Pls suggest an itinerary for california in 3 weeks
 

Hi everyone, we are a young couple from Singapore. My husband and I are planning to spend 3 weeks touring california in October. Can anyone suggest an itinerary that allows us to see the best of california. We are not into surfing and beach activities.

We have heard so much about yosemite and we hope to include it in our trip. However, is it worth visiting yosemite during fall as we've heard so many downs of visiting yosemite at this time.

Any helpful suggestions are greatly appreciated.

I'm from the east coast so hopefully someone in CA will answer you. I think you should start in San Franciso for a few days. See the Wharf, ride the cable cars, etc. Then drive north to Muir Woods to see the redwoods. Point Reyes is a nice drive up to Bodega Bay. Then drive inland to Napa Valley and spend a day or to tourning wineries. Go back south and pick up Rt 80 to Lake Tahoe and then Yosemite. Pay attention to the weather in case you need to skip that area. Then drive to Death Valley. From there to Los Angeles. Do all the tourist things, Hollywood, Disneyland, etc. and fly back out of LA.

Hope this helps. Must sees are Redwoods and wineries, SF and LA. If you have time, you can go further south to San Diego and a day trip to Tijuana, Mexico ( pretty tacky but worth the trip).

Dear Summer:

sd's suggestions are good. But after Yosemite, I would cut over to Carmel/Monterey/Big Sur before heading to S. California.

Good luck and do some research on this board in order to put together a tentative plan.

MY

Both posters have really given you excellent suggestions. Death Valley is certainly interesting but it does not appeal to everyone. Read about it and you decide. It is a desert.

I agree that you should fly into LA and out of SF or the reverse. You can make a big loop around the state. Get a good map. The roads are pretty good, altho I believe you drive on the other side of the road in Singapore... so be careful on our roads.
You might have visa problems going to Tijuana Mexico, and its really not worth it in the short time you have.
I think flying into SF is a good way to start your vacation, and save the crazy traffic of LA for when you have a bit more experience driving over here. Enjoy our State.. its a lovely place to visit.

Yosemite is beautiful all year long. Spring is best for waterfalls and wildflowers in the Valley. But Fall is wonderful too since it's not that crowded.

For the rest of California, are you more interested in the natural areas or the cities? California has many National Parks and Monuments but it also has some of the biggest cities in the US and about 40 million people.

Thanks so much for the invaluable suggestions and advices. This is our tentative plan:
Fly into LA
Drive up 101 to SF, stopping along the way at places like Big Sur etc.(7days to cover the coastal drive)
Drive up to Point Reyes NS (1D/1N)
Drive inland to Napa (1D/DN)
Drive to Lake Tahoe (1D/1N)
Drive to Yosemite (4D/3N)
Drive to Death Valley (3D/2N)??
Drive to LA and spend the rest of what we have there.
Any better suggestions? Have we missed any important places?

We love Nature and we fell in love with the wonderful places like Niagara Falls, Grand CAnyon. If we can, we will want to visit parks like the arches, zion, bryce in Utah but we know it's too overly ambitious and likely impossible to achieve this in 1 trip.
We live in a city all our lives and so we are not too excited about visiting the cities. Unless someone is willing to tell us otherwise :)

Dear SR:

Your plan looks pretty good. I would add another night or 2 to Tahoe, and maybe one less in Yosemite. You could tie in Zion and Bryce by flying out of Las Vegas? This would cut out LA. Just an idea.

MY

How about seeing some redwoods? Muir Woods is just north of San Francisco but it gets very crowded. Armstrong Woods is more of a drive - about an hour north of Point Reyes, but it's much less crowded and it's a pretty drive.

Dear MY,
This is definitely a do-able option. I'm now toying with the idea of driving to LV after Death Valley. And drive to Zion and Bryce (and oh so tempted to advance further to Arches!!) And then back track to LA. But how much time should I give myself at Zion and Bryce, taking considerations for driving time too.

SR

Dear Shanti,

I see from the map that Redwoods is pretty far from SF. Do u know how much time is needed for that?

:)

My husband and I just visited Singapore last month - and we had a terrific time. I hope you enjoy your trip to California as much as we enjoyed our trip to Singapore.

Overall your itinerary looks good, but I would tweek a few things.

You've got 7 days for your drive from LA to SF - I would take 1 or 2 days out of that for SF. I know you are more interested in the outdoors than cities, but SF is a really interesting place and it would be a shame to miss it.

Yosemite to Death Valley - the most direct route is east over Hwy 120, which takes you over Tioga Pass. This pass is very high and closes for the season with the first snow - and it is very possible to have snow at high elevations in October. The closure of Tioga Pass makes the route to Death Valley a lot longer, through some uninspired countryside. So balance your desire to visit Death Valley with the length of the drive.

