Hello!
My friends and I are planning a California trip late October/early November of this year. We want to stop at a couple of places for a few days at a time, and drive up or down the coast.
We have questions:
1. Is San Francisco to San Diego possible in 7 days? Or is it better to do San Francisco – LA/LA – San Diego?
2. Which direction is best? North to South? South to North?
3. What are the best stopping points between SF and San Diego? Looking to book 2-4 Airbnb's.
4. Attractions and must sees
5. Any other useful information about this undertaking is appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
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Yes, absolutely possible. What types of things do you like? Nature, cities, touristy stuff, etc...?
From N to S, one way would be
Spend a day or two in SF
Monterey Aquarium is awesome
Drive down Highway 1 through Big Sur (Though that road was damaged recently, they'll probably have it repaired by then)
Hearst Castle
Santa Barbara
Hit the beach in Malibu/Santa Monica/Venice and do some LA stuff
Do you want to Disney?
San Clemente is a nice town/beach area, but pretty much everywhere from Malibu south is a nice beach area.
San Diego for whatever time you have left
If you really wanted to drive the coast you could drive SF -> hearst castle -> santa barbara -> LA, and cut san diego entirely.
Spend 2 days there, then drive 101 south -- Hwy 1 is nice and scenic, but not fantastic and imo not really worth being on the road that long.
So anyway, drive south on 101 for as far as you feel like going. Stop anywhere between Paso Robles and Santa Barbara that looks good. San Luis Obispo is nice, Pismo Beach was the place Bugs Bunny was trying to go to when he took a wrong turn at Albuquerque and is beautiful, and of course Santa Barbara is pretty wonderful. Spend a day at whatever place it was.
Then on to LA, for all the stuff mentioned above, maybe 2 days.
Finally, on to San Diego for the last day. Sea World, La Jolla, SD Zoo and Wild Animal Park, etc, etc. It's a great town, lots to do down there.
Personally, this feels a little full and not very relaxing to me. It's more driving than I'd want to do on vacation, but if I were going to drive CA in a week, that's probably something like what I'd go for.
If you are at all outdoors-y this is worth considering. Yosemite is one of those places that lives up to the hype.
Personally, I'd do 2-3 days in SF (1 day tourist stuff like alcatraz, exploratorium, lombard etc.), 1 morning in GG Park then good food/drink the night away, then maybe 1 day doing other fun adult stuff (SF is an adult playground). Then a bunch of time in Yosemite, winding through Napa on your way there or back.
Carmel/coast is cool to look at, but ultimately I wouldn't do much around there unless you mountain bike (Santa Cruz/Monterey area), surf or want a romantic time.
LA and SoCal are sort of their own animal, with different options there around the endless area that is LA, as well as other natural stuff near there like Joshua Tree/Mojave etc.
Travel notes:
In LA and the surrounding regions: avoid the 405 freeway. Traffic hours are early in the morning (6am) until about 10/11am, and again from about 2/3pm to 6/7pm. Parking can be a pain; make sure you read/parse the parking signs carefully. The coldest it gets is about ~40 degrees at night. The coast is about 10 degrees cooler than downtown. The valleys are 10 degrees hotter.
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Because of how otherwise isolated the Central Coast is, I would think Big Sur would be a bit out of your way, and getting to Heart Castle can only really be done from the South right now. You could definitely still do the latter and/or, but you'll need to prioritize what it is you want to see as they will involve backtracking right now.
If you still want to stop between the SF Bay Area and LA, then 101 is wholly preferable to I-5. You could probably fly into SF, spend a couple days here, then drive down to Monterey either down 1 through Santa Cruz or through the South Bay on 101. From there, you could drive to the LA area on 101 as previously described.
As far as what we're looking to get out of the trip, is mostly a relax/unwind kind of deal. We're all from NYC and really we just want to go away for a week and see some beaches, live in a more relaxed environment, partake in legal pot, see the coast. So we're looking for cities/towns to stop at that are near a beach, have good food to eat, maybe a brewery. Two of the people in the group are gay guys, so they'll want to check out some gay bars as well.
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Malibu
Santa Monica
Redondo Beach
Palos Verdes
San Pedro
Newport Beach
La Jolla
Downtown San Diego
otherwise I would agree with schuss, but we are similar in our activity enjoyment
i'd argue for Sonoma as a good "Napa-without-the-pretentiousness-or-cost" option.
