My husband and I spent a week last October split between the wine country for 4 nights, and SF for 3. We'd like to make another trip to SF this October, again spending the last 3 nights in SF, but are looking to see another area for 4 days or so. Any suggestions? I assume going down the coast to San Diego would be too ambitious for that amount of time? Would it make sense to fly into SD and drive up the coast, flying out of SF? Thanks for any suggestions.

What are you interested in seeing/doing -- nature, museums, beaches (although it will be too cold to swim), shopping, tourist attractions?

You could spend 4 days on the Central Coast, from Cambria/Hearst Castle to Big Sur/Monterey/Carmel/Pacific Grove.

Adding....it would be really hard to do San Diego, the coast AND San Francisco in 7 days. I guess you could fly into San Diego, spend 2 days there, take two days to drive up the coast, and still have 3 days in San Francisco, but that would give short shrift to both San Diego and the coast. (The drive from San Diego to San Francisco is 8 hours even on the fastest freeway and with no traffic).

Flying into Santa Barbara and then having four days to go up the coast would be nice at that time of year. You'd be able to enjoy each stop along the way with some quality time, whereas starting from San Diego would be a real rush of hit-and-runs.

Thank you both for your good suggestions. Rushing thru a trip is not the way to enjoy it, as we all know. If we flew into Santa Barbara, what would you suggest we aim for on the drive up. We like mostly everything: nature, dining, scenary, etc., not a big shopper, per se, but like browsing around different towns and soaking up the flavor, so to speak. We like to keep it casual, don't want to have to get 'dressed up' to go anywhere. California is so beautiful, from what I've seen, that I am sure we would love whatever we see/do. Thanks,

www.winchestermysteryhouse.com

I'd put Point Lobos on the itinerary. It's a beautiful place to spend a few hours, take a walk, have a picnic, take photos.

And I can never resist a brief stop at Nepenthe, perhaps for a cup of tea just to enjoy the view, or lunch, outdoors. The gift shop there ("The Phoenix") always manages to draw me in for an hour or so.

Our second trip last year (first was like yours SF and Napa) was in SF, Hearst Castle, Big Sur, Carmel & Monterey. It was great and just the right amount of territory to see some gorgeous sights at a good pace.

1) Please re consider the Winchester mystery House unless you have small kids. It's kind of a ripoff.

2) Santa Barbara airport is very small , has lot of very small planes that tend to get delayed. and will likely be MUCH more expensive to fly into. If that doesn't matter it's a good choice.

3) Elnap and Centralpark girl have some good suggestions for a very manageable trip that sees different natural beauty. You might also consider Santa Cruz/Capitola/Pajaro Dines area...

Centralparkgirl, can you give me some recommendations on accommodations in the areas you mentioned, other than SF, as I most likely know where I will stay when there (but am always open to suggestions). I haven't booked anything, but airfare and accomodations are still open (actually last year I didn't book until 3 weeks before we went!) If I can't pull it together, we may just go back to the wine country again for half the trip and SF for the latter part of it. Thanks for your help!

Hi. We stayed at Highlands Inn, a Hyatt property right near Carmel with great views. We liked it very much. After agonizing over eating dinner there, we did at their restaurant Pacific's Edge - the food was great and we timed it with seeing the sun set.

We stayed at Ventana Inn in Big Sur. We liked it, but had our room changed. We had asked for ocean view (not realizing that the hotel is not really close to the ocean) and the room overlooked burned grass with the ocean faraway. They were accommodating and we moved to a forest view room that was very nice.

You can buy you aquarium tix on line in advance once you solidify your itinerary. Have a great time!

We did stay one night near Hearst Castle and then toured the castle the following morning. There are no great options - just a few motels. We stayed at a place called the Morgan - probably better than the rest.

Keep a repositioning cruise in mind for future Westcoast vacations. It's a good way to get up and down the coast without driving. Most of the cruises leave from Vancouver and make different stops along the way, usually ending in Los Angeles or San Diego. We just got off one last week, we spent 3 days in Vancouver, with a full day in Whistler, than on to Astoria Oregon, San Francisco and ending in L.A.

Since we had been to SF several times, we took a tour of the wineries in Sonoma. We also stayed one night in Westwood, L.A. to see the Getty Museum. Repositioning cruises run in September and May and you can cover a lot of territory. Our cruise was 5 nights and we spent 4 nights on land.

Just another thought for the Spring or next Fall.

Frank, that is a great suggestion and will definitely look into it for our next trip. Right now, I'm kind of 'all over the place'. Found a few places thru vrbo located in Pacific Grove. Is this a good location? We found a few one bedroom places for the price of a hotel room, so thought we'd book 4 night in PG, and 3 in SF. Centralparkgirl, I'd love to see Hearst Castle, is this a day trip from PG? I better get this booked in the next few days or I'll be going nowhere!

Pacific Grove is great -- the Monterey Aquarium is actually physically partially in Monterey and partially in Pacific Grove, just to give you an idea of how close it is to Monterey. If you want a wonderful seafood dinner, try Passionfish in Pacific Grove -- really excellent and not too expensive either.

Is Hearst a day trip from PG? For some yes, for some no. It is a longish drive, if you are the type of people that don't mind driving a few hours to see something and driving back without exploring much on the way, then yes it's a day trip. If you are the kind of people that like to see things at a leisurely pace, then no. Personally, I think there are many beautiful natural sites to explore on the Monterey Penninsula and in Big Sur, that a long drive to see Hearst would not be on my list.

Sorry didn't way how long a drive--technically about 2:15 hours one way, on 1 with no stops, longer if it is a beautiful weekend day or you want to admire the views.

Ok, so I'll save Hearst Castle for another trip. The more I hear about the area, the more it sounds like something we'd really enjoy. One more question, in general, what type of weather could we expect at the end of October? Last year when we made our trip, the weather was just wonderful, not hot, but not cold either.

Generally, October weather is pretty nice along the CA central coast, but towards the end of the month you stand a bigger chance of getting some rain. Some years the rainy season starts with a bang, and other years we don't see anything significant until December. If it's not raining, expect temps in the low to mid 60's, cooler at night.