Girls trip to Calif coast flying into SFO.
 

I have been reading many of the comments in the California forums trying to figure out a nice trip for my friends and I. Our trip is planned the first week of May. We are all (3 of us) in our 40's and are planning a nice trip to celebrate our birthday's. We have 7 nights available. We were looking to fly into SFO. My one friend really wants to go to Napa for a couple of days because we like our wine. I really would like to see the coast, so we are renting a car and also going to travel south towards, Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur ( a must stop into Nepenthe restaurant) and maybe Cambria because I keep reading the comments on how we can't miss Hearst Castle. Should we do round trip out of SFO or keep driving down the coast to another airport like LA? Any suggestions? sights, hotels etc. Our price range is somewhat open because we don't know the next time we will make it back... and we really are excited to see the coast... and experience Napa...
Thank you in advance for your help!

It sounds as if you have no plans to actually stay in San Francisco, and if not, then your wish list might be doable. If you do plan to stay in SF then, as I'm sure you've read before, something will have to go (or get very short shrift).

If you're set on visiting Napa, it's a bit of a detour, I think a coastal trip would be more leisurely and there is plenty of wine to be found on the drive especially if you head to Paso Robles from Cambria, or down to the Santa Ynez Valley north of Santa Barbara. Not sure what your home city is, but you might be able to find flights back from Santa Barbara instead of heading down into Los Angeles. For me, a connecting flight out of SB is preferable to a connecting drive down to LAX.

So my pick would be Monterey Carmel 3 nights/2 full days. Then Cambria/Paso for 2 nights, a day drive down through Santa Ynez/Los Olivos and 2 nights/1 full day for Santa Barbara.

If you went to Napa you'd have a night and then a full day/night there, before having to up and head south if you want to fit in Monterey, Big Sur, Cambria and Hearst over the next 5 days. You'd probably want to fly out of San Luis Obispo.

Part of your planning will be deciding on how much packing up/moving onward you're comfortable with doing. I always try to keep that to a minimum as I hate 1-night stops.

With a week, I would spend 3 days San Francisco, 2 days Yosemite (waterfalls should be terrific in May) and 2 days Monterey.
You can do Napa as a daytrip from San Francisco. Distances are far in California so you don't have time for LA and maybe not Cambria this trip.

I think that SF and the coast would make a good trip with a week - and getting your wine fix in Carmel or Paso is a good idea.

I agree with those who think San Francisco and the Central Coast make the most sense itinerary and time wise with 7 nights. But if Napa is a must do for your group, then perhaps head straight to Carmel upon arrival at SFO, about a 2 hour drive for 3 nights. Explore Monterey, Carmel and Big Sur over the next 2 days.

Then do the long drive up to Napa for another 2-3 nights. Finally back to San Francisco for either 1-2 nights before heading home. A bit rushed for my taste but doable.

We are flying out of Detroit. We definitely do not need to go to LA. It looks like we can do a flight with 1 stop going home if we try the airport in Santa Barbara. I think we would need to stay in San Francisco for at least 1 night to see the sights. I agree there is a lot of moving around. How may hours is it to Napa from SFO? I haven't figured that out yet.

Would it be better to just take a tour to Napa? Would it be easier? We would just stay in San Fran at night? Is Napa worth it?

If we just turn around in Big Sur, how many hours would it take to reach SFO?

Thanks....

Maybe it would be better to start in Carmel?

Napa is sooo overrated.(Dad lives in Napa and I have been going there since the early 1970's.) Monterey has some decent wineries. The wineries in The Paso/Santa Barbara/Los Olivos area are wonderful. Saarloos & Sons Winery in Los Olivos pair their wines with custom cupcakes. OMG it was divine.

Napa is only one of many (MANY) California wine regions -- convince your friend that Napa is not the be all and end all. That would greatly simplify/improve your trip.

Then you can fly into SFO, fly out of Santa Barbara if you can -- or out of Burbank or LAX if you must. Do your vineyards/wine tasting on the drive south.south

I prefer Sonoma over Napa. Did a girls trip there a few years ago. We stayed in Santa Rosa, did some limo trips to the wineries, went to Bodega Bay for an afternoon. Also visited the Armstrong woods, a beautiful grove of Redwoods.
I would actually have preferred to stay in Healdsburg- very nice town with many restaurants and tasting rooms you can walk to but Santa Rosa was fine. Didn't spend much time there.
You really can't go wrong. The whole area is beautiful.
I loved our stop at Nepenthe. It gets very crowded though- but maybe not in May.

