Swannee

My husband and I are leaving in a week (yikes!) for a trip that includes San Francisco, Napa then on to South Lake Tahoe. Then we want to head south hoping to go along the Pacific Coast Highway and end up in San Diego, bypassing L.A.

I would appreciate some general advice as to routings and other info as we have never been to some of the areas, yet have been to others.

We know San Francisco, Napa, Carmel and Monterrey, but have never been to Lake Tahoe, Big Sur, Hearst Castle or San Diego.

We are planning to rent a car when we leave SF and will drive up to Napa and then to South Lake Tahoe. The drive to Tahoe will be on March 3rd which is a Saturday. I read on another post that there is a lot of traffic on Fridays. We are not in a rush to get to South Lake Tahoe but I'm wondering about the drive. We are used to driving in snow and the route seemed pretty straightforward. Mapquest says it is about 3 hours from Napa to South Lake Tahoe. How long should we really figure at the beginning of March?

When we leave Lake Tahoe, we want to head south. Hearst Castle is something we really want to see as well as other interesting places along the way 9if we have time) but we want to head down to San Diego as soon as possible as our flight home leaves from there. We only have 5 days to do this when we leave South Lake Tahoe.

We figured driving somewhere for the first night (I don't know if getting to Cambria or San Simeon is too far - or if we should stop somewhere else first.
What I really would like to know is if there is a way of bypassing San Francisco for this part of the trip or is it faster going back to SF and then heading south.

We then thought we would spend one night in the Hearst Castle area, and then head south as fast as possible so we can spend the next three days in San Diego.

Any recommendations please?

cheers

Swannee

J_Correa

For the leg of your trip between Lake Tahoe and the coast, you could head straight to the Cambria area, but I would recommend heading to Monterey, then south on Hwy 1 from there. This will take you through Big Sur, which is gorgeous. Going straight to Cambria would be faster, but it would be a shame to be so close to Big Sur and miss it.

With 5 days, you could do something like:

Day 1: Drive to Monterey (about 4 hours)
Day 2: Monterey to Cambria, late day tour of Hearst Castle
Day 3: Long day of driving to San Diego
Days 4 and 5: In San Diego

rjw_lgb_ca

And just a point of clarification-- without a long, long drive inland, there is no way to drive from Cambria to San Diego without passing through metro LA. None. The quickest way will be CA-1 to US-101 to I-405 (plus maybe hopping the CA-73 toll road in Costa Mesa) to I-5; at least this bypasses downtown LA and Anaheim, taking you through west LA, the South Bay and coastal Orange County on the way into San Diego County. Six hours, barring traffic. Figure on seven-plus.

Swannee

Thank you both J_Correa and rjw_lgb_ca
for your replies.

Is there a quick (but scenic if possible) way to get to Monterrey from South Lake Tahoe? I heard that the roads on thewest side of the Lake are often closed. Don't know if true or not.

When you say about a 4-hour drive to Monterey - which way is that -- going back to SF and heading south or is there a cutoff that one can take directly from South Lake Tahoe?

I will have more questions, but it is late now -- so thanks and cheers for today

Swannee

casacory1

There's not a whole lot of scenery between Tahoe and the East Bay of San Francisco. East Bay has some pretty green hills, but that's about all.

The quickest route to Moneterey is probably to Sacramento, and from there take I-5. I caution you against that because I-5 is extremely dull drive. It's only about 4 1/2 hours if you take 50 out of Tahoe, then I-80 around Sac, head to I-680 near Oakland, and connect to 101 south all the way to Monterey.

You'll have plenty of scenery from Monterey on 1 to Hearst Castle, and then to San Diego.

traveller69

I agree with rjw - I wouldn't take the coastal route through LA. It takes forever and is not that scenic. We always take the route rjw suggests and just time it so we aren't hitting rush hour.

Swannee

Thank you everybody for the information.

I have to digest everything and figure things out and may have more questions.

All well appreciated.

cheers

J_Correa

From Tahoe to Monterey, I would take a slightly different route and avoid the Bay Area all together. I would head west to I-5, but rather than cutting over to 680 to catch Hwy 101, I would take I5 all the way down to 152 and head west from there to 156 and then to Hwy 1.

curmudgeon

If there hasn't been recent snow, my preferred way out of South Tahoe is via hwy 89/88, which drops you down into Stockton. From there you can cut across to I-5 and then go towards the coast on either I580 or CA152.

Swannee

Hello again,

I'm still working on the Tahoe to the coast route. I see that several of you have given me several options. I realize that a lot will have to do with the weather.

The automobile club basically gave me the routing going back to San Francisco and heading down hwy 1. I told them that I wanted to bypass SF and am waiting for their second triptik.

however, looking at the map, I see the various options that you all have put in.

