My husband and I plan to visit Hearst Castle in April. We'd like to do 2 tours in 1 day - probably the main tour (Tour 1) and then the garden tour (Tour 4) - since it will be April, we figure that the gardens will probably be very much in bloom. I was thinking that it would probably be nice to take the house tour in the morning, have lunch, and then the garden tour in the afternoon. We'll make reservations for the tours once we decide what exactly we want to do.

I remember eating lunch at the snack bar years ago when we went to Hearst Castle before - I think it was around 1997 when we were there last - the food was marginal, at best. Is there any place close by to have lunch that would be better? Or should we plan on a picnic? We'll be staying in Cambria and will have a cooler, so we can pick up picnic stuff there before heading up to Hearst Castle - any recommendations for delis or groceries where we could pick up some good stuff?

Sebastians Store is about all, in San Simeon. Sandwiches, coffee etc are acceptable.

I love tours but I think two in one day would be too much for me. But, you've been before so you know what you are doing. I think a picnic would be a great idea. I'm not sure if you have time to pick stuff up early in the morning but you could get sandwiches (and slices of their famous pie) at Linn's Easy as Pie cafe. It's a quicker option that Linn's restaurant and the food is just as good.

http://www.linnsfruitbin.com/pages/E...-Pie-Cafe.html

We visited Hearst Castle 1.5 years ago and ate at the cafeteria in the Visitors Center. There are outdoor tables. The food is actually quite decent; the meat they serve come from their own ranch.

If you're planning on using Highway 1 to get there, you should know the road has been washed out by Rocky Point and is is closed for the time being. No word yet on when it well reopen. Check Caltrans as your date gets closer.

Thanks for the suggestions.

I saw the report on the road - we aren't going for a month though, so hopefully they've got a workaround by then.

Not a problem if you come from Southern California.

Fingers crossed!

We are from the Bay Area, so the slide is definitely between us and Cambria. I really do hope that the road is open by then.