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I'll second flying in to Oakland. You can also snag BART and get into the city. I'd probably go to Jack London Square for the first night and check out Yoshi's. Then take the ferry into San Francisco the following day and stick to public transportation.
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/california-weed/article113420578.html
Also I don't think a trip down the Pacific Coast Highway is in your future:
http://time.com/4791816/big-sur-landslide-california-state-route-1/
1. 101 is a main artery. Except when they are the same. But mostly they are different.
In LA, a cool place to visit besides the usual are the tar pits and the museums in the immediate area. Watch out for some nasty smells, but I found it to be worth it because of how cool and dangerous nature can be.
I was using Napa in the general sense as you're correct.
Based on your description I'd do the following:
1. Make sure the trip coincides with the first friday of the month - this is important, as that's when you should roll to Oakland and do the art murmur. Seriously great art, drinks in the street and a generally chill vibe. I would also say don't stay out too late as part of this, as hey, Oakland can still be rough around the edges (my info is ~4 years old on this, so take it with a grain of salt)
2. Spend 2-3 days doing the SF thing as described above. Get an AirBNB somewhere around Duboce park - you'll have easy access to Mission, Castro, Haight, Divis corridor, Hayes Valley and the BART and Muni. If you can't find fun things to eat and drink there, you are truly lost. PS go to Nopalito.
3. Do a lazy wine day or two in Napa/Sonoma. Get a wine driver or limo and just enjoy yourself. Wine drivers generally have ins at most of the wineries, so I recommend that as you'll be able to pivot your plan easier. My personal faves - Cuvaison, Gloria Ferrer (only if it's a nice day, they have the best deck and bubbly), Benziger (spring for the partners tour, you get crazy amounts of pours and it's fascinating).
4. Spend at least one afternoon/night in Sausalito area. Eat at Le Garage or Bocce and hang out. Ideally this will be when SF is socked in with fog, because you need that sun.
5. I'd still recommend at least a day or two in Yosemite if you can swing it. It's that cool.
6. Alternatively, hit Mt. Tam for a sunset and Muir Beach/Pt Reyes for some close-to-the-city nature.
7. Do at least one afternoon picnic on a nice day in Crissy Field and Alamo Square park (think full house).
8. Other fun things - get a res at Chez Panisse, drink at Dogwood and Plum Bar in Oakland (RIP Stags), drink at the Hayes Valley beer garden, get a coffee at blue bottle, Alcatraz (100% worth it), Off the Grid (if one is running somewhere, food truck thing), see a band at the Independent on Divisadero (great venue) or even better - the Greek in Berkeley.
I assume you meant SJC because SJO is in Costa Rica
Monterrey aquarium is such a lovely place to see.
just enjoy all the fresh fruits/veggies you can and maybe see what festivals are going on in california when you are going to be there. like The Garlic Festival in Gilroy (on your way south from San Fran to LA)
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- The Tar Pits/LACMA/Petersen Museum are all really cool, especially the Tar Pits for nature stuff and the Petersen if you like cars/want to see a bunch of movie cars.
- I really like the Getty Museum, which is pretty cheap, but they also have the Getty Villa in Malibu which is extremely beautiful but needs a prior reservation which the main museum doesn't require.
- UCLA is a super-pretty campus that you've probably seen in at least a few movies, and Westwood is a rather hip area. To the west is Santa Monica with the famous pier (which isn't that great tbh) and the shopping nearby (which is very good). To the east is Beverly Hills, with Rodeo Drive, the Grove, the Farmer's Market, and other stuff. If you want to see rich/famous people, this is probably your best spot to do it.
- Hollywood is a bit further east, and it's fine, if not very touristy.
- If you want to do theme parks, the two real obvious ones are Disneyland and Universal Studios. The west-coast Universal has the backlot tour which is really cool and you get to see a bunch of famous movie sets, and they have Potter stuff now so you can see that. If you want to do a studio tour but don't want to pay for theme park admission, I've heard the Warner Brothers tour is pretty good as well. It's located in Burbank, and you can see other studios such as the Disney studio in the area as well.
- The beaches are all varying degrees of nice. Venice is very touristy and kinda grimy, but it's definitely an experience. Orange County has some really nice beaches (Huntington Beach, Newport, Bolsa Chica) but they're a bit out of the way comparatively.
