San Francisco to Los Angeles
 

We are planning a trip to California in July. We are flying into SF and will drive down to Los Angeles. We plan 3 nights in SF - definitely want to go to wine country- Fisherman's Wharf - chinatown. Any suggestions as to what else to see or restaurants to try. We will then start driving down the coast - plan to stay in Santa Barbar -possibly one night - Menterrey another night - and then down to Los Angeles. We are flying in on Saturday and flying out of Los Angeles the Following Saturday afternoon. Any suggestions- All are welcome. <BR>

Nancy: My boyfriend and I did the same trip last July, only in reverse (started in LA and drove north). I posted a trip report which you can find if you do a search using the words "California coast" and restrict the search to the state of California. It is called "Trip report: Just back from California coast" and has lots of details on sights, restaurants, accommodations, etc. <BR> <BR>A few quick tips: We did not care for Monterrey at all except for the aquarium, which was great. But Monterrey and Carmel are both very touristy so we stayed in Pacific Grove which is about a mile west of Monterrey and more of a "real town." It has lots of nice places to stay. We stayed another night in Big Sur at Ladera, which was fantastic. Driving the Big Sur coast was a highlight of the trip -- absolutely gorgeous scenery -- but allow a lot of time because the road is very curvy and only 2 lanes. A third night we stayed in Cambria, just south of Hearst Castle, and would highly recommend both of those. In Cambria there is a fantastic restaurant called Robin's. Stopped for several hours in Santa Barbara for lunch and saw the mission which was definitely worthwhile. <BR>Have a great trip.

Whoops -- in my earlier post, I meant to say that we stayed at VENTANA in Big Sur, not Ladera. Ladera is on the island of St. Lucia -- also wonderful, but a little bit out of your way!

Nancy, there's a lot of information on this site about coast trips. We've done it several times with several different routes, but if this is your first the SF, Monterey, Cambria, Santa Barbara route is the best. Some thoughts: avoid Napa/Sonoma on a July weekend. Stay in SF and enjoy the city. Call well ahead--several weeks--for dinner reservations at popular spots on a Friday or Saturday night. In Napa call well ahead for dinner any night during the summer. Check sfgate.com for restaurant reviews. Don't miss Point Lobos National Park just south of Carmel--beautiful trails and views. I disagree with description of Carmel--we love it and go often. But, in the summer we never go to Carmel on the weekend. Ventana is wonderful but perhaps not in your budget? Just farther down the coast (almost at the end of the beautiful part of Big Sur Coast) is the Ragged Point Inn with great views and a nice restaurant. Nepenthe in Big Sur is great for lunch along the way. Remember also that Sta. Barbara and the Santa Inez Valley are wine countries with quite good wineries and not as crowded as Napa. You can get a wine map at the tourist office--I think there's one on Stearn's Wharf. It's a lovely trip--enjoy.

What's your price range for restaurants? In San Francisco, there are some good inexpensive restaurants like Mario's Bohemian Cigar Shop (great foccacia sandwiches) in North Beach and Park Chow (American food) in the Sunset District (right off 9th Ave/Lincoln). Other good restaurants are R&G Lounge (Chinese food) in Chinatown, the House (Asian-inspired) in North Beach and Sunset, Maki (Japanese) in Japantown, Tommy's Mexican Restaurant in the Richmond District. If you want to go all out, make a reservation at Boulevard (right off the Embarcadero) - awesome food and outrageous desserts. <BR> <BR>Hope it helps.

Thanks for all your input. What about the Los Angeles area? We will porbably spend two days in Los Angeles. <BR>

