Help with itinerary in California - Coast, Yosemite and San Francisco
 

Dear all,
I am going to a meeting in Huntington beach, with my wife. We will rent a car and shall leave H. Beach on Wednesday 14th march in the morning. Our itinerary is as follows:
- March 14th and 15th: driving through the coast, on the way to Yosemite Park, and visiting Santa Barbara, Big Sur and Carmel.
- March 16th and 17th: 2 nights at the Yosemite Park
- March 18th to 21th: 4 nights in San Francisco
- March 22th evening: flight to Los Angeles
- March 23rd in the morning: flight back home

I would like your advice about it. I have some questions:
- Should I sleep one more night at the Yosemite Park? IIf yes, would you reduce one night in SFO or on the way to Yosemite?
- Should I drive back to Los Angeles, from San Francisco, or take the plane? As I am flying international on the day after, I might have some problems with bags allowance.

Any other inputs, please? Thanks a lot for your help.
gpm

If you are renting the car in Los Angeles, continue on up the coast from your Santa Barbara stop and go to San Francisco first for only 3 days. From SF head to Yosemite. From Yosemite, head back to Los Angeles to turn in the rental car and fly home from LA. No sense to turn in a rental car and still fly into LAX to fly home.

Thanks. I prefer to go first to Yosemite as we shall meet some friends in S. Francisco later on. The other option would be to rent a car again and then drive to LA, fly back to LA or to stay the whole time with the car, even in San Francisco.. What do you think?

IMO, there is almost nothing interesting to see along the coast between Huntington Beach and about Malibu. Just get on the San Diego freeway instead and head north as fast as possible. When we lived in Newport Beach & Laguna Beach (next to Huntington Beach) we never "hugged" the coast going north - we just proceeded to San Louis Obispo on the freeway & then did the lovely coast drive to Carmel.

We were in Yosemite last year in March & had a heavy snow. All but 1 access to Yosemite was closed due to the snow.

Here are my San Francisco ideas:
http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...mendations.cfm

Stu Dudley

Reverse Tom Fuller's itinerary. Drive directly to Yosemite, then SF, and then down the coast along highway 1.

Good idea Michael. The right turns into the viewpoints along the coast are safer. After you have seen enough of the coast, head over to I-5 for a faster route back to Los Angeles.

Agree with Michael.

Can you drive to Yosemite on the 14th?

Move San Francisco to the 17th through the 20th.

Then spend the next two days going down south along the coast from SF to LA.

You really don't need a car in SF, so find lodging that will give you free parking (which would be quite a feat!).

There's no point in flying between SF and LA, you'll save yourself only a couple of hours at the most with a lot more hassle.

<i>You really don't need a car in SF, so find lodging that will give you free parking (which would be quite a feat!). </i>

Along the ocean one can find free parking on the streets. There are motels near the zoo and near the end of the N-Judah MUNI line.

I would pick the N-Judah line area because the MUNI goes through a more interesting neighborhood (Upper Sunset/Cole Valley area) with restaurant possibilities.

Michael and I have "agreed to disagree" on this issue on a number of occasions - I think staying by the ocean in San Francisco would be a terrible location for a first-time visitor. It's an hour to downtown by public transit, not to mention generally the worst weather in the city.

Do your friends in SF have a driveway or garage you could use for a day or two? You could also find a hotel in Oakland or Berkley with free parking and take BART into the city.

No, they do not have parking. I might drive to SFO and give the car back, and then rent the car again to do SFO-LAX. Another option is to try to flight back home from SFO, instead of LAX. Will try.

Another question: do you think 3 days (2 nights) at Yosemite are OK? I know I could spend a month there, but wonder if 3 days would be enough to scratch the surface...

Would you consider staying at any of the 3 HI Hostels in San Francisco? http://www.hihostels.com/dba/list.php?lang=E
They don't say anything about parking but are really the cheapest option for staying in the city. There are also nice hostels in Marin Headlands and at Point Reyes. By all means visit Muir Woods north of San Francisco.
Yosemite to me is a place to go back to several times in your lifetime. 3 days is a great start.

