Help with California coast itinerary
 

Hi, I've been reading this board for some time, and I'd love it if the California experts could give me some some help and comments on the itinerary I've been working on. My husband and I (both in our late 20s) are planning a trip to San Diego Comic-Con this July (yes, we are dorks!), and we thought it'd be nice to fly in to San Francisco the weekend before and drive down. I've been to San Francisco and San Diego before, but my husband hasn't been to any of the areas we'll be visiting. He's a more casual traveler than I am, though, and is content to go wherever I lead (except shopping).

Our plans are as follows:

Day 1 (Fri): Raleigh to SFO, arriving around noon; check into the Sir Francis Drake; spend the afternoon as we like, maybe including a visit to Fisherman's Warf (if only to see the sea lions at Pier 39 and maybe grab a Ghirardelli sundae) and someplace with a good view of the Golden Gate Bridge

Day 2 (Sat): Visit the Ferry Building & the Farmers' Market, take a cable car ride for the scenery, maybe a visit to the Cartoon Art Museum; dim sum in Chinatown for lunch or dinner

Day 3 (Sun): Pick up our rental car (convertible) in the morning and start our drive down the coast, include the 17-Mile Drive in Monterey; we hope to arrive at Big Sur Lodge early enough to do some hiking in Pfeiffer National Park. Will that be possible without rushing? (We're omitting a visit to Muir Woods that I was originally planning for Sun morning, because I think we'd be better off spending more time at Pfeiffer; any thoughts on the wisdom of that decision?)

Day 4 (Mon): We hope to spend this day on a relaxing, day-long drive the rest of the way to Santa Monica, checking into our hotel (the Georgian) that evening. Again, will this be possible without rushing? We're mostly hoping to enjoy the scenery along highway 1, with plenty of breaks at scenic overlooks; we're not that interested in in-depth exploration of the towns along the way (although dining recs for lunch or dinner would be appreciated!) I'm assuming we won't have time for a tour of Hearst Castle; am I right?

Days 5 & 6 (Tues & Weds): Explore Santa Monica and LA; we're taking this by ear, mostly. I want to see some sights of "old Hollywood," Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, Griffith Observatory (if just for the view), and the La Brea tar pits & museum. I'd love to do a studio tour, and I've heard the one at Warner Bros. is the more genuinely informative; can anyone vouch for that? About how long does it take?

Day 7 (Thurs): Breakfast in Santa Monica, and possibly some more exploration of that area in the morning (until rush hour is over, if it ever IS over in LA), and then drive on to San Diego. We're staying at the Loews Coronado Bay, which was not our first choice, but hotels in San Diego are hard to come by during Comic-Con. We will probably be attempting the terrifying feat of trying to park somewhere in the vicinity of the con, only because that seems to be the only way to get there from our hotel without driving well past the convention center to park and take the MTS trolley down.

Days 8 & 9 (Fri & Sat): We'll be dividing our time between the beach and the con for these 2 days, possibly with a lunchtime visit to Balboa Park one day.

Day 10 (Sun): Return our car and fly home.

So...thoughts? Are we seriously underestimating our driving time? I realize we're packing a lot into a few days, but since we're not "must see EVERYTHING" types, does it sound manageable? And just how nuts are we to think this will all go to plan?

Any help is very much appreciated!

I think you have an excellent plan. I have a few recommendations, but nothing huge.

SF - see if you can fit in a walking tour with City Guides www.sfcityguides.org - they do an exellent job and the tours are free (they accept donations to offset costs though). There are bunches of tours available and they take a couple hours each. Since you mentioned dim sum, the Chinatown tour would be a good choice since that would be a neat lead-in.

The Muir Woods question - since you want to get to Big Sur that day and sightsee along the way, I would skip it since it is the opposite direction of where you want to go. If you want to see some big redwoods, I would recommend a stop at Henry Cowell state park in Felton - if you go over Hwy 17 on your way to Monterey, the park will be about a 10-15 minute detour for you. They have a nice short nature trail that takes you past some great trees. You will see redwoods at Big Sur as well, but the trees aren't as big.

