Girlfriend trip in California
 

I am organizing a trip for several friends. We are attending an event in San Diego in late August and want to spend about five or six days post event together. The group has decided to fly in and out of San Diego. I have suggested La Jolla and Santa Barbara. I did suggest Carmel/Monterey by air but that did not generate much enthusiasm.

About us:
all early seventies with no significant health issues
not a terribly active group so hiking, etc would not interest them
love shopping, good dining, historical attractions, museums
limited driving

Any suggestions for us? Thank you.

You should either repost this question or ask the monitors to move it to the United States” Forum which deals specifically with travel in the US. You’ll get a lot more responses there. HINT: Use the “Change Forum” link at the top of your thread.

This forum is for “general” travel questions and gets very little attention from the regular contributors on the forum.

Any of the three places you've already suggested would fit your group's criteria - what are their objections to SB, La Jolla and Carmel?

OR, how about Laguna Beach? Or just staying in San Diego?

"... limited driving..."

Driving San Diego to Santa Barbara could easily take 5 hours (and is fairly boring), and then you'd have to drive back to SD. Flying to/from SB would be quick but expensive. Going by train is pretty cheap but takes upwards of 6 hours. If you went by train, you might want to rent a car in SB for a couple of days to explore the Santa Ynez Valley, although there are probably some small-group day tours you could take. In August, temps in SYV will be high.

If your free days are in/around Aug. 9-18, forget Carmel and Monterey. That's Car Week. The area will be jammed with people, traffic, etc., and hotel rates will be ridiculous. I do think Carmel/Monterey would be a great destination, though, so if your dates are good I'd keep promoting it to your friends.

Why not rent a house in LA, San Diego/Pacific Beach/La Jolla or maybe Laguna or Newport Beach?

Examples (don't know your budget or number of people, so just guessing) -

Brentwood - https://www.vrbo.com/7131480ha
Beverly Hills/Farmers Market - https://www.vrbo.com/682124
Pacific Beach - https://www.vrbo.com/1296347
Balboa Island, Newport Beach - https://www.vrbo.com/1293898

You don't need to go far from San Diego to find a fabulous location for your extended stay.

I think Santa Barbara is way too long a drive, especially since you have to return to San Diego. And "several friends" might indicate you'd need two vehicles.

La Jolla is a fabulous idea: great food (George's at the Cove), beautiful views, the Scripps aquarium https://aquarium.ucsd.edu/visit/

We love Laguna Beach and Newport Beach/Balboa Island, but I don't think you need to drive that far, either.

I would stay south, in the San Diego area. It's beautiful there & plenty to see and do without driving so far north (easy to accomplish "limited driving").

What about a side trip by ferry over to Catalina Island? https://www.catalinavacations.com/ge...land-san-diego

How about a visit to a historic California mission (Mission San Deigo de Alcala among others) https://www.sdcatholic.org/diocese/a...cmissions.aspx

Well, pretty sure LaJolla is part of San Diego. Laguna Beach is nice (although not my favorite OC beach town) but that time of year is the Pageant of the Masters (nice to see - once), Sawdust Festival and others so places will be crowded and possibly hotel rates will increase.
Santa Barbara is nice, very good food and a beautiful mission (much nicer than the San Diego one) plus wine tasting in the nearby Santa Ynez Valley.

I've nothing against Santa Barbara, I know it's nice (I grew up in southern California) but it's a 6 hour drive from San Diego and they specifically said they wanted "limited driving".

We were considering a train trip to Santa Barbara to limit the driving. We'll drive once at our destination.

Thank you for the observations and suggestions.

Gardyloo, thank you for the specific vrbo suggestions. We do plan to rent a house and your suggestions were very nice.

I'd recommend a visit to Hotel Coronado .So beautiful!

Short-term house rentals are illegal in Santa Barbara.

The Santa Barbara Eagle Inn has several casitas, with a living room as well as a bedroom. Breakfast (included in the rate) can be delivered or taken in the main part of the hote. The hotel is a short 2-block level walk from the beach and the shuttle route.

Thank you so much!

I imagine the objection to Carmel/Monterey was the distance if they have to get back to SAN, and flying. There is no easy way to get there that won't take up tons of time or money. I guess there is a small regional airport at Monterey but I wouldn't want to fly to/from there either. Alaska Airlines does fly there nonstop from SAN, though.

I'd rather take Amtrak to Santa Barbara as given how much time flying takes to get to the airport early, etc., it could be not that different in elapsed time as the flight itself is 1.5 hrs.

La Jolla doesn't sound that interesting to me, either.

That same train that goes to SB makes a stop in San Juan Capistrano. That's only a 1.5 hr train trip. Just an idea, I haven't been there myself.

Thank you for your suggestions. The group has decided on La Jolla. There will be eight of us. Any recommendations for lodging will be welcome. You have been most helpful.

La Jolla IS San Diego

La Jolla is a distinct area, and I think most people consider it separately. It makes sense for your group of 8 women who don't want to travel far from San Diego (airport).

As I said above, "La Jolla is a fabulous idea: great food (George's at the Cove), beautiful views, the Scripps aquarium https://aquarium.ucsd.edu/visit/"
Be sure to eat at least once at George's outdoor patio, directly over the water.

These two hotels look nice, right in the heart of La Jolla:
https://thegrandecolonial.com
https://www.lavalencia.com

This place looks also nice, at Torrey Pines
https://meritagecollection.com/estan...sort-amenities

Thank you, MoBro. I stayed at the Grande Colonial on my last visit and it is lovely.