>>do you think 3 days (2 nights) at Yosemite are OK? I know I could spend a month there, but wonder if 3 days would be enough to scratch the surface...<<

Yep - plenty of time if you will be there in mid March. I correct myself in my first post - we were there in early April, not March. When we were there, the trails were not accessible because of the snow (we had a heavy snow last year - but not this year). It snowed while we were there. So not much hiking around was possible. The roads Glacier Point, Wawona, and Tioga pass were all closed.

Stu Dudley

Great. Thanks again.
Do I need to have snow chains for my vehicle? I will rent a car and asked Hertz if they could provide it, but they say they can not. Looking at Yosemite website, they say it can be mandatory... What are the odds for mid-March?
If I need them, shall I buy it near the park? Or rent them?
I have another option to decide the itinerary: forget about my LAX flight (would buy it with my mileage) and buy a ticket San Francisco-Mexico City; then I would fly from Mexico City to Brazil (I can have this ticket with mileage, but can not find any places on the SFO-Mexico). This way, I could do:
- March 14: leave Huntington Beach, sleeping in Santa Barbara (for example)
- March 15: sleep in Carmel
- March 16, 17 and 18: sleep at Yosemite Park
- March 19, 20, 21, 22: sleep in SFO
- March 23 in the morning: fly SFO-Mexico: it will cost me more money (250 USD each, more some extra for the bags...) but could save me time.

My friends will be in SFO from the 21st to the 23rd: this is why I prefer to end my trip there...
Thanks again for your help!

If you could drive overnight on I-5 you can drive the rental car from San Francisco to LAX in 6 hours (385 miles).
Do you live in northern Mexico?

No, I live in Brazil. The only flight I found with FF miles was Mexico-São Paulo

I would cut a night from Yosemite and add it to Carmel/Monterey. 2 nights in Yosemite will be fine this time of year. There will be more to do around Carmel/Monterey/Big Sur right now, the weather has been very pleasant. Look into connecting thru Dallas to SP. or check LAN for connections thru Lima.

We purchased our chains at a gas station just outside of Yosemite. I don't think that there is any place to purchase them withing the park - plus if they are needed it would probably be to get into the park. We ended up not needing them, but we were required to put them on when we got to Sequoia Natl Park a day later. At the entrance to Yosemite, they asked us if we had chains when we entered the park. We said we did, but I don't know what they would have done if we said we didn't have any. You are pretty much on your own to secure chains. Just before we left home near San Francisco for Yosemite, I ran a thread on Fodors and the consensus was that I would be refused entrance to Yosemite if there was a chance that they were needed.

Right now, we are having unseasonably warm & dry weather and the forecast is for the same for the remainder of this week.

I agree with MichelleY - add a day to Carmel and spend 1 less night in Yosemite - especially in March.

Stu Dudley

sf7307,

It is a question of choosing cost versus location. Moreover, quite a few sights in SF are halfway between the downtown area and Ocean Beach: Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park with the de Young Museum and the Academy of Sciences, The Palace of the Legion of Honor, and the Exploratorium.

On your revised itinerary, as I see it, you will picking up a car in Los Angeles and dropping it off in San Francisco.

It's usually cheaper to pick-up and drop-off in the same location. Otherwise, you will have to check into drop-off fees for a different city than the pick-up city. If you're lucky, the rental agency will charge no drop-off fee - or the fees could range up to several hundred dollars.

The HI hostel in "Fisherman's Wharf" is a great suggestion. The hostel is actually in Fort Mason and you get free parking in a lovely location. You will, most likely, want to have a car for at least a day in SF - to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, for example.

Michael, that's true -- it still would be my last choice of neighborhood to stay in, but it's certainly an option, as long as the recipient of the information understands the location/weather/transportation issues involved.

Michael: in 'theory' your suggestion makes sense. In real life it just doesn't. There is not a single decent place to stay. When I was a child we always stayed at Roberts at the Beach when we drove down to the City. Used to be a decent motel -- but it hasn't been updated in 45 years and is a dive. And others in the area aren't much better.

