a bad winter storm.

Potential places to stop over would be Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach or San Luis Obispo or places just north of that, and in the Monterey/Carmel/Pacific Grove area. You'd want to stay 2 nights in Monterey/Carmel because the drive up through Big Sur is gorgeous but slow and then there is a lots to see and do once you get to Carmel.

That is your 4-ish days.

But do watch the weather forecasts -- a bad winter storm would make some of hwy 1 (primarily Big Sur) actually dangerous.

He didn't say "round trip" he said "road trip".

There are many MANY threads about the highlights of the coast so I suggest reading as many of them as you can and picking what interests you.


http://www.fodors.com/search/results...ia+Coast+Drive

my road trip is round trip. i have no idea of wether to choose mountain view or or coastal view, why im asking for help. I do want to take a scenic route. i do want to stop in santa barbara. i have never planned out an itenary any help would be appreciated. Janis your reply is very helpful thank you

Clarkgriswold : >>He didn't say "round trip" he said "road trip". <<

Not in the OP but in his subsequent post he did. >>leaving on the 25th and <u>return</u> on the 1st of january<<


joseph91 : >> i have no idea of wether to choose mountain view or or coastal view, why im asking for help. <<

You'll probably want to stay away from the mountains (if you mean the Sierra) because of snow and possibly needing chains. So stick to the coast one way and a fast drive the other way. Doesn't matter if you dash up I-5 to SF and then slowly drive down the coast to LA . . . or . . . drive slowly up the coast to SF and then a fast drive back to LA. The main thing is to try and avoid a heavy rain storm.

my round trip rode trip. I would like to leave LA to Santa Barbara from there take scenic route to San Francisco. leaving on the 25th Returning on the 2nd. my return I would like it to come back the fast way I think its the 5 freeway. but I would like to stop somewhere on the way back overnight. and on the 2nd leave early to stop go through the scenic route through marina del rey, venice beach, santa monica pier not sure on the way back what comes first.
im thinking

Day 1: LA Santa Barbara fast route?

Day 2: ?Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo Carmel to San Luis Obispo (scenic route)?

Day 3: ?San Luis Obispo to Carmel

Day 4: ??Carmel to San Francisco

Day 5 ? arrive San Francisco dont mind arriving until tomorrow morning

Day 6 San Francisco (what to do)? Ideas?

Day 7 New Year Eve San Francisco (what to do?)ideas?

Day 8 Jan 1 leave San Francisco fast route stop visit a place and stay the night ? I just dont know where.

Day 9 Jan 2 leave early from ? fast route? for beaches 1-2 hours stop at each beach Marina del rey, malibu,take scenic route to Santa Monica Pier, then Venice beach (this is probably the only day I dont need much help with except the fast route from where ever I will be at this morning until I get to Marina del Rey


so far thats why i have

I would like to add these place just dont know where they fit in or in what order HELP!
Santa Barbara, solvang
Morro Bay, Cayucos, Moonstone Beach Cambria
piedras blancas, mcway falls,nepenthe?
Hearst Castle
Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo Carmel to San Luis Obispo
pointsur lighthouse, bixby bridge, big sur River
San Luis Obispo to Carmel stop at Santa Cruz boardwalk
Carmel to San Francisco (pigeon point light house , Hidden beaches between Santa Cruz and San Francsco)
Alamo square

ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED
DAY 1-6 I need help with route planning (order of things)
Day 5-7 probably be in San Francisco Ideas while there Idea for New Years
eve for family with sons and daughters 15-25

here's my wacky favorite tourist attraction:
http://www.winchestermysteryhouse.com/

Drive Highway 1, could have snow in the mountains. Check with Caltrans for road conditions at this site, or call their tollfree number and enter the number of the road, eg '1, '101'.
http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi
If the roads are good, I would drive up through Malibu then cut over to the 101 at Oxnard. I would not stay in San Luis Obispo but in Cambria, Pismo Beach or Morro Bay. Once you get to SLO you can cut over to Highway 1 via the exit to Morro Bay.
Are you driving your own car or renting one? If renting I would drop in SF and fly back to LA.
If you do a roundtrip, also check for closures on the Grapevine.

Just a quick comment . . .

>>but I would like to stop somewhere on the way back overnight. <<

There is no reason AT ALL to stop anywhere along I-5 on your way back. SF to LA via I-5 only takes about 6 hours and not much longer to Marina Del Rey. And there is no nice place to stop en route - so I'd just drive all the way to Marina Del Rey in one day.

Plus that would free up an extra day for your drive north along the coast.

If you're driving up the 101, stop by San Luis Obispo. It's a cute little town and tons of places for wine tasting not too far off. I'd recommend staying a night at Sycamore Hot Springs. There's a hot tub with mineral water in your hotel room!

Since you are going at that time of year, make sure you have reservations . . . at hotels and at some restaurants! I'm headed up to SF from LA on the 30th and returning on the 2nd, and made my reservations up in SF nearly 6 months ago.

At this time of year, you really have to have Plan A and Plan B on the route up and back. Especially this December, with a couple of monster storms that have already hammered our state from the north down to the south. In fact, a friend of mine who lives in SF posted the big hail storm outside his window from the other day!

For example, for us, we've been up and down the coast on all 3 roads (the 1, the 101, and the 5) at least 100 times, so I know the idiosyncrasies of the roads and the weather impacting the roads. Our plan is to go up and down the 5 unless there's a storm at the Grapevine that will prevent us from going the full way or fog further north. When that happens, we usually cut on or off around Paso Robles to or from the 101.

Here's the link for road conditions:
http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/roadinfo/Hourly

"The 1, the 101 and the 5"--yup, surfergirl you do live in southern California. Sorry, couldn't help myself. I was just explaining to a visitor the different way those of us who live in California refer the roads and highways and we were trying to figure out where the line of demarcation is. Somewhere north of San Luis Obispo, I think.

Oh - I think it is south of SLO. More like Santa Barbara ;)

SAB, you mean that those "south of the border" call them "the" 1, 5 and 101, and those "north of the border" call them "just" 1, 5 and 101? Funny, isn't it.

Unless your child went to college below the border. My daughter went to Cal Poly, SLO and is now a "the" person. Friends have said she may never revert back to the NorCal way. :/

Either I read on a thread here or heard from a friend the explanation as to why we noun the numbers!

Back in the early '60's, when after the 10 opened, the 405 wasn't referred to in LA as the 405, but the San Diego freeway, because it was supposed to go all the way to San Diego. I'm trying to remember what we called the 10. I think we called it the San Bernardino freeway.

But, yeah, I've been a So Cal girl ever since they began work on the 405 (right next to our apartment, leveling and grading what was then a bean field!) in '57.

As a baby, we were living in Monterey, so I guess I would have referred to them as I-pick a number had we stayed there!

Don't those "north of the border" refer to these freeways as I-101, I-5, etc? Enquiring minds want to know!