California road trip advice

floyd333

Hi Folks,

Myself and the wife are planning a California road trip this July
The plan is to fly into San Francisco. Spend a few days there. Then maybe head to yosemite for 3 days.

We will probably go back to San Francisco as we want to go down the coast road.

If possible we will spend a night or two in big sur.
We’d also like to stay in Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Luis obis.

We are not bothered about LA. We will just fly home from there.
I’d appreciate any advice on out trip. I’m particular interested in a nice quiet beach area where we could chill for 2 or 3 days. We were looking at going for 15-16 days.

We have a bit of time to play with so may look into visiting Lake Tahoe and or some wine country (Napa and Sonoma)

Our budget is tight. Accommodation looks very expensive. I’ve heard that its possible to book hotels at the last minute. Is this a bit risky?

I’d appreciate any advice or tips.

Ta:D

jme2010

Myself and the fiancee covered an almost identical itinerary as yours as part of a bigger road trip but we absolutely blasted through it going from SF to LA in one day (big mistake as we missed so much sights).

You have a good base there and plenty of time to see everything.

My only advice is to start everyday as early as you can and to not drive at night as you just miss too many views. Check sunset times for that time of year in that city.

You can book hotels as you are departing one morning and check in later that very same evening :D:D It's no problem at all. I 100% recommend booking.com to everybody beacuse you can sign-up and have all your accommodation organized in a timeline and they include amazing city guides with each booking and they communicate with the hotel for you if you wish. Just a cracking website for hotel bookings.

floyd333

jme2010 wrote: »

Myself and the fiancee covered an almost identical itinerary as yours as part of a bigger road trip but we absolutely blasted through it going from SF to LA in one day (big mistake as we missed so much sights).

You have a good base there and plenty of time to see everything.

My only advice is to start everyday as early as you can and to not drive at night as you just miss too many views. Check sunset times for that time of year in that city.

You can book hotels as you are departing one morning and check in later that very same evening :D:D It's no problem at all. I 100% recommend booking.com to everybody beacuse you can sign-up and have all your accommodation organized in a timeline and they include amazing city guides with each booking and they communicate with the hotel for you if you wish. Just a cracking website for hotel bookings.

Sounds. Thanks jme2010. Good advice.

InTheTrees

SF is famous for its fog. And the fog is at its peak in the mid summer when it gets about 30 degrees inland and the rising inland air sucks in moisture from the sea.

Its not only san fransisco though it happens all the way up the coast, I used to live on the california coast and now i'm up in washington state and it happens here too in the summer.

The good thing is that it usually burns off around midday. There's pockets around Monterey bay and along the coast where it can linger all day but it generally fades away by noon. So if you get up early and it looks cloudy and grey (even drizzly), dont dispair, its more than likely it will clear up soon enough. Its well worth putting off the drive down the coast for a few hours if its foggy that morning. Ask at your hotel/motel/restaurant/gas station and they'll know more about it locally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_fog

InTheTrees

floyd333 wrote: »

Hi Folks,
Myself and the wife are planning a California road trip this July
The plan is to fly into San Francisco. Spend a few days there. Then maybe head to yosemite for 3 days.
We will probably go back to San Francisco as we want to go down the coast road.
If possible we will spend a night or two in big sur.
We’d also like to stay in Monterey, Santa Barbara and San Luis obis.
We are not bothered about LA. We will just fly home from there.
I’d appreciate any advice on out trip. I’m particular interested in a nice quiet beach area where we could chill for 2 or 3 days. We were looking at going for 15-16 days.
We have a bit of time to play with so may look into visiting Lake Tahoe and or some wine country (Napa and Sonoma)
Our budget is tight. Accommodation looks very expensive. I’ve heard that its possible to book hotels at the last minute. Is this a bit risky?
I’d appreciate any advice or tips.

Ta:D

For SF you should book a hotel in advance, and LA. Outside the big cities though there's motels all over the place, you wont have any trouble.

If you have a car and some time, it really is worth driving around LA a bit. Its the second largest city in the usa. I think it gets a lot of its bad rap because people arent prepared for size and the amount of driving and lack of public transport. If you're up for driving around at least spend the night there before you fly out.

Save

wolfyboy555

Sorry to hijack. Myself and 3 others are also planning a road trip in June but in opposite direction. Was looking at LA > Coastal drive > San Fran > Yosemite > Vegas. We have 15 days. Is this doable or should we modify the route. No flights booked yet.

wolfyboy555

or perhaps landing in LA and doing LA > Vegas > Yosemite > San Fran > Coastal Route back to LA and fly out. The flights are working out cheaper for return to LA rather than into LA out of Vegas. Any suggestions?

InTheTrees

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

or perhaps landing in LA and doing LA > Vegas > Yosemite > San Fran > Coastal Route back to LA and fly out. The flights are working out cheaper for return to LA rather than into LA out of Vegas. Any suggestions?

I think that sounds like a good plan. I've never done the vegas > Yosemite, there's not much on it so you'll want to just do that quickly.

But other wise it seems good. I actually kind of prefer the LA > SF up highway one because it means you're driving on the inside lane up that cliff road.

In LA you'll want Santa Monica or Venice Beach. they're right next door to each other and are the most walkable. Venice beach sounds like it would suit you. Book in advance. SF too.

wolfyboy555

Do you know roughly how long it takes to get cleared Stateside when flying via London?

eeloe

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Do you know roughly how long it takes to get cleared Stateside when flying via London?

all depends on how many flights have landed at the same time as your one.

We cleared Customs stateside last year from London - Vegas...took about 30 minutes.

Rashers72

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Do you know roughly how long it takes to get cleared Stateside when flying via London?

There is a website where the US airports post estimated passport control times, based on terminal and arrival times. Sorry don't have the link.
The new technology impacting these are the automated machines being rolled out.

él statutorio

wolfyboy555 wrote: »

Do you know roughly how long it takes to get cleared Stateside when flying via London?

I've seen it be as quick as 30 mins.

I've also seen it take 3-4 hours....

Cupra280

jme2010 wrote: »

Myself and the fiancee covered an almost identical itinerary as yours as part of a bigger road trip but we absolutely blasted through it going from SF to LA in one day (big mistake as we missed so much sights).

You have a good base there and plenty of time to see everything.

My only advice is to start everyday as early as you can and to not drive at night as you just miss too many views. Check sunset times for that time of year in that city.

You can book hotels as you are departing one morning and check in later that very same evening :D:D It's no problem at all. I 100% recommend booking.com to everybody beacuse you can sign-up and have all your accommodation organized in a timeline and they include amazing city guides with each booking and they communicate with the hotel for you if you wish. Just a cracking website for hotel bookings.

+1 to this.

That website really is amazing.

Did that trip in 2013.....best holiday ever. Monterey is beautiful.

I hope this isn't seen as a recommendation, but if visiting San Luis Obispo, you have to check out the Madonna Inn. That place needs booking well in advance to get an affordable price.

crapmanjoe

Big sur is basically just an hour south of Monterey - and there is little to no accommodation (and the little that there is is outrageously expenses or you need to camp) - so i wouldn't plan on being ovenight there. Its really the drive along the coast and stopping at all the little inlets / beaches etc that makes that trip amazing. 
Leaving Monterey around 11am (so letting the morning fog burn off) and then driving down the coast as far as Morroa Bay /  Pismo Beach (which itself prob takes  7 hours accounting for all the stops) and then doing a night or 2 there and maybe a night or 2 in Santa Barbara would be my recommendation (give or take a day depending on how much time you want to dedicate to wine country / tasting).
Also unless have already been there I wouldn't blow off LA so quickly - so much to do and see there