17 Mile Drive - I would do 17-Mile drive to see the golf course and mansions, if that interests you. If you are mainly interested in gorgeous coastline, I would stop at Point Lobos state park instead. There are hikes you can do there - long or short, but everything is pretty flat, so nothing strenuous.

Pfeiffer - Since the days are long, you should have time for a late afternoon into evening hike. The drive itself from SF should take you about 3 hours, not including your stops. So even with a detour to Henry Cowell, lunch, and a stop at Point Lobos or 17-Mile Drive, you should reach your lodging by 3 if you get a decent start in the morning.

Big Sur to Santa Monica - The slow, scenic portion of this drive is to about San Luis Obispo. Once you pass SLO, you will have freeway the whole way - still a nice drive, but nice at 65mph not 35mph. If you don't mind getting into Santa Monica in the evening, you've got time for a tour of Hearst Castle. It just depends on how many other stops you want to make. Other stops through Big Sur that I particularly like are Limekiln state park and Jade Cove.

Actually you can pick up Highway 1 again south of SLO at Arroyo Grande and take the "slow route to within about 30 miles of Santa Barbara.
This missions at SLO, Lompoc and Santa Barbara make nice stopping points. And there's always the Santa Barbara County wine country between Santa Maria and Santa Barbara.

If you decide to see the redwoods in Felton on your way to Monterey, you will want to take Hwy 17 to Santa Cruz.

The best route from San Francisco is to take Hwy 280 south (go out 19th Avenue..it becomes Hwy 280.)

This is a lovely freeway through the hills with little traffic. At about Sunnyvale take Hwy 85 and get off this at Hwy 17. The exit will say Santa Cruz.

After you drive over the hill and come to freeway again watch for the Mount Hermon Road exit and take this to Felton. turn left at Highway 9 and follow it to the signs for Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

After you have visited it, continue on Highway 9 in the same direction and in 7 miles you will come to the intersection of Highway 1. You are now 45 minutes from Monterey.

Great plan but the trip from Santa Monica to Coronado area may take longer than you think. Lots of senib little stops you may want to make and the PCH going through the towns en route can slow you down due to traffic and the scenery. The problem with the PCH is it's too beautiful and it is easy to over estimate what you can drive in a day. I would have breakfast in the waterfront part of Long Beach near the QM and aquarium. I found nothing special in Santa Monica that was not vastly superior in Santa Barbara. Either way enjoy.

Excellent itinerary, I'm envious!

On Day 3, I would strongly suggest substituting Point Lobos for 17 Mile Drive. The scenery is just way more spectacular, and you can get much closer to it. Otters, for example, are nearly always easily seen from the shore. If you have a pair of binoculars, bring them (SO and I are bird dorks!).

A lot of people would quibble with the visit to Fishermans' Wharf in SF, but I think you should go. Ghirardelli really isn't all that, though. Better some fresh seafood on the go at the Wharf's sidewalk vendors. I'd love for you to fit in a visit to Alcatraz, too. Maybe you could fit it into Day 1, as a night tour, even? It's really great.

Whatever you decide, have a blast!

Thank you all so much for the great information! I'll be printing out this thread to add to my planning stack. I think we'll be including Henry Cowell and Point Lobos in our plans, and I'm going to look into the walking tours in SF. I'd really like to visit Alcatraz; I'd originally put the idea aside because I thought it'd take too long, but a night tour might be just the thing. I think we'll definitely make it a point to stop in Santa Barbara, too. I'll be doing a lot of futzing with my Google route map, and a lot more reading -- again, thanks so much for all the help, everyone!

We did the night tour of Alcatraz last week - it was great. The dock for the ferry is not really at Fisherman's Wharf, so have dinner somewhere else after coming back from night tour. The food at most places on FW is marginal, overpriced - you can do better elsewhere. Or have a late lunch somewhere before the tour and then just a light dinner after the return.

