Treck

Dreamer2,

As another poster has said, 10 days in California is not a lot of time. As a resident of Sf I agree that SF may get a little boring for the kids. A reasonable itinerary would be:

San Diego (2 nights) Seaworld, Gaslamp District, Old Town, Coronado Island

http://sandiego.org/

Los Angeles (2 nights) Universal Studios, Hollywood tour, Santa Monica Pier.

http://lacvb.com/

San Jose (2 nights) Paramounts Great America, Tech Museum of Innovation and IMAX theater, Big Basin Redwoods Park or Roaring Camp Steam train in Henry Cowell Redwoods Park, daytrip to Monterey to see the aquarium and 17 Mile Drive.

http://sanjose.org/

http://bigbasin.org/

http://roaringcamp.com/

http://monterey.com/

SF (2 nights) with a day trip from there to Sonoma.

Dreamer2

Hi All!

Your responses have been so helpful! I do have a tentative itinerary based on your suggestions, and would appreciate critiques. It is also followed by several more detailed questions.

I have debated whether or not to include San Diego... However, San Diego and Sonoma are the two parts of California I've always wanted to see! I've even had tickets to go to each place individually on different occasions - but a family crisis intervened both times. Since it has taken me 45 years to get to the west coast, I'm including both, albeit for short visits.

Secondly, since we do have such a short time to try to experience so much, the kids have agreed to drop amusement parks from our itinerary, giving us more time to focus on tourist spots unique to the area. By the way, I'd love recommendations for any decent "suite" hotels in the areas listed below. We'll need plenty of room for these opposite sex teens who are taller than their parents!

So here goes:
Day 1 WED - Travel to San Diego
2 THURS - Trolley tour explore, and perhaps late admission to the Zoo. Do they have a reduced fare after a certain time?
3 FRI - Drive to Los Angeles and see either Mann's Theatre and Walk or Lake Hollywood and Mullholland Drive in the evening.
4 SAT - Either Warner Brothers tour or Beverly Hills and Rodeo Dr. window shopping.
5 SUN - Either Warner Brothers tour or Beverly Hills and Rodeo Dr. window shopping.
(Since the previous two are weekend days, does anyone have a sense for which would work out better on which day? I'd like to include either Venice Beach or Palisades Park, at some point, too!)
6 MON - Drive to the Hearst Castle area for a single overnight by way of an afternoon stop in Santa Barabara.
7 TUES - Visit the H.C. first thing in the morning, and then continue on for an afternoon and early evening in the Monterey area. I would love to see Carmel! Push to make San Francisco area for late check-in. (No need to stay IN the city; any recommendations for a good "base" hotel in the outskirts?)
8 WED - "Do" City Tour, including Cable Car, Lombard Street, Alcatraz... Can we visit PacBell Stadium? Dinner in Chinatown.
9 THURS - Day trip North to visit a vineyard in Sonoma and Muir Woods National Park to see Redwoods. (Would we be better off going further north to Healdsburg and seeing the Armstrong or Mallard Redwoods? How much further is that in travel time?)
10 FRI - Day trip East to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas and a Gold Rush tourist attraction. (Whereabouts on Rt. 49 would we find hills and valleys awash in spring blooms, and a "ghost town" where we could pan for gold? Also, how long would it take to get there from the outskirts of San Fran?)
11 SAT - Travel home from SF airport.
12 SUN - Recover

Well... What do you think?

I wish we could see more of the natural beauty inland, at Yosemite and Death Valley for example, but I just don't see how to fit it all in.

I'd also like to visit a Mission. Is there one along our path you'd recommend above others? At this point, I'm debating between San Diego and Santa Barbara. Taking a college tour is also a wonderful idea - BUT When?! Perhaps also in the Santa Barbara area?

My husband is interested in a Balloon ride in wine country. Can these buckets fit a party of 8? (We are meeting friends for that day.)

And finally, a silly question: Is one wharf better than other?! Fisherman's Wharf in San Fran or Monterey, or Stearn's Wharf in S. B.?

