I posted back in October asking for advice but I want to get some more now since I am traveling to CA in mid March to visit my best friend. And now my 24 year old daughter is going with me so there will be three of us looking for nice but reasonable lodging. We are planning to spend three nights. We will arrive on a Sat. evening and go back to the Sacramento area Tuesday afternoon.
We plan to visit as many wineries as possible, go to the Hearst castle for a tour, shop, and enjoy the ocean.
My first concern is where to stay that will be most conveniant to all our activities and will be nice, clean and possibly have at least a little bit of charm! I would like to stay under $150 per night at the most.

Are there any wineries that we absolutely should not miss? So far we are looking at Eberle, Wild Coyote, and Meridian. And we must go to the Justin winery because my son, son in law, and niece's new boyfriend are all named Justin!!!

Where are the best places to shop?

When is the best time to book a visit to Hearst? Would a weekday be better than a Sunday or does it not matter since it is all by reservation anyway?

If we want to do a little bit of hiking, what area would be best for that and include ocean views?

Thanks for any help.

Hi! Eberle, Wild Coyote and Meridian are all very nice. If you like dessert wines, don't miss EOS for their Moscato. Martin & Weyrich is also very nice and their Nebbiolo is outstanding!

I think the most beautiful tasting room in the Paso wine country is the Bianchi tasting room. They produce some very nice Merlot there.

Will you be staying in Cambria? I would recommend a stay at the Cypress Cove Inn or the Fogcatcher, tho they may be a bit out of your budget.

The Fireside Inn is also nice with a heated pool, jacuzzi and continental breakfast. Have fun! ***kim***

Thank you Kimamom. You gave me some suggestions before so I appreciate the advice.

You're welcome! Justin and Tablas Creek are two places I want to visit next trip to Paso. Buona Tavola is very good for dinner. www.btslo.com We went to the Paso location and had a very good meal there. btslo.com

Tobin James is another one of my favorites for their Red Table Wine. Cool, whimsical tasting room, too! ***kim***

I would definitely recommend staying in Cambria. I just returned from a 5 day trip to San Francisco and stayed one night in Cambria on the way back to So. Calif. Unfortunately all the storms and heavy rain we are getting changed my plans somewhat but we still had a great time.

I loved Cambria even though we were only there for one afternoon and the evening and am anxious to go back in better weather. You should definitely stay at one of the hotels on Moonstone Beach. The hotels kimamom suggested, with the exception of the Fireside Inn, are above your budget. You can get a room at Fireside Inn under $150, just check out the reviews at this forum and on tripadvisor. Overall it seems OK.

I would also check out Moonstone Landing. There are no reviews for it on tripadvisor (I think it's relatively new) but someone on fodors said they stayed there. I initially had my reservation there, ocean front room, two queen beds, fireplace, refrig, microwave, big bathroom for $165. We changed our plans and they were sold out so ended up staying at the Little Sur Inn which is their sister motel. We paid more at the Little Sur Inn but the room was fabulous and identical to the one at Moonstone Landing. The people that run these two facilities are very, very nice.
You can check out Moonstone Landing and moonstonelanding.com. They give their room rates on the website but I would call them because it seems you get a better deal over the phone. I just checked with them. As long as you are going before Easter Week, their 2 queen oceanfront room is $175 which is probably cheaper than other oceanfrong rooms in the area. If you just want a partial ocean view then the room is $140. You also get continental breakfast, evening wine and cheese and free movies to watch in the room. You can read reviews at the Little Sur Inn at tripadvisor and I think those reviews reflect Moonstone Landing also.

Have a great trip. I hope to get back there soon to enjoy the wineries and better weather! Also, had a great dinner at Robin's in Cambria.

Meant to say check out their website at moonstonelanding.com. Bad typing today!!

Actually Paula, the Cypress Cove Inn is offering special packages starting at $149! www.cypresscoveinn.com

The CCI is much more quaint than the Fireside Inn, which is a BW property. If you're a guest at the CCI, you may use the pool at their sister property, the Fog Catcher Inn. ***kim***

jet519, check out the FogCatcher's website, they are offering packages including a wine country tour and Hearst Castle packages starting at $139! And this property has the heated pool. It's where we will be staying next time we're in Cambria! ***kim***

Suggest that you check out websites such as slowine.com ("S"an "L"uis "O"bispo wine)

Edna Valley is a favorite.

This year I've also received Saucelito Canoy and Peachy Canyon wines as gifts from locals. Am looking forward to sampling those wines.

If you are going along Highway 1, there are easy hikes at Point Lobos and at Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (road to McWay Falls).

