Carol

I want to add a visit to Northern California from Saturday - Tuesday on to a January San Francisco business trip. I don't know what to go for -- coast or forest? What towns are lovely and relaxing and not too touristy?

brian

If you have a car, think about heading down to Carmel and Monterrey. The aquarium is really nice, and the ocean is gorgeous. There are great places to walk and admire the coast. I travel to to San Francisco frequently, and always try to make it down there just to relax. I love sitting on a park bench watching the sea lions playing in the surf. Carmel is also very nice. A lot of shopping and a very beautiful little town. The beaches are also nice there, and there are B&B's everywhere.

Bob Brown

Northern California to me is the area north of San Francisco because SF is just a little north of the midpoint between Oregon and Mexico.
It depends on how much time you have for your travels. North of SF there are beautiful redwood groves along US 101.
But some of the better groves are well north of SF -- like a 6 - 8 hour drive depending on traffic.

South of SF, in fact south of Palo Alto close to Santa Cruz, there are the Henry Crowell Redwoods State Park and they are close to the coast. The Crowells are a nice grove and in terms of convenience to SF, they are fairly close. (There is one tree there that was over 280 feet tall.
The real giants farther up the coast go over 320, but you may not have time to see them.)
From the Crowells, you could drive on to Monterey and then back to San Jose, Palo Alto, and the SF airport.

brian

Well, I've heard the same thing from some people at work and for some reason I keep resisting drive south of SF, but your response may just put me over the edge. Thanks for taking the time...

Bob Brown

If you want to drive north from SF, remember that January is short on daylight and long on rain. If you go, check the weather for the coastal upstate region. If a big storm is coming in off of the Pacific, skip it.
As beautiful as the redwoods are, the best ones are as I said earlier, well up the highway. And it is not an Interstate either, so you cannot average
65 mph. You go through some towns and there is usually traffic.

The Crowell Redwoods will give you a good taste, and you will not have that much daylight to enjoy them. Santa Cruz and the drive around to Monterrey can be combined with the big trees and give you some of both and in time for a daylight visit.

Monica Richards

Noticed there was no mention of the wine country in this thread. If you at all like wine, this would be a good trip.

Bob Brown

Hey that's right! There are some great places to check out the fruit of the vine. We toured the Paul Masson establishment once, or at least one of several. Some of the smaller places are excellent too. And there are places south of San Francisco.

becky

You can have both coast and forest if you drive north to Santa Rosa, then take some lovely country roads that border the Russian River and head out to the Sonoma Coast. I stayed a few years ago at the Doubletree Hotel in Santa Rosa and they had a day trip mapped out. There is a little known redwood grove in the area, as well as wineries , a spectacular coastline, and interesting little towns along the river. As a previous writer said, check the weather first. This is the area that has the big floods in heavy rainy season.

Jerry Nisker

Hi Carol,

The problem is that there is too much to do in the central and northern part of California. I highly recommend that you pick up the Eyewitness Travel Guide to California. Its broken down by region and has everything you could possibly do in the area. It costs about $25 but you will use it forever.
Have a great time.

Jerry