Well, thanks for all your patience and great ideas. I think it's turning into a great trip! A little hectic, but hopefully not too overhelming by trying to limit the hotel hopping. Further input is always appreciated.

jd

We did this same trip with 2 teenagers for 10 days also. San Diego was one of our favorite cities. We found the Embassy Suites in San Diego to be a good spot to tour from-and the kids loved the extra room.Do the trolley tour here-you can get off and on at the different tourist areas such as the zoo, Seaport village, Coronado, Hortons Plaza(an outside mall-nothing special, but teens love it)., Old Town.
We did 2 nts. in LA,which we felt was plenty. Did a bus tour of Hollywood, Farmers Market, stars homes, ect., and it ended up at Universal studios for the late afternoon and early evening. Also 3rd st. Promenade in Santa Monica,We stayed at the beach and also had a beach day here. Don't waste your time with Venice beach-it is a dump.
Santa Barbara is beautiful and we did 1 nt. here-lunch on the pier, rented a surrey for 4 to ride along the beach, toured a mission, and ate great mexican food.
The Big Sur Coastal drive was one of the highlights.
Stayed in Monterey 1 nt. to visit the aquarium. Carmel is close to here, so we drove there for dinner, and to walk around.
In San. Fran. we enjoyed Alcatraz and Golden Gate Park. Also tour of Chinatown. One suggestion is to stay at the Embassy suites in San Rafael. It is convenient to San.Fran., Sausalito, and Muir Woods.(We did 2 nts on Pier area, and 1 in San Rafael, but wished we had done all 3 nts. in San Rafael.
For wine country we did Sterling vineyards-it has a scenic tram ride to the top. We did a couple of others too.
One suggestion you may want to consider is a nt. or 2 in Palm Desert. We did this last April.April is a great time to go as the temps are in the 80's( LA and San Diego were in the 60's).If you are coming from a cold climate(as we were, it was great to have hot pool days, and to tour that area. My kids loved it there.If you do go, stay at the Marriott Desert Springs-kids will love it. We are going back this next April.Room prices are high now, but hopefully will come down to about $175 like they did last year. Have a great trip!

J_Correa

Some thoughts on your itinerery:

7 Tues will be a very long day. Hwy 1 through Big Sur is a challenging drive since it is so curvey. It's not difficult, but it is tiring because the driver has to focus - unlike freeway or straight highway driving where the driver and relax a bit. I would recommend spending the night in Monterey if possible. We drove from Morro Bay to San Jose a few weeks ago and by the time we got to SJ, I was exhasted - and our day didn't include a trip to HC or a stop in Monterey.

In SF, I would recommend staying in the city if possible. Since your day is so full, you want to have as much time as possible to see things.

Redwoods - Big Basin SP is in the Santa Cruz mountains off of Hwy 9. If you were to spend a night in Monterey, you could see Big Basin on your way to SF the next day. I like Big Basin much better than Muir Woods. There are also redwoods further north, as you mentioned, but with your packed itinerery, you really don't have time.

10 FRI would be a long day too. It's at least a 2 hour drive from SF to Placerville, which where Hwy 50 meets 49. I would be inclined to cut out the inland portion and focus on the coast since you wont have much time to enjoy the mountains anyway.

Missions - Santa Barbara and Carmel are both great. I haven't been to the one in San Diego. Other missions on your route - San Luis Obispo, San Buenaventura, San Juan Bautista (if you cut inland to Hwy 101 at Monterey), Santa Cruz (if you take Hwy 1 north from Monterey), Santa Clara, Dolores (in SF).

Wharves - I like the wharf in Monterey better than SF. I don't remember much about the wharf in SB - it's been a LONG time since I was there.

easytraveler

There seems to be so many opinions about California! Probably because there is so much to see!

I would agree with most of the posters here: forget the inland portions and just focus on the coast since you have only 10 days. San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Hearst Castle, Monterey/Carmel, San Francisco, and Sonoma.

When you drive along Big Sur, there are plenty of parks to stop and see redwoods in Big Sur. I don't think it's necessary to go to Big Basin or Muir Woods once you've seen the redwoods in Big Sur. Especially when you have so little time to cover so much territory. Just my opinion.

J Correa is correct, you need to slot more time for driving along Big Sur, it's a slow go. Beautiful but slow.

Also it looks like you need to slot more time for Hearst Castle. Maybe you could cut half a day/whole day out of Los Angeles.

easytraveler

Lake

Dreamer2:

J Correa makes an esxcellent point about your itineray on Tuesday. To really be able to enjoy the coastline, getting to SF from San Simeon after vsiting Hearst Castle will be very tiring. Take your time to take in the vistas along Route 1, and spend the afternoon in Monterey. Either Big Basin or the Roaring Camp Railroad in Henry Cowell Park in Felton are a must if you want to see the magnificent redwoods. Muir Woods doesn't even compare. It would make sense to stay in San Jose on Tuesday the 7th in order to be able to go to either Big Basin or Raoring Camp in the morning when there are less people and the traffic leaving San Jose for Big Basin will not be a problem on a weekday morning. If you will be in San Jose you and your kids would probaly enjoy the Tech Museum and the IMAX theater.

http://thetech.org/

ellen_griswold

Your itinerary sounds awesome and well planned!