Enjoy your visit to California!

kimamon-Those are great rates for those hotels but it looks like Cypress Cove Inn only has rooms with king beds. Jet519 said there would be three of them so they would need two queen beds. I also checked out the Fog Catcher Inn (looks beautiful). Don't know which weekend jet519 is coming but looks like in mid March queen rooms are available for Sat or the price is more. Doesn't appear that Fog Catcher's Inn has queen rooms that have a view that is why I recommened Moonstone Landing but it all depends on what jet519 wants to pay. I found that if you call the hotels directly you can get a deal and maybe she could get one of the packages for three people instead of two.

Anyway don't think jet can go wrong with any of the hotels mentioned.

I really can't type today!! Meant to say that for Fog Catcher Inn it looks like two queen rooms AREN'T available for a Saturday or are available at a higher rate.

Hi jet519

Thanks to the advice on this thread I've booked a room at the Fogcatcher Inn.
We're visiting SF in Feb for 3 nights, 1 night in Cambria, 2 nights at Laguna Beach and 3 nights in San Diego.

I wanted to break up the journey between SF and Laguna Beach and Cambria seems perfect. We're hoping to see seals!

Just wanted to thank Kimamom and Paula and to ask if anybody has heard of Brambles restaurant in Cambria as we get dinner there as part of our package.

Thanks
V

Yes, Edna Valley is a must. It has wonderful Chardonnay and a really nice shop with all kinds of wine and kitchen things. Outstanding views of the valley.

Also second the rec for the Martin and Weyrich Nebiollo. We opened a bottle this weekend for our wine loving friends and they really went crazy over this wine. Very different flavors.

Have fun. All of that is such a beautiful area. If it works out, stop at Pismo Beach by the pier for some Clam Chowda at Splash. The best chowda ever. Very casual place and fun. Got the rec on Fodors. Even took a quart as a hostess gift for our next destination.

You can find lots of information on the San Luis Obispo/Edna Valley wineries at www.slowine.com. My favorites in the area are: Domaine Alfred(excellent Pinot Noir), Edna Valley (well-known for their Chardonnay), Saucelito Canyon (Zinfindels) and Tolosa(beautiful tasting room and good Pinot Noirs). For wineries in the Paso Robles area check out www.pasowine.com.
I'd suggest an early morning tour of Hearst Castle and then have lunch in Cambria (Robin's and Bistro Sole are good) then go south on Hwy 1 to Hwy 46. This is a beautiful drive. When you get to Vineyard Drive turn left and continue on until you get to Tablas Creek Winery. They are affiliated with one of the Chateau de Neuf Pope (sp) wineries and have some excellent wines. From there it's a short drive to Justin. Also nearby are Le Cuvier and Carmody-McKnight.
Another day you might want to do some other wineries on both the east and west sides of Hwy 46. On the west side, I like Doce Robles (very small family winery), Grey Wolf (also small family-run place), and Mastantuono. East side favorites include: Eberle, Chumeia, Tobin James and Clautiere(very unique, whimsical tasting room).
The city of San Luis Obispo is worth a visit. If you can manage to be there on a Thursday night the farmers' market is several blocks long and almost like a street fair. Big Sky is a reliable, reasonably priced restaurant which is very popular. Other good SLO restaurants are Novo, Blue and The Park. There are lots of chain motels fairly near downtown and Cal Poly University. One that might work for your group is Quality Suites. For some places a little more unique in SLO you might check the Garden Street Inn or Petit Soliel.

You're welcome! I'm glad you were able to get a room there. We loved the Cypress Cove Inn. I haven't dined at Brambles, we like the Sow's Ear Cafe so much, but was chatting with a server at Ducey's on the Lake ( Bass Lake) where we frequently go for dinner and she was raving about her meal there!

Enjoy Cambria!

Wow, when I checked to see how many posts this thread has now I flipped! Thanks for all the advice. I am going to check out all of these websites right now but I will definitely call them directly when I get ready to book. I received "Hotel Secrets from the travel Detective" by Peter Greenberg for Xmas and he says you can usually get a better deal by calling directly also.
How long does it take to drive from Cambria to SLO and the Paso Winery area? That was my only concern about staying in Cambria since most of the things we will be doing are south of there except for Hearst Castle. But it would be worth a little extra drive to have a place with more ambiance.

It is going to be hard to choose which wineries to go to with so many recs. I think we will try to go to as many as we can both Sun. and Mon. afternoons. We should be able to manage five a day if we spend an hour or less with tasting and browsing the stores there. And a couple sound like they have nice lunch accomodations.
I am getting excited!
Thanks for all the advice.