I'm heading to a business trip to LA and Alisa Viejo. My daughter wants to come with me since it's her spring break and see the Redwoods ... a little out of the way but I can work it in! We are adventurous. So, i'm thinking of flying into San Fran late Thurs night. I see it's about a 5-6 hour drive from there to the Redwood Nat Park. coming from East coast time, we will get up very early to do the drive, probably leave around 4am Friday morning and get there by 10 assuming stopping for breakfast.

Which road to drive to get there? are there awesome stops along the way I should build in to our plan?

I printed the park guide and there are a bunch of recommended short walks and a couple of recommended drives once we get in the Park area. I would like to take advantage of a few of these. I think I will plan to spend at least all day Friday/Sat and maybe even part Sunday. Also, is there a nice town to find a hotel nearby for 2 nights?

Thought I'm thinking Sunday, drive back? Is this time form Pacific Coast highway heading south? Is that Route 1 everyone talks about?

I'd like to be in LA but Monday midday, not sure how to get there, I guess another 5 hour drive from San Fran.

I think the rest I can figure out, we'll probably be in LA Tues, Laguna Beach Wed, San Diego, Thurs/Fri.

thanks!!

sorry for all my typos, i'm a little short on coffee this morning!

Check out Muir Woods which is less than an hour from the Golden Gate bridge north of San Francisco.
You do not have to drive all the way to northern California to see a grove of large Coast Redwoods.
There are large Coast Redwoods in a few places south of San Francisco as well (Butano and others).
To get to LA from San Francisco, you could take the Amtrak bus from Fisherman's Wharf over to Oakland to get on the Coast Starlight. The bus leaves SFW at 7:25AM and gets to Oakland at 8:30AM. Train arrives Santa Barbara about 6PM and Los Angeles about 9PM.

Let me offer an alternative that would most likely satisfy your daughter and save you hours and hours of driving.

There are coast redwoods up and down the coast, from the Oregon border to the Bay Area and beyond, and some of the groves are quite close to San Francisco.

My recommendation would be to fly into San Francisco (or San Jose if flights are convenient) and head south rather than north.

Aim for the Henry Cowell or Big Basin State Park redwoods located between San Francisco and Monterey Bay.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/546/fi...nalWeb2015.pdf
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/540/fi...nalWeb2015.pdf

These are the same trees you'll see in Redwood NP or any of the state parks located 250 miles north of SF; the only difference is that these parks aren't as big or as contiguous as the ones in Humboldt or Del Norte counties. But they're plenty big enough, trust me, and in the spring you're likely to have better weather and way less driving.

Spend time in the redwoods, stop for lunch in Santa Cruz, a lovely old town with a cool oceanfront amusement park, then circle Monterey Bay and end up that night in Monterey, Pacific Grove or Carmel. If time allows, visit the amazing aquarium in Monterey. Carmel is a picturesque and very upscale little town, but they're all terrific.

The next day, up early and head south. THIS is the stretch of Calif. Hwy 1 everybody talks about (although the part north from SF is no slouch.) The first stop is Point Lobos State Park, just south of Carmel. This is a gorgeous stretch of coast, with sea lions and other marine mammals usually making a bunch of noise.

The next 60 or 70 miles is arguably the most scenic stretch of highway in the lower 48 states. You pass the incredible Big Sur coastline (more redwoods at Pfeiffer State Park in Big Sur) and around two hours south of Point Lobos you arrive at the Hearst Castle. Just before Hearst Castle is a giant elephant seal rookery; there will probably be plenty of the big beasts visible - big parking area, big aroma. ;-)

If time permits, a visit to the Hearst Castle is a terrific experience - takes a couple of hours but worth it.

From there the coast road is still scenic but speeds up. You rejoin the US 101 freeway at San Luis Obispo, and from there it's around 5 hours (depending on traffic) to Aliso Viejo. Again, if time allows, a stop in beautiful Santa Barbara - see the mission, lovely downtown area - is well worth your time.

Map - https://goo.gl/maps/wpjzqYaQHT62

Note this will involve a one-way car rental, so shop carefully and try to avoid a high one-way drop charge. Regardless, this route is well worth it.

Monterey aquarium - http://gardyloo.us/0118-6a.JPG
Big Sur coast - http://gardyloo.us/20130119_20H1a.jpg
Elephant seals - http://gardyloo.us/20130119_90a.JPG
Santa Barbara mission - http://gardyloo.us/20110205_8a.JPG

Even though the Redwoods up north are magnificent - I'd absolutely do what Gardyloo suggests. It would take you more than any 5 hours to get to RNP - From SFO to say Orrick is close to a 7 hour drive without a single stop.

And don't bother w/ Muir Woods because it is north of SF (and because it is close to the city get extremely crowded.

Fly into SFO or San Jose, visit one or more of the Redwood parks south of SF and the other places Gardyloo listed.

Thank you! This is very helpful

You say your daughter wants to "see the Redwoods." You might want to make certain she isn't thinking about the huge trees which are located in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park such as the "General Sherman."

She'd like to do a drive through redwood

>>She'd like to do a drive through redwood

Yep, there are only 3 drive-thru redwoods left - all of them are on private land in or around Humboldt County. People used to think that carving tunnels in 2000 year old trees was a good idea, but fortunately we've figured out that it probably isn't a good thing to do

There's a walk-through tree and Sequoias in Calaveras Big Trees state park which is only three hours from San Francisco (East).

Thank you!