I however, would change one thing. We spent lots of time in california on each of our eight out-west adventures (of 3 wks each) and i would definitely re-think the day in gold country! It depends on the age of your teens and how savvy they are, but if they're older teens, they will think its major league lame. We spent a day there on one of our out west adventures; panning for gold in Columbia State Park reminded our kids of an activity they'd done at church camp years earlier.

(To those who will slam me, i KNOW there is more to see in Gold Country, but NOT when you have ONLY 10 days and are traveling with TEENS!!!!!!!!)

Instead of Gold Country:

1) add another day in San Francisco; IMO your one day there isn't enough. (In addition, there is a small Gold Rush Nat'l Park in San Francisco near the historic area, that gives a good overview IF you must experience something from that period.)

2) Or add another day in LA, spending 1/2 day at a Presidential Library (Nixons or Reagans) and then 1/2 day at the Getty! A myriad of amazing, UNIQUE attractions await in southern california!

3) Spend a day/night in Orange County (my new fave place) at Laguna Beach, Newport Beach or as RJ wrote above, Huntington Beach is great fun for teens. If they want to check out Beverly Hills as you said, they're most likely familar with 'O.C.' on tv and would definitely enjoy that more than Gold Country!

You will love California and you WILL immediately want to go back!

lenleigh

My husband and I did a 16 day trip from San Fran ending up in San Diego in Sept and I agree that 10 days is not a lot of time,especially for all that you would like to do/see. I would spend 2 full days in San Diego beyond your check-in date, 4 days in LA and 3 days in San Francisco.

One thing to keep in mind since you have a lot to do, stay somewhere close to those attractions. This will also alleviate some driving (we saw some very scary driving). In San Diego, I would suggest staying downtown, on coronado or in hotel row because most of the things you want to see are pretty close.

We stayed in Santa Monica for about 4-5 days and although it was nice to be near the beach, we wished we had really stayed closer to Hollywood because that's where we were most of the time. Don't know what your budget is but check out The Rosevelt Hotel. Also, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Dr, Chinese Theater and other sights are very close to each other so I would say that unless you all spend hours upon hours shopping that you will be able to see almost all of those things on one day. We did the Warner Brothers tour, which was fantastic, on a Tuesday. I am not even sure that they do tours on the weekends, so I would check on that. I think they tape most shows during the week and the tour is supposedly never the same. The day we went, we actually were asked if we wanted to see a taping of Friends (which is impossible to get tickets to) and if was completly by chance that on Tuesday they needed people in the audience since they normally shoot on Fridays. You never know who or what you could see so I would consider maybe doing the tour on a Friday or Monday if you can.

In San Fran, I would definitly stay near the wharf or in the city. We stayed at the Marriott Fisherman's Wharf and our rate was $95 a night. I know there are less expensive places in the same area. Why spend extra time driving to all the things you want to see. You can catch the cable cars and get to Chinatown and other sights. I would also say that no, not all Wharfs are the same. Fisherman's Wharf is definitly better than Stern's Wharf. We did the Santa Barbara Trolley tour, and it is a very nice place but not a very exciting tour. We didn't even bother to check out what was on the Wharf because it didn't look that exciting. I will try to post what all we saw/did and some of our opinions in another post.

lenleigh

San Fran
-Walked around Fisherman's Wharf, ate lunch and dinner in the area, checked out the free mechanical museum,watched the Sea Lions(I like this area, some don't but if you haven't seen it should)
-Rode the cable cars(definitly a must)
-Walked up and down Lombard Street(Extremly touristy but for 1st timers fun to see and not a lot out of the day)
-Walked around Chinatown and ate dinner there(I love Chinatown but hard sometimes to find a good recommendation for food.We ate at the R&G Lounge which is nothing fancy inside but great food.Ate the Salt & Pepper crab and the marinated beef and will be back on our next trip!)
-Bay Cruise (We did this becuase Alcatraz was sold out. It's not bad, great view of the city and you go under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz where I took some excellent photos)
-Took bus to Palace of Fine Arts & Exploratorium Museum (Palace of Fine arts is beautiful, the exploratorium is fun but definitly more fun for children)
-Took bus to Golden Gate Park,Japanese Tea Garden, Flower Conservatory(My first time to GG Park and I loved it,if you go try to get to the Tea Garden to have some tea, it is really beautiful.The whole park is and it's huge)
-Day trip to Muir Woods and Napa,over Golden Gate Bridge (It was interesting to see the Redwoods in Muir woods. Very pretty, we spent about an hour or so there and then headed to V Sattui Winery for a fabulous picnic. The only negative part is that the area is very touristy but what do you expect.Can't be a secret for ever)

Monterey
-Cannery Row(Not that exciting)
-Monterey Bay Aquarium (The best aquarium I have ever been to)
-The Monterey Fisherman's Wharf where we ate dinner at Cafe Fina(A little romantic, nothing too exciting for the Wharf)
-Drove the coast and saw lots of Sea Lions and Elephant Seals just North of Hearst Castle
-Did the main tour of Hearst Castle and watched the video(the video is nice,more like a movie documentary). The house was very interesting.

