Tammy

Planning a trip in February to San Fran . Want to drive down and end up in San Diego. Looking for a 10-day itinerary of places to see and go on the way down.

kam

Tammy, there have been so many posts for this in the past, I wish we had the searchable forum that Fodors promises. At any rate---I would plan to spend 3 days in SF, 4 days driving in between, and 3 days in San Diego. Places to see along the way would be 1. Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur area (one day at least), then if you're doing this before November, 2. drive Route 1 through Big Sur to Cambria and visit Hearst Castle, 3. Drive the rest of the coast south and stay in Santa Barbara but explore the wineries and missions in the area, Solvang, Buellton, Santa Maria etc, 4. Drive via Malibu on 101 but then to 405 asap and then 5 thru L.A. stopping in Laguna Beach or Newport Beach (along the way see Santa Monica and Venice) and then 5. Into San Diego. It's a good amount of time--you'll get to see a lot. We generally drive SF to San Diego 4 days, but we don't have to spend the time in either of the 2 cities as tourists. You can do it in 3, but it's such a pretty drive I think you'll want the extra day.

kam

Sorry, didn't read the entire post. In February, plan to stay in Monterey/Carmel and then DEPENDING ON THE WEATHER ON THAT PARTICULAR DAY, either drive down Big Sur on Rt. 1 or cut back across through Carmel Valley and take 101 and cut over again to Cambria. Don't try to drive Big Sur in the rain--I've done it, you can't see anything and it's very stressful--101 will take you inland to drier conditions without fog and then you head back over to Cambria. February is still rainy in Northern CA--probably no rain once you are south of Sta. Barbara. This past year it was totally miserable and Rt. 1 was closed for a long time. Stay rather flexible until we see what kind of a winter we are going to have.