California - San Francisco and ???

[Aragog]

Looking for this summer. Me, DH and DD who will be 16y. Two weeks at the start of the summer holidays.

We are looking at flying into San Francisco, well possibly Oaklands as it is much cheaper at the moment. DD wants a day at Six Flags, and we would probably look at doing a national park too.

We like holidays where we have a few days somewhere and then move on - wouldn't want to be travelling every day but happy to do some travel days and stay in a place for a little whole before moving on. Can't decide whether to break the journey home and maybe fly over to NYC or Boston for a couple of nights, before heading home.

We have also been to LA and that area, so thinking of staying up higher.

This is just the start of our thoughts and planning so wondered if anyone on Mn had some suggestions, 'must dos' and advise.

Book Alcatraz in advance. In October it needed to be a week in advance. In the summer probably much longer.

We would never condider a theme park when the scenery is so wonderful.

That's fine. Each to their own. Its not something we need to be judged over. For us it isn't a choice of one or the other. We are happy to engage in both. Theme parks are something we all enjoy and especially dd. There will be one day spent in a theme park there - that is a definite and one we are all happy with. There are 13 other days to do everything else, so not a problem for us. I know theme parks might not be everyone's idea of fun - but they are for us. And on this occasion we are looking into meeting up there with an old friend of DD's who she used to go to school with when small and who now lives not far from there - they are still in contact on social media.

Monetary and Whale Watching is something we already have on our list. We went dolphin watching this summer and really enjoyed seeing them in the wild, whales sound amazing. Seeing the whales and doing a theme park are different true, but we will enjoy both and both are perfectly possible on the same trip!

Yes, we will book Alcatraz as soon as we are able, in advance.

will be very hot

That's fine. We are used to hot holidays in the summer. It was 50+ in Las vegas - we worked around it! We cant go away for more than a couple of nights at Easter - DD has her exams this year. We are used to hot summer holidays and it has never been a problem for us at all.

We will definitely look at the itinerary but as I said - we will probably do a little less and spend more time in each of the locations -- don''t want to be doing a lot of travel on several days. We don't intend to go down as far as LA on this visit - we spent over a week in LA two years ago (the theme park visits were in addition to this) so feel we don't need to return to that area so soon this visit.

Definitely do a day trip cycling across the bridge to Saucilito

Will have a look.

will be very hot
not for us - August and needed long sleeves and jeans every evening
up in the hills it was coats
the valley is hot, but the fog rolls in most nights over the bay.
It was lovely

low 40's every day in Italy this summer was MUCH hotter

we had an Airbnb in central SF and being able to wander the city was great
Arnold we stayed in a hotel,
other locations were with family

Agree about the temperature, we had to buy hoodies - we were quite unprepared! 😂

Great tip re hoodies. We are doing a mega road trip next year with US family and SF is on our list.

Hiring bikes, cycling over the bridge and exploring Sausalito was one of our highlights, too.

We had a smaller budget but went up and down the coast a bit. Saw Bodega Bay where they filmed the Birds. South as far as Monteray. Carmel to us was a deadtown, had a wander but didn't find anywhere for a coffee and a people-watch. So we went round the Mission (seen in Vertigo) and left.

LOVED driving down Big Sur and have umpteen photos of incredible views.

Cycling over the Golden Gate Bridge was an absolute highlight. Yosemite is amazing as is mono lake. Lots of fab places to relax for a few dates too.

I spent some time in San Diego and loved it there! Only a short flight from SF.

We enjoyed cycling SF bridge and Yosemite in August. Was so many people though - just bear that in mind - you’re sharing it with many many others.

Agree that Carmel is very gentile and perhaps overly manufactured- still lovely and worth a visit - Monterey had more of a down to earth feel.

Cabin in Big Sur!
Stayed in one that had a river through the site and a cool
Swimming hole. Barbecued outside at night.
Stunning.

We did a two week trip the summer just gone and did 3 nights San Francisco, 4 nights Yosemite (stayed at Rush Creek Lodge which was amazing), 2 nights Monterey (but next time (!) would stay in Carmel instead), 1 night in Cambria, 2 nights in Ojai (Santa Barbara was really expensive so stayed outside) and 2 nights Anaheim (for Disney). It was absolutely fantastic!
We have three girls under 7 and never once felt like we were cramming too much in.
I have previously lived in California and I went back when I was 16 with my parents and loved Yosemite and six flags so that’s a fab choice. I also loved the wooden rollercoaster at Santa Cruz and surfing/boogie boarding at Pismo Beach.
If you only have two weeks I’d be tempted to spend the time solely on the West coast to get in as much as possible and save the East coast for another trip.