- Disneyland is the crown jewel of the SoCal theme parks, and for good reason. The park is relatively smaller compared to Disney World but is full of history. By the time you go, the Rivers of America will be reopened, as will the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride (that opens this weekend). If you're going to Disneyland, check which day you go, because your trip might bump up against one of the Halloween parties where they close the park early. The parks are still small enough that you can realistically get a park hopper and do everything with good planning, but expect this to be a full-day thing (where as with Universal you can realistically be done by late afternoon and have time to do other things in the area like City Walk).
- There are two other major theme parks in the area: Knotts Berry Farm and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Six Flags is the west-coast equivalent of Cedar Point in Ohio, and is one of the big roller-coaster meccas in the country, featuring over 20 (I believe) coasters in the park itself. Knotts is interesting in that it predated Disneyland by a few months and can lay claim to being the world's first theme park, but the big thing Knotts is known for is bringing boysenberries to the world, which you can (thankfully) get outside the park without having to go in.
- One side note: your trip will probably coincide with the end of the Halloween season, which means Universal, Knotts, Six Flags, and the Queen Mary (a pretty cool tour if you're into potentially haunted things) will all be holding various haunted attractions. If you're interested in those, you have options. Universal tends to be the most expensive, and goes the most for realism, but it also has access to horror properties the others don't have. Knotts started the trend and their event tends to be really good, leaning more on the campy side, and is relatively cheap by comparison. The Queen Mary experience tends to split the difference, but also gets to take advantage of the haunted ship for some really cool stuff.
- If you like sports, you'll be right in the middle of football season, and next year LA will have the Rams, Chargers, UCLA, and USC all playing. For views, nothing can beat sunset at the Rose Bowl, which you might want to see anyway because the Arroyo Seco is gorgeous.
- For some "off the beaten path" stuff, there's Palos Verdes. The views at sunset looking out on the ocean here are beautiful, and the area is rather nice, though there isn't much to do.
- Check out the Griffith Observatory, which provides some great panoramic views of LA (and one of the better night-time views in the city). Nearby is the Hollywood Sign, which you can hike to (or rather, hike near).
- Food stuff! The nice thing about LA is that there's a ton of good food options, depending on what you're in the mood for. My personal recommendations include Hae Jang Chon in Koreatown for KBBQ, The Apple Pan in LA for a burger (don't forget to get some apple pie), and of course, hit up some of the more famous chains like In-n-Out, Tommies (get the chili and make sure you see the Shack logo), and the Hat (pastrami everything).
- Oh, maybe check out a mission while on the trip? I did find that a good amount of the mission tours do a decent job of explaining why the mission system was fucked up and screwed over the natives, and they're rather important to the colonization of California.
- On your way to San Diego, stop by Dana Point and San Juan Capistrano. They're just off the 5 Freeway and offer some pristine views.
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If I were to go back to visit the old haunts and was shooting for maximum chill, I'd spend a day in San Francisco walking Fisherman's Wharf/North Beach/Chinatown enjoying the amazing food and drink then head south for some redwoods on the way down to Santa Barbara (beaches and beer) and Santa Cruz (boardwalk and probably more beer). Try and ride the 1 from there into LA and make a beachhead at Venice/Santa Monica (passing through and waving to Malibu which is beautiful but otherwise soulless and empty of anything to do). The Napa/Sonoma suggestions were great, too. Depending on the size of your party, go rent a party van and join all the bachelorette parties wooing their way up and down the vineyard routes - it's beautiful and fun and reasonably inexpensive.
You're from NYC, so, as an ex-New Yorker who lived in LA for 5 years, I can assure you that you won't be missing anything if you choose not to venture any further east into LA from Santa Monica. It's a lovely city that has added some amazing stuff in the last decade, but I don't think it'll be worth the headache or traffic for you unless you have a specific hankerin' like Hollywood or Universal or seeing real, live west coast hipsters (when I was there it was Eagle Rock, so who knows where the newest cool sprawl is now). This, however, is an age-old stereotype of New Yorkers who come to LA and act all uppity, and is unfair to LA (sometimes....maybe....not really). =P
The San Diego Zoo and beaches are pretty nice, and the town is pretty, but the city itself doesn't have much of a vibe. It's fairly bland and has much more of a Navy/Frat/Business Bro feel than you'd think being so close to the border. There's always the option to pop across to Tijuana, but it's really just trinket markets, knock off viagra, cheap modelo, and perilous ceviche choices. It's like visiting Bourbon Street but not going anywhere else in New Orleans: you'll have fun but you're doing yourself a disservice.