Santa Barbara
-Trolley Tour of SB
-Enjoyed our Bed and Breakfast since we only spent one night here

Santa Monica/LA
-NBC Studio tour(Not worth it at all)
-2 tapings of the Tonight Show
-1 taping of Jimmey Kimmel Show
-Warner Brothers tour (worth it)
-Universal Studios (Fun for one day if you have never been there,wouldn't necesarily go back again)
-Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, Walk of Fame, Sunset Drive, Hollywood Blvd, Beverly Hills, ate at the Pig'N'Whistle which was good and the House of Blues(Touristy things that are all very close to each other)
-Venice Beach (interesting to see once, wouldn't necesarily want to go everytime)
-Santa Monica beach and Pier (disapointed with the pier, it looks more fun than it is but downtown Santa Monica has some nice shopping and places to walk around)

San Diego
-Spent half the day at the zoo (definitly worth it but a LOT of walking and very hilly so be prepared)
-Spent half a day at Sea World (Go if you have never been.The crowds get old but I love the dolphin pool so I would go back)
-Trolley tour (this is a pretty nice tour,you get a good overview and see some interesting things,also drops you off at a lot of attractions)
-Balboa Park & Museums (History Museum,not worth it in my opinion.Fleet musuem is fun for kids,would check out the auto,museum of man or flight museum)
-Coronado hotel and beach (beautiful, nice beach, romantic, excellent brunch!!!)
-Several times walked along Seaport village by the ports and Marina (I like this area,there is shopping, food, people watching, entertainment, boats, etc...)
-Spent an evening at Mission Beach,watched the sunset which is great here and ate dinner

That's all that I can remember, minus the little things. You can see our photos at this link: http://community.webshots.com/user/lenleigh

sunshine

San Diego Zoo is great. You can take the tram instead of walking through all of it.

questionmotives

Just FYI dreamer.....Lake, Treck and Guarto are all the same person, someone who spends his time on Fodor's trying to promote the "tourist attractions" of San Jose whenever someone mentions the Bay Area, Northern Cal or Cal in general.

Is he a paid promoter? No one knows, but he almost invariably directs unsuspecting tourists to the San Jose Visitor and Convention Bureau site, sanjose.org. Coincidence? Maybe.

You'll find plenty of information about his sneaky multiple aliases and rather deceptive promotional efforts if you type in "San Jose" on the search engine. His names may change but the postings are the same, including the misspellings.

Fodor's has started to delete his promotions of late, although they don't seem to be blocking his multiple screen names as they used to.

curmudgeon

Hey, dreamer2 asked for the "biased opinions"; I suspect she/he has seen the "San Jose is the center of the tourist universe" theme before and knows how much weight to give it...

Anyway, back on topic, with 10 days it has to be somewhat of a sampler, so some things are always going to get left out. Some thoughts (from my perspective):

I would either spend more time in San Diego, or skip it. Rushing through destroys the laid back atmosphere that defines SD. You need time to hang out at the beach and watch the surfers, relax and enjoy the zoo or Sea World etc.

It's not a long drive from SD to LA (as long as you avoid peak traffic flows), so most of that day is available. Mission San Juan Capistrano is right along the way, it would make a good stop. I might be tempted to squeeze a day out of your LA schedule (or add in the Getty museum).

Santa Barbara is another town more for relaxing; nice beach, nice restaraunts, nice downtown area. UCSB is actually north of Santa Barbara, in Goleta; it might be fun to visit (ultimate beach campus).

If you are trying to do Hearst and the coast and make it to SF, that will be a long day (but you should have daylight savings time to help). In that case, I would cut inland after monterey on hwy 156 over to US101 (just stay away from San Jose traffic until after 7pm). I would allow 2.5 hours minimum from Monterey to south part of SF.

It is pushing it to do gold country as a day trip (though I should say that plenty of folks from the bay area do day ski trips up into the mountains beyond, but they leave at 6am). If you could spend one night in the area, it would be easier. Columbia is a decent choice for goldfields area visit. If the kids were fed up with buildings and sights, they could try some "t-shirt and shorts" spring skiing up at Kirkwood - they are usually open into May.

