Hi all, this is my first post, and I see so many questions on the San Francisco area! I have a few questions myself. Planning a trip in mid-August, my plans are as follows:

Wed - Arrive in San Fran around noon, drive to Yosemite (three hour drive). Arrive at Yosemite late afternoon.
Thur & Fri - Stay at Yosemite, go hiking, biking, maybe white water rafting
Sat - leave in the morning and drive to Big Sur/Monterrey/Carmel area (three hour drive)
Sun - stay in Big Sur/Monterrey/Carmel area, check out the beach, redwoods at Big Sur, etc.
Mon - leave in the morning and drive to San Francisco (2 hour drive), depending on how early we leave, we should have a whole day there to check out the sights.
Tues - leave for home

Any thoughts? Suggested places to stay? I was thinking Evergreen Lodge at Yosemite? Any recs in Monterrey and San Francisco?

Travelling with me will be my husband and another couple - we are in our late twenties.

Thanks so much in advance!

What is your budget? In Carmel, The Highland's Inn is my favorite place and in Monterey, The Plaza is wonderful. Have a nice trip! ***kim***

We're looking for accomodations around under $150 per night? Is this possible?

For Monterey Bay area, take a look at Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove which is state-owned but also does reservations for individuals space permitting. They also allow one-night stays. Note that the accomdations are sparce but beach is steps away and near 17 Mile Drive. Many places require two-night minimum on weekends. There is also the LightHouse Lodge and Suites.

http://www.lhls.com/
http://www.asilomarcenter.com/

For Yosemite, take a look at The Redwoods which has a number of different sizes of rental homes. Located near Wawona.

http://www.redwoodsinyosemite.com/seasons.htm

If you can stay inside Yosemite. Check now as it fills up way in advance. I just stayed in Camp Curry cabin last month. Booked last minute and it was great fun. Realistically you probably won't have time to river raft--there is a lot to do and see without that.

Definitely see if you can get lodging in the valley A lot of people make their reservations a year in advance and then end up having to cancel, so you might get lucky. If don't have reservations in the valley, see if you can get cancelable reservations outside and then keep trying to get something in the valley.

The river rafting would be fun if you have time. I don't know how much white water there will be in the park. You can rent inflatable rafts in Curry Village, float down the river and then take the shuttle back to Curry. We go in May, which is before the rafts are availible, so I've never done it. At that time, the water is moving pretty quickly, but there aren't really any rapids in the valley. Downstream of the park we have seen some pretty good rapids.

only 1 day in san fran? I'd go to the Pier, and walk around North Beach and Chinatown!

Ramita,you should be aware that if you plan to be in the Monterey Peninsula on the weekend of Aug 13-15 you will be lucky to find accomodations at any price.This is the weekend of the Historic Automobile races at Laguna Seca coupled with the the Pebble Beach Concours.This weekend is far and away the busiest time of the entire year.

I just booked a room in Monterey at the Monterey Bay Lodge for $129/night. It's gotten pretty good reviews online, and is newly renovated (see their website montereybaylodge.com). It is too bad that you'll only have one day in the Monterey area and one day in SF.

We are also doing a one-week trip, but aren't including SF (didn't want to try to do too much). We're flying into Fresno (closer to Yosemite) then out of Monterey.

We have stayed at the Monterey Bay Lodge and it was a very nice place to stay...I had no complaints. There is so much to do and see around there that we really only hit the room at bedtime, but everything was clean an quiet and worked out great!

Ramita,

It's Monterey that you want; Monterrey is in Mexico.

The Best Western Carmel Bay View Inn is a very nice, moderately places motel up toward the top of the villege. The rooms were recently redecorated in a pretty country style, and the bathrooms are modern.

Hi, Ramita,

I was able to get a room in SF through priceline for much less than the $150 you quote, but it really helps to do research and use the Priceline helper sites (google priceline hotel bidding advice for pointers) AND you have to be willing to take what you get. (We're staying at the Villa Florence in Union Sq about a week before you get there.)

Also, you *can* get rooms in Yosemite Valley, but you have to be persistent. My teenage daughter was so appalled that we'd booked a tent cabin that she checked the web site DAILY until a "real" room came up (LOL). It took three rebookings to get two nights in the same room at Yosemite Lodge (vacancies opened for each night individually), but we're there now and DD is thrilled.

Good luck and enjoy your trip!

I was able to get a room at Yosemite Lodge for 3 nites in June. I checked the website www.yosemitepark.com everyday for 1 week and was able to secure reservations. I booked 1 nite and then ckecked back to add on the other nights. I'm told the closer it gets to your dates the more availability there is. Also I am staying at Asolimar Lodge and the rate is $120.00 with breakfast each morning. The website is www.delawarenorth.com. I'm doing a similiar trip in June. I'll post when I return.

Thanks for all the suggestions! I've revised my itinerary slightly:

2 nights in Yosemite
2 nights in Monterey
2 nights in San Francisco

At Yosemite I'm leaning towards the Evergreen Lodge, although I would like to stay in the Park. In Monterey, I like the Monterey Bay Lodge. In San Francisco, has anyone stayed at the Carlton Hotel? Thoughts?

I haven't stayed at Carlton, but I live there, Sutter @ Larkin. It's a newly renovated place, they opened it again maybe only a week ago. Location-wise it's safe, but not really close to anything except maybe Union Square shopping. Bus connection is good, staying at Carlton you are on the major bus lines.

Thanks FainAgain - what neighborhoods would you recommend for two young couples? Not really into the bar scene, but interested in fun restaurants, shopping ,etc.

Okay - I just booked the Union Street Inn for 2 nights in San Fran.

Any opinions on 2 nights at the Big Sur Lodge? Or one night in Big Sur and one night in Monterey?

How much time you choose to spend in Big Sur vs Monterey really depends on the type of experience you want - outdoors or in town.

Hi Ramita,

I think that you may be trying to fit too much in for the amount of time you have. I'd recommend spending doing 3 nights in Yosemite as originally planned and add an extra night in the Monterey Bay Area. Three nights in Yosemite is really not all that much. You could easily spend a week there and still not see it all.

Saturday night I'd recommend staying in Cambria, maybe take a morning tour of Hearst Castle and then drive up through Big Sur and stay Sunday and Monday nights in Monterey. I would recommend saving SF for another trip given your time constraints and the fact that August is usually quite cool (low 60's during the day) and foggy most of the time.

In terms of places to stay, in Yosemite, I would recommend the Yosemite Lodge. Definitely stay in the valley if you can. The closest accomodations just outside the park are a 40 minute drive each way into the valley. In Monterey the nearby town of Pacific Grove has lots of nice inns and B&B's.

www.pacificgrove.org

Have a nice trip.

I don't mean to revise your itinerary for you, but have you considered flying into SF, spending time in the city and then the Big Sur area, THEN driving to Yosemite? You could fly out of Fresno instead of returning to the Bay Area, which has a lot more traffic than Fresno and is farther away. Then you wouldn't be flying into SF and immediately making a long circular road trip.....just a thought.

BTW, I second the notions to stay in the valley if at all possible, even in a tent cabin. It's only two days of your life and they are not that bad. Otherwise you will spend your days driving into and out of the valley on twisting one lane roads invariably stuck behind motorhomes and tour buses, lol. Then there's the challenge of trying to find a parking place when you day trip into the valley. Much easier to spend the night there, then just get up and go hiking.