From 5 June my wife and I will be travelling by car from LA(3xnights staying at the Hollywood Downtowner Inn)via highway 1 to Lake Tahoe(4xnights staying at The Olympic Village Inn). From the latter base we will be making dayly excursions to Yosimite and other national parks within reach if possible? On 13th June we will move down to SF for two nights at the Marina Motel.A few questions : we will be coming from San Diego on the 5th,hoping to beat peak traffic ie leaving SD not later than 14h00n route to Lake Tahoe my impression is that we will have to sleep over just before joining the 101 or HW 5 again:can one reach parks futher south from Yosimite and back in a day trip(does'nt look like it)?Commentary/critisizm would be appreciated.

It seems you are underestimating traffic, mileage, and time. Your map may be too generalized - I will mail you one. [email protected]

I'm quite confused. You're flying into San Diego, then driving up to LA to stay there...?! That's a 2-hour drive, at least. Also note that the drive LA-Tahoe is quite long as well (at least you won't have snow closing the roads en route). You'll need the four days there to recover from the drive.

Sounds like a rather exhausting holiday IMHO. I would concentrate on a more relaxed Northern California trip and NOT do the southern half in this visit.

Louis,

Your post is a little confusing.

You cannot get to Lake Tahoe from LA on PCH 1. I think the most expedient route would be to take I-15 to US 395.

I'm not sure if you're really driving from LA, or from San Diego, not that it matters, it just makes the drive longer. However, if you leave San Diego at 14.00H, you will arrive in Lake Tahoe well after night fall, this is not a short drive. It is probably a distance close to 600 miles, almost 1000 Km.

This is an all day drive.

Regarding your desire to visit Yosemite, you can do it, but because I think that the Tioga Pass Rd will still be closed, it will also be a long drive.

The only other national park in that area is Sequoia/Kings Canyon, which is even farther away from Lake Tahoe.

Hope this info helps.

Sorry for the confusion: after some business in San Diego we will be using the opportunity to discover CA.Will therefore drive from SD to LA on the 5th and stay over for 3 nights. From there the intention is to take the "scenic" route (I have it as HWY 1)- not the shortest - to Lake Tahoe. Realizing however that it is to far the idea is to sleep over on the way - question is where?

Can one reach Kings/Seqouia on a day trip once at Lake Tahoe?

Any comment about driving into LA at around 16h00 on a Thursday? - and SF on a Friday - guess one should approach via Golden Gate bridge on route to Marina Motel rather than Bay bridge which seems to take one right through town?

Louis, Highway 1 goes no where near Lake Tahoe. To get to Lake Tahoe from Northern California you need to take 680 to 80 to 50.

The most scenic stretch of highway 1 is between Santa Barbara and the Monterey Bay area. SF is actually far out of your way if your main objective is going to Lake Tahoe. From Southern Califronia I'd take highway 1 up to Monterey and from there take highway 17 north to 280 south to 680 north then 80 to 50 into Lake Tahoe. This would be the most direct route that would allow you to also see the most picturesqure part of the California coast along route 1.

louisvdwalt,

I think you need a map of California and take a long look at what you have in mind.

1600 hrs coming or going in either Los Angeles or San Francisco is right at peak commute traffic. Expect delays.

If you were coming into San Francisco from Lake Tahoe, your only feasable option is the Bay Bridge. The Golden Gate is the complete other side of San Francisco by the ocean.

A day trip from Tahoe to Kings/ Sequoia is WAY too far for a day trip. Yosemite is quite a trip as well. All you will be doing is driving.

Curious

If you want to leave LA and then take a scenic trip up the coast before crossing central CA to Yosemite for a visit, that is feasible. Leave LA and have a nice leisurly drive up to, say Cambria, where you can stay the night. After that you can head to Monterey and stay there before heading out to Yosemite by which time I believe will be around June 10th. Stay in Yosemite or just outside. By this time you will probably be able to cross over Tioga Pass and take 395 to Tahoe. Drive around the Lake and go south at Tahoe City to Squaw Valley where your accomodations are. After your stay in Tahoe you should take 80 all the way to the Bay Bridge and head to your SF hotel.

This is alot of driving. When are your accomodations in Squaw Valley in relation to your LA accomodations? How long do you have between reservations? The distance from LA to Tahoe is great. We used to drive all night from southern CA to Lake Tahoe.

Louis,

I am still confused as to your itinerary.

Leaving LA, and taking the Pacific Coast Highway AKA Highway 1, will take you up the coast to San Francisco. I did it on a Thanksgiving weekend once, it took over 11 hours. This is just to get from LA, to SF, with no stops other than for gas, and assuming minimal traffic, good weather and no fog. Most travellers do just this stretch as a two day trip.

If you need to go from LA to Lake Tahoe in one day, you cannot take this route.

If you do have time available for this route, it is gorgeous and I highly recommend it. After you get to the greater San Francisco Bay area, you still have to head inland approximately 200 miles to get to Lake Tahoe. If you're staying at the Olympic Village, I have to assume that you are staying at Squaw Valley which is North Lake Tahoe.

The best way to get there is simply to take Interstate 80 all the way to Truckee, and then head south on highway 89.

As for visiting Sequoia from Lake Tahoe, I would think it's about a 6 hour drive each direction. Not a feasible day trip. Yosemite would be about 4 hours in each direction, doable only if you are committed to getting up very early and coming back very late.

Hope this info helps.

hmm, I just did the math for your trip.

It looks like

June 1-ish, arrive San Diego for Business.

June 5 6 7 - LA

June 8 drive & overnight somewhere

June 9 10 11 12 Squaw Valley

June 13 14 SF.

I'm wondering if your accomodations are set in stone. I would steal a day from Lake Tahoe to make the coast trip more feasible, esp since I don't know that you'll be able to make the Natl park visits that you are intending on.

Louis,

Given the amount of time you have, you are better off skipping San Francisco and saving it for another trip. If I were you I'd do San Diego, LA, coastal drive up to Monterey, Yosemite, and lastly Lake Tahoe. If you can, fly out of Reno/Tahoe International Airport.

Recommended itinerary:

San Diego (leave on June 5th for LA)

LA (June 5, 6, and 7)

Coastal drive (stay overnight on June 7 in either San Luis Obispo or Morro Bay)

Monterey/Carmel (June 8)

Yosemite (June 9 and 10)

Lake Tahoe (June 11, 12, 12, 14)

I think SFer has the right idea if the dates are right. But I see that you'll be driving into SF on Friday the 13th of June for two nights before flying out so that should be ok. I think driving into the city on a Friday from the east is far superior to driving out of the city to the east on a Friday would be.

With the route that's been described by SFer you'll see a large part of what makes CA great. Beautiful coast and mountains.

Thanks for the good advice everybody. I have changed my plans and will now sleep over at Big Sur on the way to Lake Tahoe, ie will have a full 2 days at my disposal to get there.Will also try to get into the 2 big cities earlier in the afternoon.

Re Curious's comment about the Bay bridge rather than Golden Gate - the logic is to try and avert traffic - the Bay bridge route seems to take one through a much more difficult traffic zone , therefore my idea of using Golden Gate even if a bit further coming from Lake Tahoe on HW 80?