If one must have cheap accommodations w/ free parking -some of the motels (not all -some are horrid) out Lombard would be much better than on the Great Highway. There is a Travelodge right outside the Presidio Lombard gate that is fine and a MUCH better location than the beach

gpm: One can't generalize about snow in Yosemite at that time of year. If chains are required you will have a problem - I know of no rental company that allows chains to be installed on their cars. But you are just as likely to have totally clear roads.

Here is one of my trip reports about a march visit to YNP. http://www.fodors.com/community/unit...rt-getaway.cfm

You're not going to find too many places with free parking in San Francisco. Here's a Yelp thread on that topic:

http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc...rancisco%2C+CA

In the past, I've checked out the Hotel del Sol and it does appear to be your best "in-town" choice with free parking. But you can look over the list yourself and come back to ask about your selected choices. Some hotels may offer free parking but may not be in a "nice" location.

janisj

I had friends (in their 70s) who stayed at the motel near Golden Gate Park and 46th Ave. (not my recommendation) and found it satisfactory.

For tire chains, I like the Les Schwab policy. You buy the chains and if you do not use them, they refund your money if you return them in the unopened box. The Schwab store I see on the way to Yosemite would be in Modesto. esschwab-coupon.com/les-schwab-california-locations/
Better to have them with you in the trunk than to need them for some odd reason. In Yosemite, the only reason I would put them on is if it snowed overnight while I was sleeping and I had to get out of the park.

That time of year you may need to show chains to get into the park. The cheapest cable chains work. 2 nights in Yosemite is plenty. The show in March is in the valley. Don't even think about I-5 101 is prettier and has well spaced rest stops that are worth seeing. CA 1 can be problematic that time of year, check weather and road conditions real time before attempting it. A storm can be beautiful and exciting, but as the locals say carry sleeping bags and food for a couple of days in the car. If you drive south from SF 280-85-101 would be my choice.

Great trip by Tomfuller re buying the chains at Les Schwab- and I have done that with other companies too. BTW - do you know how to install them? LOL. First time can be a challenge - but if it's snowing - guessing there will be "chain monkeys" somewhere - charging too much denaro for the task.

And I love the Marina area in SF and there are decent hotels down toward the Golden Gate end of Lombard, with free parking or street parking in the area. And you can walk/dine/shop along two of the great neighborhood streets - Chestnut and Union. Here is a page - and you can also just google away to find something: http://www.sftravel.com/bgt.html

And for the time of year you are traveling - would also opt for another day along the Coast - perhaps staying in Cambria and also visiting Hearst Castle, or seeing wineries around Solvang etc. Here are some pages for that too:

http://www.monterey-carmel.com/

http://www.hearstcastle.org/

http://www.cambriachamber.org/

http://www.solvangusa.com/

>>>guessing there will be "chain monkeys" somewhere - charging too much denaro for the task.<<<

Nope - no chain monkeys.

Last April there was a pullout just past the entrance to Sequoia Natl Park where it was required that everyone put on chains. I've lived in Calif all my life & I don't like snow - so this was a first for me.

I sauntered back to the guy behind me and asked if he had ever put on chains before - he hadn't. So together we struggled to put chains on his car.

While we were putting on the other guy's chains, my wife read the installation instructions that accompanied the chains (actually not really chains) we had just purchased, and we had put the other guys chains on incorrectly. So I installed our chains myself - it was easy.

I then spotted two young nice-looking German tourists ahead of me & they were kinda staring at their tires. I walked up to them & told them I was an experienced chain putter-onner - they were impressed. So I installed their chains. They followed us out of the pullout in their car, and when we both had driven a couple of hundred yards, I pulled over to adjust our chains (I read about this in the instructions). The German girls pulled over also & I adjusted their chains too.

Improved US & German relations !!!

Stu Dudley

<<<with free parking or street parking in the area>>>

You can't park "long-term" on the street --- parking is either metered or by permit in both the Union Street and Chestnut Street areas.

Stu, you are one magnificent Californian! Kudos!

The chains are usually easier to remove than to put on unless you installed them incorrectly. If they are wrapped around the front axle they are really hard to remove. Gloves are advisable if you don't want to freeze your fingers. Having your used chains in a burlap sack is a good idea. You then have a place to kneel when installing.

