Managed to score incredibly cheap airfares to CA so will be arriving in Long Beach & driving to San Diego and Palm Springs. Any ideas for what to do, what to see, where to stay, etc? There will be 4 adults. Any "must see - must do" ideas we should consider?

First go to the top of the page and click destinations. Find yours and do some reading. You can also do a text search here. I know there's tons of info on San Diego and Long Beach. Not sure about Palm Springs.

As to accomodation, would help to know budget, travel style and whether you're looking for regular hotel with 2 rooms or a suite for 4 or apt. etc.

In San Diego, I love Balboa Park with all the museums, the gardens and where you'll also find the zoo. Don't miss Coronado either and the Hotel Del (go for a meal at least).

In Palm Springs take the aerial tramway to the top, great view. Also a dine and ride package is possible.
Visit Date Palm farms, enjoy the pool, shopping etc.
From SD to Palm Springs drive through Borrego Desert.
In San Diego make the 49 (?) mile drive through the city. You see all the sights that way.
Make a whalewatch trip by ship. Maybe to Tijuana by tram?
Or maybe even 1 or 2 days to Las Vegas?
Enjoy

Here's a link to a previous post about things to do in San Diego: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...1&tid=34561269

Moderately priced hotels would be fine -prefer to spend extra $$ on fab food. We love B&B's but aren't sure how common they are out there or how good (We're from New England & have had fabulous experiences @ B&B's around here.)

You didn't mention if you are adults traveling alone or with children. There are lots of outdoorsy things to do if you like that: visit Mission Gorge Park, Torrey Pines State Reserve; you can go ballooning near Del Mar, there;s a glider port for hang gliding lessons near UCSD. Definitely check out Balboa Park, Little Italy is a good place to eat, so is Hillcrest. You could sign up for a surf lesson or go kayaking. If you have kids, there's Sea World, the Zoo, Wild Animal Park and Legoland, just to name a few things. I second the advice on going to Coronado and the Hotel Del. See if you can catch a play at the Lamb's Players Theatre in Coronado and then do dinner and walk around (or in opposite order.) If you can get a good price on the Hyatt, it's right on the water downtown. There are no really "classic" hotels in San Diego, but plenty of comfortable places to stay. All the major chains are here. Also, take a walk around La Jolla.

Long Beach will be a bit disappointing in comparison to the singular beauty of San Diego and the posh desert cool of Palm Springs. It's a middle-class industrial city that happens to be on the coast. I live there-- and love it to pieces; there are some great things to do here (some surprisingly upscale). But for out-of-towners, I'd devote all of your time to SD and PS.

There are plenty of threads on what to do in SD and PS. I'll only add that the trip will make a large circle, LB down to SD, then over to PS, then back to LB. Each trip will take about two hours.

You can add a scenic hour to the LB-SD trip by doing the following:

-- Out of LGB (airport), take Lakewood Blvd. south to the traffic circle at its end.

-- Carefully follow the signs to CA-1, PCH South. And take PCH all the way to San Clemente. Rejoin the I-5 south there. You will see some breathtaking ocean views (not as spectacular as up north, but gorgeous none the less), some incredible beach communities, and pass through some cool shopping areas if you're so inclined (whoops, that can stretch it out several more hours!). Fashion Island in Newport Beach is right off PCH, for example.

There are several small B&B's or "Inns" worth checking out in Palm Springs. Calla Lily Inn, Desert Hills Apartment Hotel, Korakia Pensione, Casa Cody. There's a whole range of things to do depending on your interests, the obvious one is golf. But also a guided hike of the Indian Canyons, Art galleries on El Paseo, shopping, spas, (send the boys to the Palm Springs Air Museum), Fabulous Follies. The Living Desert Zoo is great. The Tram ride is okay if you don't have a fear of heights, but hiking at the top does require fitness. There is almost always a special event of some sort during 'season'.

Recently we stayed in the Inn at Deep Canon in Palm Desert, it was great.
Nice hotel, nice pool, nice people.
http://www.inn-adc.com/theinn.html

Inn on Deep Canyon- I stayed there once and did not like it! Sorry, facilities seemed run down, rooms were musty and I did not like the fact that there was no overnight manager. Now it was in off-season, so maybe it was better in season.

Great advice here so far - just want to add that IMO there are quite a few classic hotels in S.D. (apart from that I do agree with drempel's advice):

The Hotel Del Coronado is as classic as American hotels will get (apart from its modern annex called Ocean Towers).

The U.S. Grant is another classic property in downtown.

The Westgate Hotel (aka Little America) is a classic high end property, too, although it is housed in a pretty generic sixites/seventies style high-rise.

The La Valencia Hotel in S.D.'s posh suburb of La Jolla is another upscale classic property with its nicely landscaped grounds.

As is the Grande Colonial, right next to the La Valencia on La Jolla's Prospect St.

These just to name a few.
I do highly recommend staying at either Coronado Island or in La Jolla when visiting San Diego. Both have very walkable neighbourhoods for that evening stroll to a good restaurant.

Forgot to mention that I do second the suggestion of doing the L.B. to S.D. section of the trip via PCH as outlined by rjw. The coastal communities have such a beautifully relaxed air about them that will make you really enjoy the drive. After rejoining I-5 at San Clemente in order to cross through the extensive Camp Pendleton (?) military compund, you might want to continue driving down into S.D. on PCH at either Oceanside, Solana Beach or Del Mar.

I defer to hsv on the classic hotels. You are totally correct, and I blanked. The Hotel Del and the Valencia are especially nice. Thanks for setting me straight!

I agree that staying on Coronado or in La Jolla would be terrific.

There is a great little hotel right across from the beach (bluffs)in La Jolla on Coast Blvd. It's just south of the cove where all the sea lions congregate. You can easiily walk down to the sand. It's the Scripp's Inn. We've stayed there several times and have really enjoyed it.

If you do the PS Aerial Tramway, do yourself a favor and don't do the Ride and Dine. The food at the Mountain Station is notoriously bad and overpriced. Instead, get up there in the afternoon and take a nice picnic lunch, then have a hot Irish or Kahlua coffee on the deck at sunset.