harrowgirl

Still in the preliminary planning stages - we do have our flight booked for August 11 - August 25.

I'm looking for input re. the number of nights we are spending in each place, or if we should add/delete/change some of the stops.

Our preliminary itinerary is:

3 nights San Francisco
2 nights Yosemite
1 night Carmel
1 night Big Sur
1 night Cambria
1 night Santa Barbara
2 nights LA
3 nights San Diego


- should we stay 3 nights in Santa Barbara rather than the 2 nights in LA? Want to got to LA - just not sure if we should stay in LA proper.

Thanks!

paula1470

Actually your itinerary looks pretty good. You've got things spaced out as far as driving time, time in each location, etc.

The only thing I might do is take away one of your nights between Carmel and Santa Barbara and add it to LA. There is no much to do in LA and your not giving yourself much time. You could either drive from Yosemite to Big Sur and skip staying in Carmel or skip Cambria and drive from Big Sur to Santa Barbara. A lot depends on where you are staying in Yosemite as to how far the drive would be. I would be inclined to skip Cambria and go to Santa Barbara. Big Sur to Cambria is not a long drive even with stops.

don512

I think that the best way to decide how much time that you need to stay at any certain place is to come up with an itinerary of the things that you want to do in each place. I don't really mind what you have planned but it seems that you have a lot of one night stays. which to be is a lot of checking-in and a lot of loading and packing and unpacking. Personally I would do the 3 nights in SF and the 2 nights in Yosemite. That would give you a day and a half to explore the park, which most people will say is not enough time, but probably enough to get a good overview of the park. I would then do 2 nights in either Carmel or Monterey. they are both great little towns with distinctly different feels. After the two nights there, I would get an early start and spend the day driving and exploring the Big Sur coast, before spending the night in Cambria. The next morning I would visit San Simeon (I'm thinking that is why you added Camria) and then head on down to Santa Barbara, where I would stay a couple of nights, taking a day to rest and enjoy the beach. Then I would split the remaining 4 nights between LA and San Diego, depending on the things that you want to do in each. I've never been a great lover of LA, but I enjoyed visiting Hollywood, which can be done in a few hours. But I personally would probably opt for a couple of nights in the area, using the full day I have to take the boat to Catalina out of Long Beach (one of my favorite things that I have done in California). Then spend the last two days in San Diego. Is this your first time to California? Do you feel that it is a one time thing? Is that why you are adding Yosemite in? It is a lot of driving out of the way of the other destinations and adding those two days to the other destinations would make things a lot more leisurely. But if you like to stay busy it is a great destination too.

paula1470

Sorry-meant to say there is so much to do in LA.

Now I see that you are thinking about skipping LA. I personally like LA alot so would recommend you visit but if you want a vacation that is more nature and less city then thats a decision you would have to make. If that's the case, you could add one day to Santa Barbara, then maybe stay one night at a beach in Orange County-like Laguna Beach-and from there go on to San Diego.

Do you have any rooms booked yet? For many of the beach communities, you have waited until the last minute. I was looking for a room in my favorite hotel in Cambria for an upcoming Monday night and they were totally sold out. So you need to start booking hotels right away.

paula1470

don512-I do agree that harrowgirl is checking in and out of a lot of hotels so you have a good point. The only problem I see with your suggestion is the idea of splitting 4 days betweeen LA and San Diego. Both of these cities have so much to offer. Getting from Santa Barbara to LA and checking in will take up some of Day 1 in LA. Then driving to San Diego from LA could take up to 3 hours depending on traffic so that kills half a day in San Diego. If they like your suggestion about earlier in the trip, then maybe they should pick either San Diego or LA and not try to do both.

don512

paula1470, I agree that a cople of days in either place is not much, but from a previous post, harrowgirl states that they would like to visit the San Diego Zoo and maybe Disneyland. I don't think that they can do Disneyland without a couple of nights in LA, without being terribly rushed. The zoo is going to take a while too, so how much else that they want to do there will determine the time they need there.

paula1470

don512-Sometimes it helps when the OP keeps everything on one thread-it helps when offering advice. Well maybe harrowgirl should just skip staying in LA. Just go from Santa Barbara to Orange County so they can go to Disneyland and then on to San Diego.

harrowgirl

Thanks everyone - I know I've waited a bit late to book hotels - but we just decided that this is what we were going to do this summer - and that's why I need to whittle down our itinerary - so I can book hotels this week.

We probably aren't going to do Disney - and we aren't sure if we are ever going to get back to California. We love to travel - but there are so many places in the world to see, it would be a long time before we get back in any event. Plus, I suppose I should mention that I will be 4 months pregnant on this trip - so some big life changes are in store for us - and this is our last hurrah.

I will look at the itinerary again tonight and make some adjustments.

Thanks again.

harrowgirl

topping - hoping to get some daytime fodorite responses!

harrowgirl

Okay - I've updated my itinerary:

3 nights San Francisco
2 nights Yosemite
2 night Carmel/Monterey
1 night Cambria
2 night Santa Barbara
2 nights LA
2 nights San Diego

Questions:

1) How does this revised itinerary look?

2) How long is the drive between each of these places (assuming some sightseeing is done along the way)

paula1470

harrowgirl-If you want to figure out driving time, use mapquest, yahoo map or something similiar and that will give you a good idea.

As far as your itinerary, go back and read what I said. I think you are spending too many days in the Central Part of the state and not giving enough to the southern part. I even mention driving times especially in So. Calif. There is just no way you can do LA and San Diego with 2 days in each. Half of one day will be spent getting into LA and half of another day will be spent getting out of it!!
Again, if you want to spend more time in Central California (which is great by the way) then either do LA or San Diego but not both.