I think we chased away the OP.

Stu - you are DA International Goodwill Man!!! Kudos.

Tips for putting on chains: If you don't have a burlap bag - a plastic garbage bag will work to put down on the snow so you can lie on it. And as noted - if you have a pair of gloves - it will help keep your hands warmer - until you have to take them off to fatsten the latches. :)

One trick is to turn the front wheels (assuming you have front wheel drive) - to about a 45 degree angle - which makes it easier to then loop/drape the chains e-v-e-n-l-y over the top of the wheel with the leading edge tucked just under the front edge of the tire. Then - v-e-r-y slowly drive forward about a foot or so - insuring the chain is completely under the tire with a little left over to work with.

Now comes the tough part - securing the inside latch - so after putting the car in park AND putting on the parking brake - turn the wheels again to 45 degrees - which makes it easier to reach in/see what your are doing - and once that is done/hooked up - you are pretty much home free. BTW - it really helps to travel with a small flashlight - and I try to never leave home without one.

Oops - don't forget to also latch the outside part of the chain - and adjust as necessary (with the rubber loop) - and then slowly drive a bit to make sure you have not accidentially somehow wrapped one of the chains around an axle, which rarely happens.

If your car has rear wheel drive - it's a bit more challenging - as you can't turn the wheel to put the chains on top of the rubber - but it's pretty much the same process: Drape the chains over the wheels, with the front edge just tucked in a wee bit on the ground - and then drive forward about 18 inches - and then latch both sides, tighten/adjust and test drive a short distance.

Hey - other than that - it's a snap. :)

sf307 - some of the motels have free parking - but on the street - can't you find a meter after they stop charging (6 PM)and leave it there overnight - and then make sure you are feeding the meter once it goes live again in the am - 7 AM or 8 AM - whateve it says on the meter?

I don't think a guy from Brazil isn't going to be real excited about putting on tire chains. Nor do I suspect that he is going to be crazy about driving into Modesto, trying to find Les Schwab, and then getting out of Modesto. We got lost just trying to drive THROUGH Modesto on the way to Groveland last year - and I've been driving in Calif for almost 49 years.

I would advise the OP to keep the Yosemite segment flexible and if you call the advisory telephone number (search for it) and chains are required to enter the park - go someplace else.

Stu Dudley

Tom, I don't know how a motel could have free on-street parking, since both Cow Hollow and the Marina require parking permits, and businesses can only purchase one such permit. As for meters, I suppose you could park after 6 (meters run later in some areas, though), but if you're not using your car the next day, what do you do with it then (unless you're going to stick around to feed the meter all day)?

tomsd: What you describe simply doesn't exist . . . name one.

A Motel w/ on street parking is sort of an oxymoron. A motel is a Motor Hotel. If is ain't got parking it ain't a motel.

Geesh ladies? What is your point? What I meant that was some of the Motels have parking and you could also part on the street - at least overnight. If you read the list of the Lombard motels - I believe there are at least a couple on there that have parking - whether they are called motor or not!! As for parking on the street overnight - no problem to feed the meter a bit in the morning if you have to (can do so for what - 2 hours at a time?) - and then use the car to do some sightseeing. But if you aren't going to use the car - would suggest turning it in.

And Stu - you are probably right. For someone not familiar with snow, putting on chains, driving on snow packed roads, and dealing with cold weather - if it looks like it might snow in Yo - perhaps better to hang elsewhere. :)

Guest review from La Luna Inn - the first one on the list. Note - FREEEEEEE PARKING. http://www.sftravel.com/bgt.html

Recent Guest Reviews

Fine service.
“The parking is free and this is great as we had been able to save some money as we had been in the hotel for a week. The room was nice and had a separate sitting area where I can work comfortably. I was able to mix business with pleasure as it is also near to area attractions.” – Fred Murphy

And this is from America's Best Value Inn - on Lombard:

•Some free parking available. This is for only a portion of the hotel guests, but free if you get it first (18 spots). Parking isn’t perfect around this hotel but it’s easier to find free or low-cost parking in this neighborhood than it is in many different parts of San Francisco.