hibiscushouse

After our 5 nights in Big Bear, we will be coming back to Pismo Beach for kayak tour the next morning. This is before we head up the coast for a couple more nights in Pacific Grove.
We are looking for a one night stay somewhere in this area and don't mind a few minutes drive for our kayaking. Was trying to stay in Cambria since everyone says what a cute town it is, but the hotels/inn's I've looked at have a 2 nt. min. The date is a Saturday in July, which makes it even more difficult to find anything.

This is the one night during our stay, where we wouldn't mind spending less with a good recommendation ($150 or less/night) IF there is such a thing. So we aren't looking for it to be on the beach, etc. Just clean/quaint/charming/great location/adorable town..anything along those lines, would be a plus. Even a chain hotel would work.
I have 3 older kids and it's only one night, so B&B's aren't going going to want us, and I understand that.
I see the towns of Pismo, Morro Bay, San Louis Obispo, Cayucos.
Anyone have some suggestions?

starrs

Lots of inexpensive options on Moonstone Beach outside of Cambria.

Here's where we stayed -
http://www.bestwesternfiresideinn.com/

starrs

Well, it's not that inexpensive on a weekend night in July.

Are you sure you don't want to just spend an extra night on the coast on the way to BB and not retrace your steps?

sequess

Cambria is more than a few minutes drive from Pismo Beach. You'd do best to stay either in Pismo or one of the towns nearby. In Pismo on the beach some acceptable places are Sea Venture, Sea Crest, and the Cliffs Resort. Not on the beach but nearby is the Pismo Mission Inn. Near Pismo is Avila Beach and there are several places there--you might try the Avila Village Inn--it's not on the beach but it's very nice and doesn't seem to fill up as quickly as some of the others.
Another alternative would be to stay in San Luis Obispo which is about a 20-minute drive to Pismo. There are several chains on Monterey Street (Holiday Inn, Quality Suites, Days Inn) and SLO has a nice downtown with several good dining options.

hibiscushouse

Starrs, we really considered it, but have found out more about the Big Bear Lake area. My brother was in the air force base in this area and said BBL is beautiful. Since he knows what we are looking for, I'm taking his word for it. We've also gotten good input about the area on Fodor's.
We decided we just didn't want to cut our time there short and will take advantage of the full 6 nights of our timeshare there. Even if we do have some relaxation time.
Outside of that, we will end up having 4 nights (total)along the coast (1 in Monterey and 2 Pacific Grove). Although it's split up, it's the best we can do without taking time away from BBL. We're native coastal Floridians, so we don't nec. 'have' to be on a beach, viewing shore birds, surfer's, etc..on this vacation since we are lucky to have that every day here. BUT, we will be totally awestruck with the cliffs mixed with beautiful trees, seals, otters, tide pools, cool air, all the things we don't have here. For us, we love to get away to the mountains, so there is a lot of value in the BBL part of our trip too.
We got a late start when planning this trip, so we started with the timeshare, with anything out west we could find that represented altitude and was available. BBL happened to be a cancellation and we grabbed it. Then we set out to build the rest of our vacation around that. A bit backwards, I know..but here we are. I hear what you are saying though, and appreciate the input. I really do. Would have done things differently, given what I know now, and I'm sure we will leave wishing we could stay longer. But I'm still pleased we get to stay 14 days at all. How lucky are we!!

The main thing I'm concerned about now is if it is worth it to do the kayak tour in Pismo or should we just head straight back to Pacific grove for 3 nights instead of the 2 and kayak in Monterey bay instead. Other than how cool it will be to kayak on the coast of California, specifically for my son's, is to see otters and sea lions. But when I saw the pismo bch kayak tour had the added bonus of kayaking through caves and rock formations, that had my son's names written all over it! Just a bit concerned if the sea otters and sea lions will be in the Pismo kayak area as well. ?? Haven't had much response from my other post about this.
The fireside inn is beautiful but they have a 2 nt. min.
Did call the White Water Inn and they have a room for $200 for the one night..??
Thank you sequess..I will spend some time looking at the information you provided. Was trying to fit walking around Cambria into this one night. Since the only reason we would be in Pismo would be to take the kayak tour the next morning and then leave this area.

