Hello everyone reading this post. I was wondering if anyone would be kind enough to help me plan a perfect trip from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
We will be 2 couples young 50, who really want to see the coast of California (driving) but don't know exactly what are the must see attractions.
We will be arriving (if all goes on schedule in SF on the 23 of july.) We need to be in LA on the 29 because we will be flying to Honolulu for a 7 da cruise in Hawaii.
Returning to LA on the 6 of August and will spend 2 days days there before returning to NYC on the 8th.
some time ago i had read about a "MAgic Castle" a place along the coast where all magic shows are performed daily. I really wish I could remember what city it was in. I
remember people, actulally on this sight talking and raving about it.
Does anybody have an idea as to what I am referring to? I am sure I did not dream about it, I am sure I read about though.

Please if anybody could sort of suggest the course to take so that we get to see and enjoy some senery and sights during the drive down, I would be very grateful.


thank you,
Filomena

The Magic Castle is in Hollywood:

http://www.magiccastle.com/

Bookmarking. Too late to reply tonight but will try to get to it tomorrow since we made the trip (in the other direction) in Oct.

Your route from SF to LA for scenery is obviously Rt. 1, the Pacific coast highway. We did it in the reverse, left LA Mon. morning late following a conference and arrived in SF on Fri. afternoon, where we spent the weekend with Bay area friends before flying out on Mon. There's plenty more to see than we saw, depending on what you're interested in most. Search this site for Pacific Coast Highway and similar to see other suggestions. Virtually the entire highway is scenic, particularly on the part closest to SF, so you'll want to allow time to pull off and look.

Had an adequate but not memorable late lunch on the water in Santa Barbara Mon. (many restaurants closed), then drove to San Luis Obispo for the night (all this on US 101). Went downtown in SLO that afternoon, wandered around the historic area and mission, did some window shopping and some real shopping. Charming downtown. Had dinner downtown but didn't look for any nightlife, so can't advise there. Plenty of restaurants, though.

Next day we drove to San Simeon and did two afternoon tours of Hearst Castle. Search Hearst on this forum and you'll see mixed reviews. Granted pretty expensive tours, probably not worth the price - but so much isn't that you'd never go anywhere if you wanted for good value. Very interesting and all in all, I'm glad we did it, even in the fog. Spent that night on Moonstone Beach in Cambria, which we liked. Place was loaded with several species of hummingbirds protecting their territories (one or another of the patios outside each room), which we found interesting as easterners who only see ruby-throated. Liked the town of Cambria, where we drove for looking around and dinner. Excellent dinner, best little fine craft galleries on the trip, picturesque town. Checked out shops & galleries downtown in the morning, had lunch, and headed off to Piedras Blancas to see the slephant seal rookery. Took more time with all of that than I had planned, then drove to Monterey. This meant we had to drive the most picturesque part, the Big Sur coast, in a shorter time than I would have liked. Wish we had spent another night in Cambria, then taken most of the next day doing that stretch so we'd have had time to do some hiking off the road in some of the various state parks.

Got to Monterey in time for dinner at the Cannery (okay, a little overpriced) and wandered around by the water. Next morning went to the Aquarium, which was pretty good (at one time probably state-of-the-art but now no better than numerous others), though not everyone is an aquarium fan. In the afternoon we backtracked to Carmel-by-the-Sea for lunch, wandering the town and driving down by the water. From there we drove to Santa Cruz, which wasn't a great idea. Didn't do my homework throughly enough to find out the Boardwalk is closed in winter (except weekends), so we couldn't see the carousel I was interested in. Looks like maybe none of that area is what it used to be anyway. Someone else could advise you whether it comes alive a bit in summer and what it's like. We were mainly looking for a place to stop a little closer to San Jose, though, and Santa Cruz provided that.

We did another thing that gets mixed reviews on this forum in San Jose Fri. - toured the Winchester "Mystery" House (as seen on The Travel Channel). Again overpriced for what it is, but we weren't sorry we did it. Learned some interesting historical stuff.

I assume that you are spending some time in SF prior to driving to LA or have already visited SF and don't feel the need to do anything there. Otherwise I'd suggest at least a couple of your days in SF.

One word of advice, which I'm surprised you haven't already gotten. Repost your message with a more specific subject - maybe "Need advice on driving from SF to LA." Also, select CA in the area box, not just United States. A lot of people won't bother to read a post with a vague subject. Even more so if the geographic location isn't narrowed down. By now you should have gotten a bunch of replies because people are always full of ideas for planning people's itineraries. Post again under CA and mention driving from SF to La and I think you'll get them.

The Hearst Castle is a MUST! You will never see anything like it anywhere; the enormous wealth that Hearst accumulated is unbelievable. You will enjoy it.

This topic comes up on this site, on average, maybe three to four times a day. A wealth of information will come up if you search this Forum for CA-1 or Highway 1 (it's only called Pacific Coast Highway south of the CA-1/US-101 split near Oxnard; it's Cabrillo Highway from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco). That's the most scenic drive, but also the slowest. It will get you to Hearst Castle, which is of course a must-see. I think three days is a good amount of time to devote to the drive.

The Magic Castle is technically a gathering place for members of the Academy of Magical Arts. Normally, to get into the Castle you need to get a card from a Academy member (a friend of mine who used to date a magician got in that way). However, there's a small hotel adjacent to it, and I have heard that guests can get visitor cards to attend the shows. As you will have ascertained from the website, the Magic Castle isn't anywhere near the coast-- it's inland, in Hollywood.