San Francisco-Pt Reyes-Carmel
 

My husband and I will be in San Francisco for 2 nights this weekend and then Monday we will be getting a rental car and driving to Carmel for 2 nights. Is it feasible to get an early start and first drive up to see Pt. Reyes and then head down to Carmel? How far will it be from Pt. Reyes to Carmel? What is the best route to take? Thanks for the advice!

The Pt Reyes visitor center is a little over an hour drive north of San Francisco but the scenic areas are another half hour to 45 minute drive further out. To do Pt Reyes justice, you should really devote an entire day.

Also, we are having terrible weather on the coast right now and the forecast for Monday shows improvement but still very cool conditions. July and August are typically like this in San Francisco.

Instead, I'd take the scenic drive Hwy 1 down the coast through Santa Cruz and Monterey. There are many beautiful beaches along the way to stop at if the weather is nice.

I agree with otis.

Pt Reyes is not a quickie stopover.

You need to go down to the lighthouse, but if there's fog, there's not much to see. You need to walk that fantastic beach, but again if there's fog, you can't enjoy the huge extent of that beach nor watch the waves come crashing in for miles.

His suggestion of stopping off along the coast down to Monterey is an excellent one.

Have a great trip! :)

FYI by terrible weather I assume OBD is referring to the cool temps. and overcast with fog--don't want you to think we are having storms or something like that. Is it feasible as in doable to drive to Point Reyes and then to Carmel, does it make much sense no.

As for the best route from SF to Carmel, it depends on what you mean by best. Most scenic is probably 1 the entire way. Fastest, depends on who you talk to and when you leave--mine is 280 S to 85 to 101S to 156 to 1. Others prefer 280 to 17 to 1.

Thanks everyone for the advice. We will plan to head down 1 from San Francisco to Carmel and skip Pt. Reyes for this trip.