We used to live in L.A. (Pasadena) and really liked it,although we now like living in the Bay area as well. It's totally different from SF. You will probably want to stay on the Westside--Santa Monica/Westwood/West L.A. One fun thing to do is walk down the beach from Santa Monica Pier to Venice Beach to the Venice "Boardwalk". It's perfectly safe although very funky and quite touristy. If you want to go to the new Getty museum, I would suggest a taxi from the Westside and arriving early. If you must bring a car, you'll need to make parking reservations well in advance (reservations for cars necessary, not for people--this is L.A.!!) Possibly you'll want to go to one of the beaches of Malibu--Zuma is the one most people go to. There's a restaurant on PCH in Malibu just outside of Pacific Palisades, close to where Sunset meets PCH, called Gladstone's 4 FISH. Don't go for the food, although the brunches are pretty good, but go for the view of the ocean, surfers and the Bloody Marys! It's quite touristy, but hey, that's what you are, right? L.A. is sprawling and covered with freeways, but is a pretty easy city if you have a car.The freeways are pretty forgiving, although the drivers drive really fast, they are generally good drivers, but you MUST use your turn signal. Also, remember once you've signalled, you go--don't miss your opportunity or you'll be stuck.The AAA publishes a freeway map for L.A. which helped me a lot when I first moved there. It allows you to anticipate a couple exits ahead when you're going to get over to exit. Once again, you will need to make dinner reservations well ahead at any of the trendy, hot restaurants, and unfortunately, I'm sure they've changed a bit since we lived there. Check back issues of Gourmet or Bon Appetit, which often features L.A. restaurant reviews. There are some really super museums in L.A. contrary to what a lot of people think and if you're interested in those, it's a great city. (the ones we've enjoyed a lot are the Museum of the Automobile on Wilshire Blvd, the Norton Simon in Pasadena, the Huntington Library in San Marino, and the Getty.) The Hollywood connection is usually a disappointment although, if that's why you want to visit, go for it. I really can't recommend too much without knowing your interests because you'll need to plan ahead if you've only got 2 days.

Nancy, <BR>I agree with the above post that the Venice boardwalk is a fun, funky place to visit. You definitely should not miss it. However--a word of caution. Although Venice is safe during the day, when the sun goes down, the town undergoes a sinister transformation. Be sure to leave well before sunset.

Some places that I would stay at would be the Westin San Francisco Airport. Another place would be the Marriott at the airport. Although, if you would like some places up out of the cities, I would then stay at the Embassy Suites by the Muir Woods, or Embassy Suites Napa Valley. In the Chinatown area the Holiday Inn Civic Center looks nice to stay at as does the Marriott. When driving down the coast be sure to stop at Monterey/Carmel area which is a must see when driving down the coast. In Monterey stay at the Embassy Suites which I feel is the best place or the Monterey Plaza Hotel. You could then follow highway 1 down the coast and find numerous places to stay which I saw when doing the same thing. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. <BR> <BR>Tony Olson <BR>http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/...254/index.html <BR>

I have to disagree. I have found Embassy Suites in several cities, to be rather boring and unattractive (especially the Napa Valley one), and the staff to be either rude or incompetent.

No, no! Don't stay at an airport hotel in San Francisco. One of the greatest joys about visiting San Francisco is walking around the city and you don't want to have to trek in from the airport each day to do that. Stay near Union Square or even Fisherman's Wharf (I don't line Fisherman's Wharf as a place to spend time, but it is a good hotel location and there are a number of them). I agree about skipping wine country and staying in the city with the limited time you have--it will be very hot out in the wine country in July. See Beach Blanket Babylon while in San Fran. Have a great time--it's a fabulous city!

Nancy, Please don't stay at any hotel near SFO--you are way too far away to enjoy San Francisco. Look at sfgate.com for hotel recommendations or tell us your per night budget.

Nancy, <BR>One note of caution regarding Hwy 1 south of Big Sur. We have had lots of rain in February here in California and I believe there was a slide which closed Hwy l. It may be open by the time you take your trip. You may check regarding this at http://www.dot.ca.gov/cgi-bin/roads.cgi <BR>Just put in a search for Hwy l to get the latest report. If it's really foggy,(which it can be in the summer) don't even attempt the drive. You won't see a thing! <BR> <BR>Also, I was visiting a friend in SF a couple of weeks ago and there was a delightful hotel just around the corner from her in the Pacific Heights district. I looked at the rooms for future reference and they were wonderful. The rooms had just been refurbished and looked just like the picture on their website http:/www.thelaurelinn.com One great thing about this hotel is the parking is FREE. Usually you have to pay a per day parking fee at other hotels. The rooms were in the $129 - $149 range. There's also a great place for breakfast on the corner adjacent the hotel. They have fabulous home made bread and cinnamon rolls...mmmmmm. <BR> <BR>I agree with Kam and her suggestions. We LOVE Carmel. Cambria is also a very nice town with affordable accommodations. Have a great time.