Last minute California Coast Trip - Help!
 

A co-worker and myself (late 40's, early 50's) have a business trip to Los Angeles scheduled for Dec 14-15. We thought we would take an extra 3 days to see some of the beautiful coast. Is it possible to leave Friday morning and drive up the coast ending at San Francisco Sunday evening and fly back on Monday and not have the experience be too rushed? We thought about staying Friday night in Cambria and Sat night in Carmel. We would love to have longer but for now we'll think of this trip as an appetizer. So, what do you think? With that limited amount of time, what are "must sees"? We enjoy hiking. Any suggestions for dinner and accommodations in Cambria & Carmel? Our budget would allow for around $200-250/night for a double bed room.

In terms of time it certainly is doable. An issue in Carmel will be be the dearth of a double bed room--lots of cozy, romantic hotels for couples, not so many for non-couples. Try the Mission Ranch, it's where my sister and I used to stay before we started renting a place. Very nice, with some double bed rooms in your price range.

It's been a while since I've stayed in Cambria, but it may have the same issue re: double bed rooms.

Our budget would allow for around $200-250/night for a double bed room.

First (sorry, have to ask), do you mean a double-bed room, or a room with two beds? Be careful when you reserve!

Second, this will not be a leisurely trip up the coast, but it will still be very very nice. Do you want to spend time in San Francisco, or only on the coast? What time is your flight on Monday (it is possible that you could just return to SFO directly from Carmel, or just end up at SFO (which is between Carmel and San Francisco proper) the night before your flight if your flight is early.

I think your plan works - on Friday, drive up the coast, stopping whereever you like and end up in Cambria (nice town for poking around, walk on the beach,shopping and eating). On Saturday, continue your drive, stopping along the way to hike (Big Sur, Point Lobos), and end up in Carmel (again, very nice town for poking around, walking on the beach, shopping and eating -- more upscale than Cambria -- definitely more art galleries). On Sunday, you could hike some more (e.g. Big Basin for redwoods) or you could go to the Monterey aquarium if that interests you, or reserve in advance and see the elephant seals at Ano Nuevo, eventually ending up near SFO or in San Francisco proper, depending on the time of your flight on Monday.

Oops! The way I wrote that didn't come across correctly. I meant to say we want 1 room with 2 beds.

So, not interested in romantic B&B's.

That's how I interpreted it, and why I suggested the Mission Ranch--there are not a lot of rooms with 2 beds in Carmel. Oh, another place with 2 bed rooms is the Best Western Carmel Mission Inn (not to be confused with the Mission Ranch, which is more charming). Which reminds me that the Best Western Fireside Inn in Cambria was a place that we found a room with 2 queen beds--I just don't remember much about it, it's has been awhile.

If you aren't set on Carmel specifically, there are a lot of lodging options in Monterey. Monterey is only a few miles from Carmel - I have found that when a lot of people say "Carmel", they really mean "Monterey Peninsula" anyway rather than just the town of Carmel.

The Portola Hotel has rooms with 2 beds, as does Casa Munras - plenty of others do, I am sure, but I am positive about those.

Not familiar with Carmel. but can't recommend Blue Dolphin Inn in CAmbria highly enough. They have at least one room with two beds, seems to fit in your budget. It really is fabulous. Warm breakfast delivered to your room and a freshly baked cookie at night.


http://www.cambriainns.com/bluedolphin_about.html#

http://www.bookability.net/b2/hoteltop.php

If you were looking for a place between Carmel and SFO to spend a night, check out the Pigeon Point lighthouse hostel.
I will go back there someday. http://norcalhostels.org/pigeon/
It is also close to Butano and Big Baisin State Parks if you wanted to see some big Coast Redwoods

These sound like some excellent suggestions for accommodations. I'll start "googling" them. Because of the time constraint we may or may not make it into San Francisco. We have an early flight Monday out of San Jose. That would give us more time on the coast. And as November_moon mentioned, we probably do mean the "Monterey Peninsula" so staying in Monterey is an option. Then we will make sure we stay close to the airport Sun night for our early flight home. I see that there are tons of trails/vistas along the way. Since we can't do them all are there any particular hikes/viewpoints that we shouldn't miss?

Since you're leaving out of San Jose, I absolutely suggest staying in the Carmel area all day Sunday, and then sleep near the airport Sunday night. I wouldn't even attempt San Francisco on this trip (50 miles north is San Jose).

Do some seakayaking in Elkhorn Slew-lots of wildlife
McWay Falls
Hearst Castle
Point Lobos has some nice hikes
Maybe even hike at Pinnacles National Monument

Good hikes at Big Basin. Do not go by the Fodors book or your cars GPS to guide you though. They take you to the coast and that really isn't the main part of the park. The Big Basin Redwoods are inland-different area of the park than the coast. The coast is part of it, but 95% of the people go to see the trees/ hikes. You can hike from the coast, but it would be a doozy of a hike.

Eat at Falafels Drive-In in San Jose.

We just did the 5-mile-or-so Sequoia Trail at Big Basin a couple of weeks ago and it is just beautiful.

If you do "Carmel, CA" to "Big Basic State Park" on googlemaps, it gives you the correct directions.

You are going to love Carmel! For accomodations look into Lamp Lighter Inn, Pine Inn and Mission Ranch. The restaurant at Mission Ranch is fantastic! For great views, have breakfast or lunch at the California Market at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands.

For hiking, stop at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park and check out McWay Falls. Don't miss Point Lobos in Carmel!

http://www.seemonterey.com/carmel-by-the-sea-california
http://www.seemonterey.com/big-sur-california

Arrgghhhh. I'm starting to get frustrated with finding a place to stay in Carmel. Time is getting short and I can't take the time to read all the reviews on this and other websites like I normally would when researching. So far I've looked at Mission Ranch and that looks nice but I wonder about the area. Would it be best to stay in the middle of town or on the beach? Looked at Tradewinds and it looks very nice but don't really want to pay those prices especially without a view. Since we only have one night there it would be nice to have a patio or balcony. Anyone know of something that fits the bill? $250-300, Nice with beachfront view, 2 Queen beds, etc..?

The one night my DW and I spent in Monterey was at the HI Hostel. No ocean views, no balcony but an adequate room cheap and a kitchen to make breakfast in the morning.
It's within walking distance of the Aquarium and Cannery Row.
http://www.hihostels.com/dba/hostels...-060088.en.htm

If you are looking for great ocean views, play a round of golf or rent a bicycle.

Another possibility is to skip Cambria and stay in Big Sur your first night and if you like it a second night too. It is an easy drive from Big Sur to Carmel where you can spend the day Sunday. It would be a long day of driving from LA to Big Sur the first day but it is certainly doable.

There are no places in Carmel proper that are on the beachfront--its all private homes facing the ocean. There are hotels in Pebble and in Carmel Highlands overlooking the ocean (i.e. Tinkle Pink) but they are fairly expensive. What concerns do you have about Mission Ranch? That's it is not "downtown" is a positive for me, plus the fact that it faces Point Lobos and overlooks Carmel River beach. As I said it is hard to fine a single room with 2 beds in Carmel.

Whew! Okay, we've got the lodging taken care of and now for the FUN part - what to do. Fly into LA Thu night, Friday head up the coast stopping for hikes at Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP & Big Basin Redwoods. Spend the night in Cambria. Sat morning drive up coast stopping at Point Lobos for views and hikes. Spend the night in Carmel. Sun morning work our way up to San Jose via 17-mile-drive, stopping at other parks/trails, etc. Spend Sun night in San Jose and early flight out Mon. Can I get comments/suggestions on this part of the itinerary? Are there specific trails or vistas we should take in? Anyone know of a good website that shows the length or approx time for the hiking trails?

Please re-check your map. Julia P B and Big Basin are not between LA and Cambria.

Julia PB is just south of Carmel, maybe 30 miles. Big Basin is between Santa Cruz and Saratoga.

I see now. I've got the map up now as I type. Went by memory before, not a good thing for me. Let's try this again... Any recommendations for stops between LA & Cambria on Fri? Sat stop at Julia P B & Point Lobos on way to Carmel. On Sun 17-mile Drive, Big Basin on way to San Jose.

Santa Barbara is a nice town to stop in, have lunch if you get there at the right time, en route from LA to Cambria.

After driving up the coast, hiking around Big Sur and going to places like Point Lobos, I would skip 17 mile drive unless you are a big fan of golf courses, and spend more time in places like Big Basin.

I would stop for lunch or a Danish pastry in the cute town of Slavang - which as you might guess - it Danish themed. It's about 45 minutes above Santa Barbara - and then just a couple of more hours to cute Cambria, which has several nice restaurants.

Also - I think Hearst Castle at San Simeon is a terrific tour - but if you don't have the 2 hours to spare, you might at least go by the Visitor's center at the bottom and check out the small/free museum there - and maybe catch the 20? minute movie.

And - the Elephant Seal beach about 2 miles north past the entrance to Hearst Castle is worth a stop - and it's just off the hiway.

One other place to stop for the view on your way into Carmel is at Nepenthene - where they have great coffee.

Here's the webpage for Nepenthene (at about Big Sur) - and it has sort of a funky art shop. It makes a nice break when traveling from Cambria to Carmel. http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

<<<One other place to stop for the view on your way into Carmel is at Nepenthene - where they have great coffee>>>

The food at Nepenthe is actually pretty good, too.

>>I would stop for lunch or a Danish pastry in the cute town of Slavang <<

Pretty sure you mean Solvang! :) Personally, depending on the day, I'd ski[ Solvang and eat at Grappolo for lunch instead. The stuffed squid are amazing!!!

http://trattoriagrappolo.com/

I'd drive the 95 minutes from LAX to Santa barbara on Thursday night, rather than sit in L.A. traffic on Friday morning.

What time do you arrive Thursday? Leave L.A. before 7am, or wait until 10am on Friday.

Agree that if you can get out of the LA basin on Thursday night - best to do so and enjoy Santa Barbara or Solvang.

And Cat: No idea about the stuffed squid at Grappolo, but the website looks geat - and it's close (Santa Ynez) to Solvang in any event. Might try it one time myself - but still think at least driving through Solvang is worth it - as well as seeing the pretty wine country around it. http://www.solvangusa.com/ You can also stop at one of the wine shops in Solvang to pick up some good wines grown in the greater Santa Barbara area, and I like the Chards from the Santa Rita Hills.

Tom, do you live close by? Grappollo is so good! They have a wood burning oven and prepare almost everything in it. We leave LA mid-morning, and stop there for lunch on almost any trip where we are heading north along the coast. The tip is to sit at the bar, not a table. Then you can watch them cook right in front of you.

We stay in Solvang when we go wine tasting and I agree about some of the wineshops. I particularly like Lucas and Lewellen and Mandolino.

http://www.llwine.com/

Are you interested in seeing the Hearst property? Here is my mini-report on a hotel close to there:
I just wanted to recommend this place, where I stayed just one night, before visiting Hearst Castle (about 10 minute drive from this hotel).

Best Western PLUS Cavalier Oceanfront Resort
9415 Hearst Dr
San Simeon, CALIFORNIA
93452-9724
805/927-4688

I did not pay extra for an oceanview room, but the hotel is located right next to the water. I could easily see the surf from my room's front door, which door opened to an outside landing. The property has two or three bonfires set on the beach, with chairs, and it is extremely pleasant at night.

I paid about $138 for my room, without breakfast, but with free parking. Best part was the little fireplace in my room. It was ready to light and was much appreciated on the foggy night. Great little Keurig coffeemaker with selection of coffees and teas in the room's granite countertopped bathroom outer area.

Nice little restaurant on site, too.