lucy54

In the very beginning stages of planning a 13-day trip starting/ending in San Francisco. Wine tasting/touring will be a pretty significant part of our itinerary. Flights are already booked for mid-October 2016.

We would like to spend our arrival night in San Francisco and pick up a rental car the next morning. We will arrive mid-afternoon. On our return we plan a few additional days here before flying home. In between, we believe we'd like to see:

Muir Woods
Monterey/Carmel
Big Sur
Paso Robles
Yosemite
Napa
Sonoma
Russian River
Pt. Reyes N.P.

Is this too ambitious? Any thoughts on how to allocate days? We aren't have-to-see-every-little-thing people, but also don't want to spend all of our time driving/hopping around. From what I've been able to gather so far, it seems to make sense to progress in the order shown above, but it's difficult to say for sure. And it looks like booking a room for Yosemite should be top priority?
Thanks for your help!

tomfuller

By mid October, there should be some available lodging in Yosemite. Get the reservation ASAP and work the rest of the trip around that.
I would choose either Napa or Sonoma not both.
What is the attraction to Paso Robles.
If you start early in the morning, you can go over the GG bridge and go to Muir Woods and than head to Napa or Sonoma and come back to SF via the Oakland Bay bridge.

lucy54

Thanks tomfuller. Paso Robles looks like it's on the way to/from Yosemite and read good things about it. 2 nights in Yosemite?

janisj

That is a lot for 13 days but doable.

Skip Muir Woods -- there are bigger redwoods parks south of San Francisco -- like Henry Cowell on the road over the hill from San Jose to Santa Cruz on your way to Carmel/Big Sur.

As for Point Reyes -- it is lovely but after seeing Point Lobos and Big Sur I actually don't think Pt Reyes would be a must if you are short for time.

>>What is the attraction to Paso Robles. Carmel > Big Sur > Paso Robles > Yosemite > Napa/Sonoma. That bit will take about 9 or 10 days -- then in to SF, drop the car and stay the last 2 or 3 days in the city.

If you can't get a room at Yosemite Valley Lodge for your dates -- book at Yosemite View Lodge in El Portal then keep trying for a cancellation at Yosemite Valley Lodge.

There are some other terrific wine regions in Northern California - in the Delta, and all through the Gold Rush Foothill region -- especially in Amador County -- but you really don't have enough time.

lucy54

We can get a room at Yosemite Valley Lodge on Day 7 which is a Monday. Based on this, how does this sound:

Day 1 - arrive, stay overnight SF
Day 2 - pick up rental, to Santa Cruz, Monterey Bay, Carmel (Carmel)
Day 3 - (Carmel)
Day 4 - big Sur (Big Sur)
Day 5 - 6 Paso Robles (Paso Robles)
Day 7 - Yosemite (Yosemite)
Day 8 - Yosemite (Napa/Sonoma)
Day 9 - 10 - 11 Napa, Sonoma, Russian River (Napa/Sonoma)
Day 12 - 13 San Francisco (SF)
Day 14 Fly home

Can tweak things before and after, but does timing for Yosemite make sense? Locations in ( ) are where we'd spend the night.

tomfuller

No I'm not a wino. If I want a bottle of wine I'll get it at the grocery store. I didn't know about the Russian River wineries. http://www.russianrivertravel.com/wineries/
If 4 wine regions is not enough, there are several more in California and we have some in Oregon too.

janisj

1 night is not enough for Yosemite really -- it will take several hours to get there and then you would have to leave again the next morning. I'd probably cut one night from Napa/Sonoma and add it to Yosemite -- then your plan would be fine.

Paso Robles > YNP is about a 5 hour drive and then YNP > Sonoma is another 5-ish hour drive. (or more if you hit traffic through the Central Valley)

lucy54

Great. Thanks so much to both of you. We may not do Napa AND Sonoma - just listed until we decide.

