Napa to Pacific Grove
 

We are staying in Napa for 1 week in October at a time-share (RiverPointe). We also made a reservation at the Gosby Inn in Pacific Grove for a overnight side trip from Napa. We plan on leaving Napa early Monday morning and returning later in the evening on Tuesday after sightseeing Monterey area and Big Sur. Any driving suggestions or advice to share would be appreciated.

lena3,
You're driving down to see the Monterey area, Pacific Grove, Big Sur (and hopefully Carmel and Pebble Beach). Have you seen it before? If not, you need more time. But if that's all the time you have, as a resident of Pacific Grove and Carmel, here's what I'd do:
Pacific Grove: Lunch (or dinner) at Fandango Restaurant, a totally charming flower-filled cottage with excellent food--a short walk from the Gosby House Inn. Drive along the ocean to admire the bay, seaside gardens, old mansions, lighthouse and Asilomar.

Pebble Beach: Take the 17 mile drive and stop at the Lodge. Beautiful.

Carmel: Walk down to the beach. Enjoy the shops. Eat at the Forge in the Forest or Casanova. Both quaint, casual, delicious.

Big Sur: Nepenthe for cocktails at sunset. Incredible coastal views. Deetjen's Inn for dinner--outstanding food in a small, rustic, woodsy setting. Or Post Ranch for a splurge. Reserve ahead.

Monterey: The wharf. Domenico's Restaurant on the wharf for the best seafood Cioppino anywhere. Aquarium would be nice, doubt you have time. Cannery Row?

These are just the basics, so many places, so little time. Hope you have a wonderful trip!

We live in Pacific Grove. You are going to be doing a lot in a small amount of time.

Beware the SF Bay Area traffic. If you are doing the trip during a weekday the traffic could delay you on the way down.I would probably go 280 out of SF down to 880 to Santa Cruz and over to PG on Hwy 1. Just leave early enough to not get stuck in morning traffic or evening traffic on way back.

Across the street from Gosby House is the Little Red House. Nice place for lunch. Fandango's is outstanding. Many locals know it and go there. Great spot for dinner.

Closer than Nepenthe to Carmel is ROCKY POINT RESTAURANT. It is only about 12 miles south of Carmel on Hwy 1. Great spot to stop for drinks and to enjoy views of the ocean. Nepenthe is about 20 miles farther down Hwy 1. Nice spot, but will take you longer.

Monterey Aquarium is world class, but will again take you time to see all of it.

Do the 17 Mile Drive and do stop at Pebble Beach Lodge. Great views of the ocean. Another fun thing to do is to go to Spanish Bay Resort (about 10 minute drive from Gosby) close to sundown. Go to the outside area facing the ocean, get a drink and enjoy the bagpiper that plays as the sun goes down. ROY's RESTAURANT at Spanish Bay would then be a great spot for dinner.

You will want to return to this great area of the world. We travel all over the world and this is the spot to live. We always look forward to coming home to the Monterey Peninsula.

Thank you for all your suggestions. We were planning to leave Monday- early morning. What would be a good time to leave Napa to avoid rush hour traffic on the way to Monterey? On the return we would most likely leave at night (9PM), so I believe we would miss major traffic at that time. We will be first time visitors to the Monterey and Napa areas. The first leg of this trip is in Las Vegas for a week, then on to Napa. I only wished now that I had planned for 2 weeks in California instead. (There is always next time!) Thank you in advance for any further suggestions.

One more traffic question. Any suggestions for the best route from Napa to the San Francisco airport? We will depart on a Friday on a 3:30 PM flight. Thank you again.

Route to airport: Probably cut across to the Golden Gate Bridge and down 101 to SFO. Either way you go you are facing a bridge and they are working on the Bay Bridge now, off and on.

Probably too late for you to do this, but you could have done your full time in Napa and finished with one night in Monterey and then gone home from the San Jose Airport. That would eliminate a lot of back tracking and long drive back to Napa and then back to airport.

Hard to give you any real solid advice on the traffic. Friday can be lighter, but you can always face a wreck in front of you. Just allow more time to get to the airport or back to Napa than you think you need. You should be in good shape heading back at night from Monterey.

From Napa to Pacific Grove: The most direct route is Highway 12 to 80 680. Stay on 680 as it turns into 280 north. From 280 take 17 south to 1 south.

From Napa to SF airport: Start ff on the same route as if you were going to Pacific Grove, except exit onto 580 west from 680 then take 92 west (San Mateo Bridge) and exit to 101 north. this route will be a lot quicker than driving through SF.