J_Correa, with respect to your suggestion of going to Monterey first -- I'm looking a different inns and B&Bs and I wonder if it is not easier to head to Carmel or to Big Sur rather than Monterey (where we both have been) and Carmel and Big Sur are a bit further south. Would it be much longer?

I see the I50 to I5 to 152/156 to hwy 1.


Curmudgeon, I see your route and it might be an interesting one -- of course if there is no snow.

To all of you, what would be the fastest if the weather is fine. And I do want to bypass SF -- having been there and have driven from SF to Carmel before. Don't get me wrong, if I had the time, I'd do it again as it was gorgeous- but no time!

Anyway,thanks again

cheers

J_Correa

Carmel and Monterey are basically adjacent, so either one would be about the same with respect to drive times. There isn't really one particular location that is Big Sur, but there is a relative concentration of lodging about an hour south of Monterey.

I am amazed at the auto club's recommendation to go all the way back to SF and then down Hwy 1 from there. Not only is that the long way around, but it is also the route where you would be most likely to run into the most traffic.

I've driven the route from Watsonville (between Monterey and Santa Cruz) to Lake Tahoe and other points north/east of Sacramento and back many times - have found that staying on I5 until 152 is a decent bet for avoiding traffic delays. You still can get some traffic on 152, but it isn't nearly as bad as what you can encounter in the Bay Area.

Swannee

Thanks J_Correa,

I think the autoclub did not really understand what I wanted to do. I spoke to another agent on the weekend and she mentioned a route similar to yours but thought it might take longer--however, she was not the one doing the triptik. I think I like your suggestion.

On top of that, on the auto club triptik, it shows a "Repairs" stamp on 80 from Berkeley to SF!!

For the next portion of the trip , It also shows "Repairs" on 101 near Santa Barbara and on 5 between Dana Point and Carlsbad, as well as around San Diego!

Right now, we're looking at places to stay in Carmel for our first night after Tahoe.

Thanks and cheers

curmudgeon

I would say that the hwy 88 route is fastest for what you want to do. While the elevation is fairly high, the road is straighter than most of the CA mountain highways, and it misses the traffic in the Sacramento area. I would only avoid this route during a storm, or for a day afterwards. Be aware that if you get a significant storm, all the routes to Lake Tahoe may well require use of snow chains/cables on non-4WD vehicles.

Don't fret too much about the AAA "repairs" notes; the standard urban congestion will far outweigh anything due to those projects. You can check road conditions at http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi or via phone at 800-427-7623

Swannee

Thanks Curmudgeon,

I am looking at the map and it seems that 88 is a smaller highway and may be very pittoresque. I guess we'll have to decide on the route once we are in Lake Tahoe and see the weather conditions. We have never used chains as they are not allowed where we live but I have requested a front-wheel drive rented car -- We did not ask for 4WD however.
We will see what happens. We have driven on very windy mountain roads on the Amalfi coast (not in winter though) although we did drive in the Aosta Valley in winter in Italy -- but weather was perfect. We do a lot of winter driving as we are skiers but do not drive in bad conditions.

I just booked our hotel in Carmel and with the address did a Mapquest route search. Mapquest shows the route that Casacory1 discussed above. So it is getting confusing.
However, I see what the options are and judging from all the Fodorites' answers, there is a choice and the weather and road conditions will be the ultimate decisive factor.

Thank you all.

cheers

J_Correa

I am not surprised about mapquest's routing - it generally gives you the shortest route between 2 points using major highways and interstates. And it is a good route that will definitely get you there. The main issue is that it takes you through an urban area so there is more of a chance of encountering traffic delays.

curmudgeon

The mountain roads in CA usually clear quickly after a storm; chains are rarely required for more than 24 hours, so it may just be easiest to wait a day if a storm hits.

Lake Tahoe tends to be crowded on winter weekends with skiers from the bay area, and much quieter during the week. My favorite ski areas there are Squaw Valley and Kirkwood, though there has been less snow that usual, conditions were pretty good when we skiied Friday at Kirkwood.

Swannee

Hi J_Correa and Curmudgeon,

Thank you, I get the traffic in urban area issue, so as I said it will depend on weather, etc.

Unfortunately we do not have the luxiry of time to wait another day on the way from tahoe -- so if we need to be on the highway as opposed to mountain roads, we will.
Granted if the conditions are dangerous, we will not put ourselves at risk -- however we have booked a B&B in Carmel and they are expecting us on the Saturday night.

We are planning to ski at Heavenly and Squaw-- we are very close to Heavenly
( 1 mile away) and will problably do the ski -boat cruise up to Squaw as it sounds like a fun experience. I have heard of Kirkwood and the others -- and we shall decide depending on conditions again if we want to try the other areas. But thanks for the heads up.

cheers