Dear November_Moon,
I'm really glad to know that u had enjoyed Singapore. This october will be my second trip to California. Had spent 2 days in SF last year. It's no doubt a very beautiful place. I'm tempted to re-visit SF again as I've missed a couple of places but I'm just not sure if I really want to. Will want to reserve that time for a different place.
Yes I'll probably take 2 days out from the coastal discovery and put it somewhere else...

BTW, did u take the singapore flyer and visited the night safari and bird park?

SR

We did go to the night safari - that was a lot of fun. We also went on the Flyer. I am a bit nervous about heights, so when the flyer got near the top, I was scared. The rest of the ride was ok - just not at the very top - LOL.

We didn't go to the Bird Park - neither my husband nor I are very big on birds, so it wasn't one of our must-sees.

I am not sure how much you want to do in LA. If you want to spend some time there, then skip LV, Bryce, Zion. Safe it for another trip.

If you want to skip LA, then maybe you could fly out of LV. Just this past June, we spent 2 nights LV, one night at Bryce, one night at the Grand Canyon, north rim, with a day trip to Zion from St. George Utah. Here is a link to our report:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35139760

If you aren't big hikers, Bryce takes maybe one day/night. Zion you could spend maybe two. But remember: distances are far, so this would be a very time consuming trip.

Just some ideas. You will have to decide. In October, there could even be snow at Bryce. The elevation is around 8,000 feet.

Good luck,

MY

Hi SummerRouge,

I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear about visiting redwoods. I didn't mean visit Redwoods National Park. While it is a gorgeous place to visit, it would be about a 6 or 7 hour drive from San Francisco.

However, there are some nice parks that have redwoods which are much closer to San Francisco. Muir Woods is in Marin County, just north of San Francisco but because it is near San Francisco it gets crowded. Armstrong State Park is further from San Francisco (about an hour or so drive from Point Reyes) so it never very crowded.

Here's some links for Muir Woods - http://www.nps.gov/muwo/ and for Armstrong Woods - http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=450

In three weeks you should be able to do a round trip. Arrive in SF or LA. From SF drive inland to see Yosemite some of the gold towns and Sequoia, drive to LA, and from LA drive up the coast to SF. Or start in LA, drive up the coast to SF and inland back down to LA. The RT by plane and the return of the car to the original rental location should reduce the cost of the trip.

You might want to get a guide book. For historical and natural sites, the Michelin Green Guide might be appropriate.

Yosemite in the fall can be lovely. Reservations are a must.

"Drive up 101 to SF, stopping along the way at places like Big Sur etc.(7days to cover the coastal drive)"

The coastal drive through San Simeon, Big Sur, Monterey, etc is on Highway 1, not 101. Highway 1 separates from 101 north of Santa Barbara I believe.

I can't believe anyone would spend 3 weeks in Ca. and not visit Carmel,Pacific Grove,Monterey. We live in Texas and My DH has to have his Monterey "FIX" every couple of years. I think it is the most beautiful place on earth!!! He did go to HS in Monterey and has me hooked!!!

fosterag - I sure agree with you about Monterey-Carmel but I believe SummerRouge will be visiting there because it's pretty hard to drive up through Big Sur and not see the Monterey Penninsula.

SummerRouge - Spend a couple of days there if you can.

You can see redwoods in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park (and other groves along Hwy 1) so you probably don't need to go up to Muir Woods or the Armstrong Reserve. Make sure you do visit the Mariposa Grove in Yosemite though.

The coast scenery is so awesome coming up Hwy 1 that you may be disappointed when you visit Pt Reyes. Pt. Reyes is a beautiful place but you wont see much there that you haven't seen elsewhere. Pt. Reyes is more of a hiker's park and was preserved because of its location next to a Metropolitan Area. The Big Sur coastline is wilder and more dramatic and offers secluded beaches, lighthouses, waterfalls, and views of sea otters. Make sure you take your time here.

More scenic coastline can be viewed near Morro Bay and Montana del Oro State Park. Also the coast south of Pismo Beach is well worth a detour especially the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes.

In Yosemite, I wouldn't worry about Tioga Pass. It usually closes in mid-November. It hasn't closed in September since 1948 although they might close it for a couple of days if a big storm comes in early which is rare until October.

If you are coming in early October, Death Valley will still be very hot. Not until the last half of the month do the temperatures become bearable. The nights are wonderful however. We go there often but don't consider it until November.

Going on to Bryce and Zion is a great idea. Death Valley to Zion is only a 5 or 6 hour drive unless you stop off in Lost Wages.

Have a great trip!