American has 7:30am service out of Detroit with a connection in Phoenix and arrival Santa Barbara 11:45am. You could do two nights in SB (enjoying the wharf, the beach, the dining and the tasting rooms) then head north, driving through the wineries of the Santa Ynez Valley stopping for a taste or two, making your way to Cambria for night 3. Day four you could do an early Hearst Castle tour then drive up the coast to Carmel/Monterey for a 2 night stay. That would leave you two nights for San Francisco.
United has a 1:50pm out of SF into Detroit at 11:30pm (8:30 California time, so you shouldn't be too wiped out). That'll give you a leisurely morning in SF on that last day, and no morning traffic to worry about.

Of course those air schedules will prob change before next May.

www.urbanwinetrailsb.com

Excellent suggestion . . .

>>Of course those air schedules will prob change before next May. <<

Ain't that the truth! :My next trip SMF > LAX > LHR on AA in August has had 4 (FOUR) schedule changes since booking back in Feb.

krystin, does your friend wish to see Napa specifically, or just any wine country? As others have mentioned you'll already be driving through many wine tasting opportunities without venturing to Napa, and the wine is (imho) as good and often better, and less expensive in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. We definitely second BarbAnn's comments about Saarloos & Sons.

Thanks for all of the feedback. I will share it with my friends!!! Maybe we do not have to go to Napa after all. That would help. I will also look into other flights just in case. This info is very helpful!!!

Part of the enjoyment of traveling for me is the itinerary planning, where to go, how many nights, what sights and activities to do. So have fun with your friends as you plan this trip. It would be great if you are able to report back on your final choices as well. Happy travels!

Hi again.... It looks like we are going to fly into SFO early and go directly to Napa for 3 nights. ( 1st week of May) We are looking for lodging for 3 women and it looks like staying by the river in town might be fun and convenient. Any recommendations? Maybe between $300-$500/night. We would rather get a larger suite than 3 separate rooms so we could pay a little more... Is there any pretty must see wineries? There is so much to choose from...

We are then going to start off in the morning and drive to Carmel and stay maybe 2-3 nights. We can sight see from here. Any good recommendations for lodging?

Thanks!

For suites in downtown Carmel in your price range, look at Carmel Country Inn, Hotel Carmel (formerly Dolphin Inn, recently reopened under the same management as La Playa), Happy Landing Inn and Cypress Inn. Carmel Cottage Inn which is closer to the beach has individual cottages. Mission Ranch (not to be confused with Mission Inn) has cottages as well and is located about a mile south of downtown. It's in more of a residential area but has a nice view overlooking sheep pasture, river beach and Point Lobos in the distance.

The Hideaway in downtown Carmel also recently reopened (used to be the Cobblestone Inn).

So - you "threw out" the good advice from people who live in the SF Bay Area, and chose to visit Napa and skip San Francisco, Big Sur, Nepenthe, and Hearst Castle.

Assuming you arrive on a Sat or Sun, it is an ugly 1 1/2 hr drive to Napa from SFO (if you go the mapquest/East Bay route). Napa really isn't in the heart of the Napa Valley winegrowing region - so you'll spend a bit of time in your car getting to the wineries. It's about a 15 min drive to Yountville and 45 mins to Calistoga - which are the southern & northern boundaries of the wine stuff. Plus travel on the Silverado Trail. It will be quite crowded in the Napa Valley on a weekend in May. Bumper to bumper traffic through St Helena.

Make sure you get a comfortable car - because when you drive down to Carmel you are going to be spending most of the day in the car. Again - if you want an early start and take the mapquest/East Bay drive to Carmel, you will be driving on the most congested freeway in the entire Bay Area - between Vallejo and the Bay Bridge. After you pass the Bay Bridge exit - you go through lots more congested traffic. It will likely take you 3 1/2 to 5 hrs for this "non-scenic/ugly" drive if you get an early start. You might consider waiting until around 11am to noon to depart Napa if you do not want to spend a lot of time sitting in the car. But that gives you a late arrival in Carmel.

Carmel back to SFO in a weekend is about a 2 hr trip.

I was on vacation when this thread started - but I think Carmel/Big Sur/Nepenthe is 100 times more interesting than Napa - especially for someone from Detroit. And I'm a huge wine fan. I hope your one friend who wants to go to Napa is paying for this trip for all of you.

Here are some ideas for things to do in the SF area.
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley