Arriving 6PM from East coast. Hope to drive for 2-3 hours, suggestions on where to stay first and 2nd nights. Only in area for 4 days and need to be in Santa Barbara 3rd day. Suggestions?

Santa Barbara is only a few hours north, so why not drive straight there and stay the whole 4 days? Hearst Castle is about 2 hours north from there- you could make a day trip. This would be a good idea unless you prefer to go somewhere new each night.

Thanks Laurenzo, we travel light and enjoy changing locations. Right now we intend to drive to Goleta/Santa Barbara for the first night and the next day drive "slowly" to SLO or Cambria. Reservations for Hearst Castle for Friday morning. Enjoy the area Friday afternoon/eveing and head down to Santa Barbara for Sat/Sun. Any suggestions on where to stay or what not to miss on our way to the Castle?

Solvang is a cute Danish town to stop at.

We stayed at the FogCatcher Inn in Cambria the night before we went to the Hearst Castle, nice place to stay, right across from the beach.

We booked our tickets ahead of time on their website, each of the tours covers a different part of the castle (all of them visit the two pools) so we booked two.

Hi again. Are you looking for special accomodations or simple places to stay? What time of year are you coming? Solvang is indeed cute and fun to see. Do you like to wine taste/ Do you like to hike? Go to the beach? If I know more of your likes, I can make some suggestions for you