southern coast
 

We are planning road trip from San Jose to San Diego in California. Despite everything I've read, I still need advice on how much time to allow for sight-seeing between major destinations, particularly between San Jose to Los Angeles. We've done Carmel and Monterey, so I think our first stop is San Simeon. Any advice is appreciated.

Other places along the way to LA would be Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo, Solvang (nice Danish community), and Santa Barbara.

If you have not already done so, be sure to make reservations for Hearst Castle.

www.hearst-castle.org

From San Jose to San Diego its a 460 mile drive.

A reasonable itinerary would be:

1 day in San Simeon
2 days in Morro Bay
2 days in San Luis Obispo
1 day in Solvang
2 days in Santa Barbara
3 days each in LA and San Diego

Have a nice trip

I made note of the itinery. Thanks. Can I assume that each day for each location includes the time it takes to travel there?

From San Simeon to Morro Bay is only 30 miles and from Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo is about a 30 minute drive.

San Luis Obispo to Solvang is 70 miles and Solvang to Santa Barbara is another 50 miles.

The longest distances are Santa Barbara to LA = 100 miles and LA to San Diego = 120 miles.

I forgot how close Morro Bay and San Luis Obispo are to each other. I think you could do 2 nights in one or the other or one night in each place. San Luis Obispo is a college town and has a nice farmers market. The beauty of Morro Bay is that it's right on the coast.


I don't know if you live in San Jsoe or not, but if you are from out of town, Big Basin has some impressive coastal redwoods. It's about a 30 minute drive from the city.

www.bigbasin.org

I plan it like this:

Day 1: Leave San Jose for Big Basin, then drive to San Simeon, staying overnight in Cambria.

Day 2: Morning and afternoon tours of Hearst Castle. Leave San Simeon for Morro Bay.

Day 3: Morro Bay, leave in the evening for San Luis Obispo.

Day 4: San Luis Obispo. Leave in the afternoon for Solvang

Day 5: Solvang, depart in the evening for Santa Barbara

Days 6 and 7: Santa Barbara

Days 8, 9, 10: LA

Days 11, 12, 13: San Diego

Thanks Watson. Looks good and the first real solid recommedations. I've been reading your suggestions on the other sites as well.

The previous poster plan looks good.
IF you can arrange it --be in San Luis Obispo on a Thursday-- the farmer's market starts at 6 PM . Downtown streets are closed-there is a shuttle that looks like a street car that circles these streets and goes past many hotels to save trying to find a plarking place.This is one of the best markets in California---fresh produce plus lots of food, crafts. singing groups and puppet show for the kids.....
IMO you could stay either in SLO or Morro Bay and drive between areas--
its only l5 miles....I think 3 days total for the 2 cities would be plenty..
As you can tell --I love this area....
Have fun

Another vote for stoping in Big Basin if you've never been there before.