My husband & I are planning a trip from Florida to travel from SF to LA driving the PCH. How is the weather in September or October? Should we choose another time of year? I have heard comments about the summer & winter months not spring or fall.

It's the best time of year around here!

Agree with sf7307. Do you intend to drive back to your starting point on I-5 to save a drop off fee?
As I have said before, consider flying to Oakland, San Jose or even Sacramento to rent your car.

Sept/Oct is the the very best time of year . . . so that is when many locals travel the coast. Be sure to book in advance.

Unless the budget is a deal breaker, I'd go w/ a one-way rental. Backtracking, or worse-taking I-5, would not be my choice unless the drop off fees made it absolutely necessary

Thank you all for your suggestions & comments. We will rent a car one-way and fly into San Jose as suggested. Any other suggestions are welcome!

There are many other posts in here under California on driving the Cal Coast - and suggest you stay a night in Carmel/Monterrey - or perhaps if you don't want to move around too much - maybe pick a place in Big Sur (from San Jose airport - you are only a couple of hours away) - for a couple/few nights and use that as a base. Here is one of the better guides/maps/info sources I have found.

http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/pdf/...ide2012-13.pdf

http://www.bigsurcalifornia.org/lodging.html

Tomsd, I have been searching the forums and it has been most helpful indeed! Our plan is to visit Hearst Castle, see the sea lions, wine country, redwoods, along with any other 'must see' areas. Our iteneray is approx. 7-8 days. Thank you for the websites, already at a glance I'll spend time researching.

Are you planning to visit San Francisco? If so, then flying into San Jose doesn't make much sense on a one-way drive down to LA.

Second question: which "wine country" are you referring to? Napa? Sonoma? San Luis Obispo? Monterey? Santa Barbara? Temecula?

Third question: when you say "see the redwoods" - are you hikers? Or do you just want an easy walk among the redwoods?

Sorry for the questions, but it's hard to say much without more specifics.