To ask about California?

[CaliforniaDream]

Shamelessly posting for traffic!

If you had 10 days to road trip in california (starting and finishing in San Francisco) what would be your must-sees?

Alcatraz

Muir Wood near SF is great, if you don't have time / budget for Yosemite

YABU to get a lovely trip to California... beyond jealous!!

I'd say that ten days isn't THAT long, and California is THAT big, so pick your key dream destinations and then work from there.

Another shout-out for San Diego here... amazing place.

We did SF, Carmel, Cambria, Pismo Beach, Malibu - driving down the PCH

Definitely recommend Carmel and Cambria, so pretty! I agree with gussiefox Hearst Castle is beautiful.

Whilst in Carmel we went whale watching, that was fun too.

I live in San Diego. Please make sure you come here! LA is worth skipping too. Downtown SD is full of things to do. We have wineries, beaches, the safari park, unlimited breweries, amazing sunsets and incredible food.

Op search on long haul as well huge threads on this on mumsnet

Parts of highway one (Big Sur) were closed due to a landslide, so check the routes.

Thank you so much everyone! These all look like incredible suggestion, I'll get researching!!

Yosemite and Death Valley - both stunningly beautiful in different ways

I'd spend at least 5 days in SF - esp get bikes and ride across the Golden Gate then get the ferry back.
Drive down to Monterey, stay a couple of days and go whale watching, plus go on a kayaking trip to be close to the sea otters.
The Hyatt at Carmel is fabulous - the sunset lounge has beautiful food and the most amazing view

If you go north rather than south and you like volcanoes - Lassen Volcanic National Park.

www.nps.gov/lavo/index.htm

We had our favourite stop over at a place called Solvang. It's like Disney does Denmark. With wine. Google it- I can't put its charm into words.

We are going to California in the summer. We have 14 days, starting and ending in San Francisco, and we are doing:

4 nights in San Francisco - inc trip to Alcatraz
1 night Six Flags theme park
2 nights in Napa
1 night in Sacramento
2 nights in Yosemite
4 nights in Monterey - booked the aquarium and whale watching

If going for 10 nights then I would skip the theme park and Sacramento, and do 3 nights in Monterey and SF.

A couple of years back we went to California and Nevada for a 14 night, flying in and out of Las Vegas. That time we did:

3 nights Vegas
7 nights Santa Monica (as a base)
3 nights Disney
1 night Vegas