I would also suggest skipping 17 Mile Drive and going to Pont Lobos instead.

Pictures, if you are interested:

http://picasaweb.google.com/DebitNM/Alcatraz2008

There are others there too.

Deb

I'd suggest skipping Henry Cowell and adding in Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park.

Definitely Point Lobos if the weather breaks.

At Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park there are several hikes in the redwoods which will more than make up for Henry Cowell.

There's just so much to see and you have to plan on spending some time at each site.

Have a great trip! :)

DebitNM: Thanks for sharing the pictures! The Alcatraz tour sounds like a very interesting experience; I think we'll try to fit it in if at all possible. Thanks for your other advice, too.

easytraveler: Thanks for your recommendations. I'm really trying to make up for Muir Woods, which I really enjoyed when I visited San Francisco before (years ago) and wanted to show my husband this time. We do want to make sure to have time to really enjoy Pfeiffer and Julia Pfeiffer, so if those parks would give us a comparable experience, I'd be glad to save the time. How long are the hikes at Pfeiffer that you mention?

Hi, RedPanda!

which Pfeiffer?

There are so many "Pfeiffers" at Big Sur! LOL!

Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park has a number of different trails, you can get a map at the Ranger Station just as you drive into the park. The one to Pfeiffer Falls, for example, is at most a one hour hike. In July I'd doubt if there's much water or any water in those falls, but it's a nice hike through redwoods.

At Julia Pfeiffer Burns, the hike to see the waterfall by the ocean is highly recommended because it's so beautiful. It's a wheelchair friendly path and can be done in about 1/2 hour.

The trail that leads to the "waterfall" (tiny) at the other end is also about 1/2 hour. It too takes you through beautiful redwoods.

If you stop at Limekiln, the trail to the waterfall is well worth it, as is the waterfall itself. For me, this is the best of the inland waterfalls at Big Sur. This trail is a bit rougher, you need to pick up some of the "walking sticks" that people leave by the trail at different points. There will be small streams to cross where those sticks will come in handy, no bridges and slippery rocks. Wear hiking shoes. I'd guesstimate about an hour to reach the waterfall. Be very sure to get the xeroxed sheet that is a rough trail map from the ranger before starting out.

If you start out really early in the morning, you could conceivably hike all three parks. Do Pfeiffer Big Sur in the morning, get an early brunch at Nepenthe, then drive and do the ocean waterfall at Julia Pfeiffer Burns, then go down to Limekiln and hike to that waterfall. By the time you leave Limekiln, you'll have enough time to drive to Cambria and have dinner there or continue on further to Santa Barbara and spend the night in Santa Barbara instead of Santa Monica. This is what I'd suggest if you were to stick to your original schedule.

The day before, Day 3, according to your original schedule, I'd just drive from SF to Monterey, do the 17 mile drive, hike Pt Lobos, walk around downtown Carmel, have dinner in Carmel, maybe squeeze in a walk on beautiful Carmel Beach, then drive down to Big Sur Lodge for the night.

On Hearst Castle, if on the Big Sur hiking day you were to skip Limekiln if that would prove to be too much, you could arrive in Cambria for the evening tour of Hearst Castle. But then you would have to spend that night in Cambria, leaving a longer drive the next day to Santa Monica.

I'd suggest giving yourself more time along the coast and less time in LA.

For the balance of your trip, if you are driving LA to San Diego, avoid rush hour traffic.

In San Diego, try for hotels in La Jolla. We recently stayed at the Doubletree in La Jolla and the parking there was free. There's also a bunch of hotels along Mira Mesa and Sorrento Mesa. Believe I saw a Courtyard on Mira Mesa. In non-peak traffic, these hotels will be a 15-30 minute drive to downtown San Diego, not far at all.