With limited time, Muir Woods, maybe Point Reyes, and Sonoma would likely be a good combo to get your redwoods and vineyards. Big Basin is probably a better park for the redwoods, but it is quite a bit longer of a drive.

joesorce

You can see Hollywood Bl on the same day that you take the WB Tour. The tour only takes about 2-3 hours. Also, try to fit it in on a weekday since there will not be any TV shows filming on weekends and you won't see any action.

clarkgriswold

2 reg rooms are sometimes more economical than a 2 rm suite since the suites are hard to come by...that said, I'd recommend Magic Castle Hotel in Hollywood, sspines.com near Hearst, and columbusmotorinn in San Francisco. They all offer some 2 room units, and in San Fran you won't find a better located hotel with free parking.

The Getty is open until 9pm on Saturdays and is well-worth a visit even if you think the kids aren't into art museums. The view alone (of L.A at night) is worth your time and something you'll remember.

From Hollywood, you can hop a quick subway ride up to Universal for dinner, Citywalk is a must-visit for teenagers, lots of places to eat and things to see.

KJJ

I'd hit these:

SoCal: La Jolla and San Diego.

L.A.: Disneyland, Universal Studios, Rodeo/Bev. Hills. Skip the "walk of fame." If you have time: Newport Beach/Balboa Island.

Central/No.Cal: Yosemite or Lake Tahoe. If you have to choose one of these, choose Yosemite.

NoCal: San Francisco: Alcatraz, GG Bridge, cable car, Union Square)

Wine: St. Helena, Napa (Wine train; Bistro Don Giovanni restaurant, French Laundry restaurant. Copia in Napa: wine and food museum.)

The drive from SoCal to NoCal can be done in one long day, but if you went to Yosemite, this could break it up.

johncharles

Dreamer, couldn't agree more with those who say your prospective day 7 is too full. Big Sur, and just to the north Point Lobos (immediately south of Carmel) and the 17-Mile drive (immediately north of Carmel) together are one of the two absolute natural beauty highlights of California (and the World.) You will want to take time to go slowly and savor this area. It is so out-of-this-world spectacular that even your teens will be wowed.
The other of the two highlights you are proposing to miss, and that is Yosemite. You must not. It is a place of absolutely unique grandeur that for some reason does not quite get the respect it is due outside the West, but it should have higher priority than almost anything else on your list. Your teens will gape at the waterfalls (which will be spectacular in the early spring as the snow at higher elevations is just beginning to melt) and rock spires so different and so much larger than anything they have seen before. I agree with the poster who advised you to ditch the nearby Gold Country (or any time in San Jose other than driving through it, if you must even do that) for Yosemite.
Also, though I love S.F. and have lived there longer than anyplace else, I have to agree with the posters who say that the tourist things that are fun with kids can all be done in a day or two, largely because the city is so delightfully compact and all the good stuff is so close together. A comment--Fisherman's Wharf is considered a tourist trap and a joke by residents--avoid it if you can. But don't miss the views from Coit Tower and Twin Peaks, as well as the roads through The Presidio and Lincoln Park for some of the best ocean, Golden Gate and bay views. And when you take the cable car, take the Hyde and Beach line both ways and ride, with the kids, on the LEFT side (facing the direction the car is going) each way for the best views!

Gardyloo

Mt suggestion about the Gold Rush country was in view of Dreamer2's proposed travel dates. Yosemite in April can be seriously dodgy, and Tioga Pass usually doesn't open till May or June. It might be nice in the valley, or it might be flooding, snowy, or otherwise miserable in mid-April. If travel to the Sierras or foothills is in the plans in mid-April, play it by ear as to whether to try for the national park or not.

Dreamer2

Thanks again everyone! We will stick to the coast, and split Day 7 into two days. I will continue to check back to this post for any additional info, and will post a trip report upon our return. Your information has been so helpful.

Parrothead

With the criteria first trip and 10 days I am sure you understand that you can't see it all. So I suggest you see:
San Diego - 2 days
LA/Hollywood - 2 days
Drive to SF - 1 day
SF - 3 days
Wine country - 2 days

This means you have to skip:
Redwoods
Monterey/Carmel/Central Coast
Yosemite
Tahoe

Don't even worry about skipping:
Catalina Island
Santa Barbara
Anywhere in the inland valleys
San Jose/Silicon Valley
Santa Cruz

You are giving up some of the rugged beauty in favor of some of the things teenagers like. There is nothing beautiful about Hollywood, but the kids will love the studios, Melrose and Magic Mountain if it fits in. California is not a state you can even make a dent in with a 10 day trip, I live here and have been to nearly everything discussed so far, I would stick with the major coastal areas for a first trip.