mlgb

I agree to look around Pismo and the adjacent towns such as Morro Bay, rather than Cambria for a one night stay. You could try the Holiday Inn Express chain or there's a Best Western in Atascadero that has fairly large rooms. I've also used the Motel 6 chain in the area Nothing special but usually easy to get a room there.

hibiscushouse

Sequess, all your suggestions were great, but like so many others, they all required a 2 nt. min. Looks like a chain hotel may be our most economical bet.
Thanks mlgb.

hibiscushouse

Pismo beach it is. Glad to narrow it down, now just need to find the hotel. Just talked to the Pismo bch. chamber of commerce and they rec. Central Coast Kayaking for our tour. So I called them and had them describe their dinosaur cave tour to me. It sounds like it will be a great kayak tour. Tour starts at 8:00 am (shell beach), so we'll stay somewhere in Pismo bch. or very near so we can be on time with teenagers.
Lot's of places to stay on the chamber's web site:
http://www.pismochamber.com/LodgingSelection.asp

MomDDTravel

hibiscus - I am confused on your trip - I am following it on a few threads - are you staying in a timeshare in Big Bear?

If you want to do something super fun - we stayed in a Cabin last Sept and took the entire family zip lining and it was GREAT. I will have to find the name of the company but it was super fun. We went bowling in town one night - that was great too - and also the kids loved going down the mountain on the sled deals on wheels - have to find the name of that too. Just let me know if you are interested...

ronkala

We stayed at the Oxford Suites in Pismo Beach in April. $99.00 + tax sr. rate. Two room suite, one with a sofa bed, each with its own tv. Free evening reception with soups, salad, snacks, wine or beer (2). Nice big made to order free breakfast. Clean and nice grounds.

MichelleY

I am a bit confused too. It sounds like you are going to Pismo just to do the kayak trip, then to PG/Monterey. I would skip it and just do the kayak trip in the Monterey area. Moss Landing kayaking is highly recommended by other posters here.

MomDDTravel

Michelle - I still think the trip sounds like a ton of driving up and down the coast. For me - I would not go all the way back up - I would have headed to OC from Big Bear if I wanted to see more beach areas and stayed there for a few nights and you could have still flown out of Ontario or SNA is even better - but I think it is a done deal now as far as the flight go - way too much driving up and down for me.

hibiscushouse

We have two time shares. One in San Francisco and one in Big Bear. Gifts from my Mother, but she was in England, so had to wait for her to get home. By the time she got home, very few available places to stay, so we grabbed what we could with what nights were available. Only got BBL b/c of a cancellation. As a result we will have only one night in the Carmel/Monterey area before we head to BBL. Not enough time to see much or do any hikes, so we ended up adding 3 more nights at the end of our trip to go back to this area and explore it further.
The kayak trip came about b/c the tour in Pismo beach takes you in and out of the dinosaur caves along with the sea life. My 3 son's will love this. After the tour, we will make our way to Big Sur and do a hike or so, before checking into our hotel in Pacific Grove late that afternoon. We will have the whole next day and night before leaving from San Jose.
I checked into the Oxford suites, but they required a 2 nt min. Looks nice though.

clarkgriswold

I don't see many places with rooms that accomodate 5 persons...Vagabond Inn in San Luis Obispo might work in a pinch, or sspines.com, but neither seem to allow 5 per room, at least according to their websites.

hibiscushouse

I know. It's been a challenge. We usually take vacations and rent cabins or homes as our base. This is one of the first we've done where we will be staying in multiple locations. I feel it will be worth it though. So much to see within just a few hours of each other. I just booked our last hotel and we leave tomorrow. Getting very excited!

hibiscushouse

I meant to add this to my post about the kayaking:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pismo-...d=321626069917