Hopethis helps a bit with your planning! :)

I totally disagree with easytraveler..DO NOT change San Diego Hotels to La Jolla. You wll get very frustrated with San Diego rush hour traffic trying to get back & forth to Downtown & Comic Con in Convention Ctr...unless you can book downtown San Diego Hotels (Marriott, Hyatt, Embassey Suites) where you can walk or cab stay with Loews and you will have a nice "beachy, marina sand" environment at a very nice upclass hotel and you will be driving against rush hour over Coronado bridge--a good thng.
Also in terms of parking..the Convention Center has best price for parking..but it will be busy so you may have to wait a few minutes to get into Convention Ctr prking lot...Convention Ctr staff are used to crowds and will be expecting you

I agree with staying on Coronado rather than in La Jolla. We have done both and much prefer Coronado for access to other parts of SD.

Hi RedPanda:

Are you going to return the car in San Diego? Is there an extra charge to do this. I would love to do the same itinerary.

"Days 5 & 6 (Tues & Weds): Explore Santa Monica and LA; we're taking this by ear, mostly. I want to see some sights of "old Hollywood," Grauman's Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, Griffith Observatory (if just for the view), and the La Brea tar pits & museum. I'd love to do a studio tour, and I've heard the one at Warner Bros. is the more genuinely informative; can anyone vouch for that? About how long does it take?"

Warner Bros is a great studio tour, my favorite. They have an interesting little museum too that you can browse through too.

Redlinetours.com does great Hollywood tours including all that you wanted to see there ... Grauman's, Walk of Fame, etc.

It sounds like you would have a full day, doing the studio tour, and Hollywood ... and then to throw in La Brea Tarpits too, and perhaps the Page Museum there ...

I'd probably suggest doing the studio tour first thing in the morning (check on the WB web page for VIP tour info, I'd reserve ahead of time) ... then lunch time at the tarpits ... the LA County Museum of Art, next door has a couple of restaurants, or visit the tar pits and museum and grab lunch at Farmer's Market, just up the street on Fairfax, as you make your way to Hollywood. Do a late afternoon tour of Hollywood ... and voila, you've seen it all!

Enjoy!

Denice

We also love Point Lobos--allow at least an hour to walk along the bluffs. Muir Woods is really special--if you can arrive in summer right at 8AM before the tour buses change it from something magical and sacred to something of a nature zoo. Have a great trip.

cmstraf

There shouldn't be any extra drop off charges for a 1 way rental within California. Check some rental car company sites and price it out to be sure though.

Thanks again, everyone, for all the great advice! I'll try to take these one at a time.

easytraveler: Thanks for the information on the parks! I meant Pfeiffer Big Sur, but it sounds like we can get what we're looking for there and at Julia Pfeiffer. I'm going to give some thought to your itinerary suggestions; I think that plan may be more intensive than we're looking for, but I do hate to miss anything! I hope (as long as we manage not to drive off of Highway 1 into the sea...) that this won't be our last California trip, so I'm making note of all of these ideas for the future if we can't manage them this time.

1JAR and november_moon: I'm glad to see your comments, because they really sum up why we made our San Diego hotel choice (from the limited options availabe) -- less traffic to deal with and "beachy, marina sand." We want a place where we can get away from the crush of the con and relax a bit. As for the parking, while I don't think we'll be able to actually park at the convention center, we have a few plans in mind for alternative parking.

Naveron: Yes, we're going to return the car in San Diego. I don't believe there's an extra charge to do that.

DeniceRG: Thank you for the advice and information; I'm glad to hear that about the Warner Bros. tour. I plan to buy tickets once our plans are really firm. Your suggested plan sounds like just the sort of day we'd like.

cmstraf: Thanks for the advice!

Whether or not you make a stop at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, you should take Hwy 280 out of San Francisco.

To get on 280...if you are staying downtown, go out 6th Street from Market and follow the signs. If you are staying in the Marina area, get on Park Presidio Drive, which becomes 17th Avenue which becomes Hwy 280.

About the redwoods. Henry Cowell is first growth. Much logging was done in the 19th century and I am not sure how much of the redwoods in the Big Sur area are first growth as opposed to second growth.

I also chime in for Point Lobos as opposed to the 17 mile drive.

Have a wonderful trip.