Didn't stop to factor in driving time to/from Yosemite. Hopefully the drives are scenic in themselves?

janisj

>>Hopefully the drives are scenic in themselves?

tomfuller

For a nice trip you could take a canoe on the Russian River.
http://www.russianrivertravel.com/canoeing.htm
There are some Coast Redwoods along the river if you didn't get to see Muir Woods.

AustinTraveler

Here are some great wineries in Paso Robles:

Halter Ranch
Tablas Creek
Calcareous
Niner
Opolo
Minassian & Young
Sculpterra
Cass
Villa San Juliette

You are going to love the Paso wine country. It's known as a less pretentious, less expensive Napa Valley (don't get mad Napa people!).

jamie99

Paso Robles has lovely wines although I would probably stay in nearby Cambria which is on the ocean and has nice restaurants. Otherwise the Paso Robles Inn was very nice.

lucy54

Wonderful! Thank you all so much. As I delve deeper into this, I have additional questions, if you don't mind:

Is there any possibility that the weather in Yosemite Oct 16-17 could involve snow or freezing rain? Would hate to get caught in a rental car without proper tires.

I believe we will skip Muir Woods and see them elsewhere as suggested. Canoe trip sounds fun. What is typical weather for mid-October in that area, would you say?

If we stayed in Cambria rather than Paso Robles, any suggestions for a night in Big Sur, or are they too close to do both? We still have the option of doing an additional night in San Fran at the beginning of the trip rather than the end in order to time our Sun-Mon stay in Yosemite. Hope we've split our time appropriately, even as I wish we had more time for each! I feel as though we have accomplished our goal of not scrambling from place to place, yet still covering a fair amount of ground?

Thank you!

janisj

>>Is there any possibility that the weather in Yosemite Oct 16-17 could involve snow or freezing rain? Would hate to get caught in a rental car without proper tires.could snow but normally that doesn't happen time mid to late November. Freezing rain really isn't an issue.

>>What is typical weather for mid-October in that area, would you say?>If we stayed in Cambria rather than Paso Robles, any suggestions for a night in Big Sur, or are they too close to do both?

tomfuller

If you should happen to arrive in Merced and the weather turns nasty, you can ride the YARTS bus into Yosemite.
Snow at that time seems unlikely.
It sounds better to me to have an extra day at the end of the trip in SF to see anything that you missed at the beginning. YARTS.com

Gwendolynn

Not to muddy the waters… but if you stay in Cambria are you planning to visit the Hearst Castle?

Patty

Most of the accommodations in Big Sur are clustered around the "village" area (which itself is a bit spread out) and only +/- an hour south of Carmel. The southern portion of Big Sur is more isolated. Carmel to Cambria is about 3 hours not including stops so you're not talking about a big area. On the other hand if you're planning on extensive hiking a day trip through Big Sur may not be enough and overnighting may be a good idea. It really depends on what you want to do.

Monterey County has its share of wine country too if you like cooler climate wines.

I also feel that it's too much driving for only 1 night at Yosemite.

Gwendolynn

Also, don't know which end of the park you will be staying but check out Erna's Elderberry House in Oakhurst if you want a lovely dinner.

lucy54

Dropping a night in Big Sur gives us an extra night in SF which means fewer single night stays, which we like. Not sure yet about Hearst. We plan to leave that as an option, so we could choose at the time to either do that or a day in Paso Robles.

I have to find out if advance reservations are needed for Hearst. Yes, we will be doing 2 nights in Yosemite.

Thanks for the dinner suggestion at Erna's, and for everyone's input. Never thought I'd get this far this fast with planning.

Now on to places to stay!

MichelleY

You could do Hearst Castle in the morning then wine taste in Paso in the afternoon. You would only need to taste at 2 or 3 places before getting a buzz and tired. Reservations are usually a good idea at HC, especially on weekends. Certain times of the year, evening tours are offered and very fun. Docents are dressed in character of the 1930's.