Hiking/Kayaking along California's Central Coast
 

My husband and I are starting to kick around a trip next spring to California's Central Coast and I'm hoping for some guidance as to where to base. Here are some of the items on our wish list:

We'd like our base to be within an easy drive of an airport, probably San Jose (assuming we fly Southwest from Indianapolis). By easy, I mean an hour or two. We'd like to do a variety of hikes. We enjoy hiking along the coast, but enjoy the elevation changes that often come with forested hikes. We like moderate to long day hikes (7-11 miles). We enjoy kayaking but are not experienced sea kayakers. Protected bays, inlets, lakes at the like are within our experience level. I'd prefer to keep travel time to hikes/kayaking to an hour/90 minutes top if it's someplace REALLY worth seeing.

Hotel/rental budget is around $200-225/day (plus taxes), but I'd love to get buy spending less. We prefer apartment rentals for longer stays if they're within our price range and allowed by local law. We'll be renting a car of course.

We're not really into upscale/posh surroundings. Well, maybe we'd be if we really wanted to spend the money, but especially on hiking vacations, we'd just as soon stay someplace really casual. We have enjoyed our travels in Northern California because everything feels really laid back. We'd like to stay in a town with a good choice of reasonably priced restaurants, but it doesn't have to be super cute/quaint. We stayed in Tahoe Vista last September and it was the surroundings and its centrality to hikes and kayaking, rather than the town itself, that made that trip. We did a tiny bit of shopping on that trip in Truckee; it's rarely a priority for us.

When I first started to conceive this trip, I was leaning toward Santa Cruz and I probably still am, recognizing that it's not the most charming of the locations we could choose (as between Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur), but I'd really like to hear everyone else's thoughts on this. Also, comments as to when to go? My preference would be April or May. We visited San Francisco, Mendocino and Healdsburg in May of 2015 and had lovely weather in all locations. Granted, this was still mid-drought, but was that typical weather for the area in May (we didn't encounter any fog)?

Finally, can someone recommend a comprehensive hiking book(s) for this area?

Thank you all for your help!

Instead of IN Santa Cruz, look at places like Capitola, Aptos/Seacliff. Lots of vacation rentals and a few hotels.

Santa Cruz is fun for a day or two but traffic in town can be difficult so I'd stay nearby along the bay somewhere instead.

Thanks, janis. I read earlier today that traffic in SC could be bad, but I wasn't sure just how bad.

For kayaking, Elkhorn Slough is the place for you:

http://www.montereybaykayaks.com/

Elkhorn Slough is a nice kayak. You will likely see a lot of sea otters.
I have also kayaked Monterey Bay which I really enjoyed. Both times went with guides.
I liked Monterey Bay better- partly because we had single person kayaks there.
Not so fond of having to sync my strokes with a partner

Thanks for the kayaking tips. We have single kayaks at home; I definitely prefer them to tandems.

Elkhorn Slough is calm and protected and great for wildlife viewing. Kayaking in the bay is also nice when it's calm so you could play that by ear depending on conditions. Weather is highly variable at this time of year as well. I'm on the Monterey Peninsula and it was sunny and upper 70's on Monday which is really warm for here and today has been in the upper 50's with fog most of the day. Fog all day isn't usually the norm though. More often if there's fog, it's in the morning and evening. September and October are generally the warmest months on the central coast and less likely to be foggy. Both Santa Cruz and Big Sur tend to be a few degrees warmer than the Monterey Peninsula. If you decide to come to this end of the bay, Pacific Grove is the only city where short term rentals are currently legal. Spring can be a great time for wildlife watching with otter and seal pups and different species of whales in the bay.

I have a copy of Day Hikes around Monterey & Carmel. It does tend to focus more on this side of the bay but also includes some of Santa Cruz and as far south as Julia Pfeiffer Burns in Big Sur plus Pinnacles National Park.

Thanks for the info on short-term rentals, Patty. I'll nix that idea. But there are some nice, affordable hotels in Capitola (the Fairfield Inn gets good reviews) that will suit us just fine. Maybe we'll consider splitting our time between Capitola and Big Sur.

Elkhord Slough is definitely on the list. A reference to it on another recent thread is what got me thinking of this area to begin with.

Scratch Big Sur; I'm not confident that I'll find accommodations that meet our budget and needs. Carmel is still an option though.

I was referring to short term rentals in Monterey County. I believe Santa Cruz County has more cities that allow them. Monterey County is working on a vacation rental ordinance for the unincorporated coastal areas which would include Big Sur but it's been taking a very long time.

Thanks for clarifying, Patty. I did a bit of research on Capitola's rental situation last night and it appears that there are some legal rentals (by permit within a defined area). While I haven't done an exhaustive search, I didn't find anything that was super appealing within our price range, especially given that it appears you can get some pretty decent rates at the Fairfield Inn--that would be more in line with our budget. It's still way too early to begin booking anything, but I have some things to chew on until it's time to book. If nothing else, it appears the trip is definitely feasible and we'll have plenty to do/see in the area (far too much, in fact).

For hiking, be sure to check out Berry Creek Falls hike in Big Basin state park. It's a really good redwood hike. The Forest of Nicene Marks in Aptos is another really good place for hiking - it's practically in town, but often overlooked by visitors.

I would recommend Pacific Grove for both rental and less expensive hotel accomodations. You might want to look into lodging at Asilomar Conference Center--it would fit right into casual requirement and it is in great natural setting with access to coastal trails and beaches.

I stayed at the Sunset Inn in Pacific Grove and was happy with it. Gets very good reviews.

http://www.gosunsetinn.com/

Thanks for all the recommendations!

We rented single kayaks through kayakconnection.com to do Elkhorn Slough. We had an excellent guide for the 3+ hour "ride the tide" paddle from the top of the slough to the bay. It was fabulous and we can't wait to do it again.

If you click on my user name, you will see my recent trip report for San Fran and Monterey. We kayaked Elkhorn Slough,hiked Point Lobos, and rented a great place in Pacific Grove. They have nice options there for short term rentals. It is quiet there and very nice. We did lots of take out for meals plus there are good grocery stores nearby. The hiking was easy--I just wore my trail running shoes.

Pacific Grove is our favorite place to stay in the Central Coast area - great dining, nice coastal trails, close to Point Lobos which is stunning, Santa Cruz, Monterey, etc. Some nice, reasonably priced places to stay, too. Check out Andril's for lodging.