Katie7

Hello:

We are planning to fly into SFO airport at about 7PM on a Monday. We are planning to visit SF, Wine Country and Carmel. We were going stay near the airport the first night, since it will be late (used to Eastern time) and then renting a car in the AM to drive down to Carmel and Big Sur for the day. We will then return to SF for the rest of our trip. We are looking for directions to Big Sur-fastest route early in the AM during the week (About 7AM). We would like to do Big Sur, then Carmel and Monterey, driving back slowly to take in the scenery. Is this a reasonable plan for a one day trip?

Thanks, Katie

J_Correa

It is doable for a day trip, but it will be a long day with a significant amout of driving. The fastest route in the AM would more than likely be straight down Hwy 1 from SF. This way you would avoid the morning commute traffic on Hwy 280 and 101 - both of which would take you right through San Jose. The drive should take a couple hours to Monterey. From the airport area, you would probably want to cut over to 280, then take 92 west to Half Moon Bay and then Hwy 1 south from there.

Katie7

Thanks for the info and directions. Since we are used to Eastern time and generally get up early anyhow, we were thinking of leaving the hotel around 6AM and driving to Big Sur first, hoping to avoid San Jose traffic.

CEF

If you like "out of the ordinary" stop by Van Der Heyden vineyards in Napa. We stumbled on this place late in the afternoon because it was one of two places still open for tastings. We stopped at Monticello first and it's very nice, but stuffy. Van Der Heyden is not fancy (our tasting was in some sort of shed) but you'll enjoy meeting the owner. Try the late harvest zinfindel if it's available. It's an incredible dessert wine. Enjoy your trip, you'll love Carmel. Christine

J_Correa

If you leave the hotel around 6am, traffic shouldn't be a problem. You will be passing through San Jose right around 7, which these days is before the commute really gets underway. You should sail right through. An hour later and you are looking at some traffic.

I would go Hwy 280/85/17/1. Hwys 280 and 17 also intersect, but hwy 85 is a bit of a shortcut.

Another option is Hwy 101/156/1, which is much less scenic. I would do this route if you are uncomfortable with driving on a curvy highway, which hwy 17 is. I think it's a fine road, but I guess some people have trouble with it - it's 4 lanes so you can drive slow in the right lane if you want and esspecially at that hour, there shouldn't be much traffic at all.