Slight change based on flights and dates, and dh keep changing his mind!

Fly into LA and fly out of San Francisco.
14 nights.
Will have a car throughout but don't want to drive every day. Would like to end potentially with a few days in one place to relax before heading to airport.

Definitely want time in San Francisco and Monterey, and want to visit Yosemite. We also want to visit Alcatrax and the theme park (potentially meeting dd's friend there) and fancy seeing some wildlife - seals whales, sea lions, etc.

Triangle trips are fun.
We flew into SF, then flew to Portland then drove to Seattle and drove home from there.
Allow max 4 hours a day driving - in one morning and one afternoon session
we map planned the whole thing - two of our drives were too long due to traffic but having driven through Aberdeen WA we understood Kurt Cobain a lot better !!

SF airport is to the south west of the city - an easy hop from Santa Cruz (where you can watch Sea otters from the beach every day)

Santa Barbara!

GreatDuckCookery - we visited Santa Barbara on our last visit to California, just for a lunch trip really. It is one of the possibilities for a stop over on our way up the coast. Took ages from Santa Monica on Highway 1 though!

Ta1kinPeace - we do like that kind of thing. Last summer we flew to Montreal and flew home from Miami, via Toronto, Niagara Falls, Tampa and Fort Myers - though did do the Toronto to Tampa trip via plane.

Alcatraz is amazing, I've been several times, and would happily go again. You can get an audio tour which is narrated by former guards and gives you lots of insight into the history of the place. If they are doing night tours, you can also look around the hospital wing, which was macabre and fascinating. I love the place, can you tell?

When you get off the ferry from alcatraz, if you wander down the main road, you'll come to pier 39, which is where the sealions hang out, and a lot of the more touristy stuff is. You'll see the ferry building on that main drag there as well, they have a great market in there on a regular basis.

SF has lots of lovely things to do if you're a tourist, and I can't imagine anyone ever getting bored there so I know you'll have fun. Getting around the city, you can use Bart and the metro if you don't want to drive (I've driven in SF, it's not as bad as london but you do have to watch out for cyclists) Public transport is pretty simple, and not too expensive if I remember rightly. If you're going to be there a few days get clipper cards (like an oyster card) to get on and off all the public transport without having to mess about with cash. Or consider getting uber if you don't have it already.

Monterey is wonderful too, I see lots have people have recommended the whale watching, but I'd add a vote for the aquarium too, it's possibly my favourite place in the world. Carmel by the sea is also stunningly beautiful, and amazing places to eat and drink can be found there.

A lot of people like santa cruz, it's got a proper california beach bum surf town vibe to it, and a lovely beach, it will be quite hot in august though. You can fish from the wharf, and see sealions and other wildlife, plus you have the boardwalk which is kitsch and kind of fun.

Hope you have a fab trip, I spent quite a bit of time over there and would love to go back :)

Santa Cruz it will be quite hot in august though.
A whole gang of my family live there. It is just not.
Its a really pleasant climate. They are so lucky.

For LA, we stayed at the Bayside right overlooking the beack at Santa Monica (simple, reasonable but great location) and only a few minutes walk to the pier.

We drove to see Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills and ended up having a lovely (very reasonable) breakfast at a great bistro cafe right next to Tyffanys on Rodeo Drive and directly opposite The Beverly Wiltshire (Pretty Woman) hotel. Was cheap swanky fun.

Santa Barbara is lovely - we stayed there for about 5 days - splashed out on a swish resort just outside SB.

Stayed at a lovely motel in Carmel, they deliver a lovrly brekfast to your room every morning in chill bags. Would stay there again.

Argh - can't decide now.

Found more flights and just cannot decide whether to just:

(a) fly in and out of Oaklands, only going as south as Monterey type area and concentrating more on San Francisco, Napa Valley and Yosemite,

or

(b) fly in to LA and out of San Fran; making our way up the coast to Monterey and then up towards San Francisco, possibly via Yosemite.

I'm more inclined for (a) as we only went to LA region a couple of summers ago.

If you stay north you will not need to take real hot weather clothes ....

When we went to Yosemite there was no water on the falls!
But Calaveras was just astounding

So, now thinking of staying north...

Current thoughts are:

3 nights San Francisco
3 nights Napa Valley (from where we will also go to the theme park, as well as visit wineries)
1 night Sacramento
2 nights Yosemite (DD fancies visiting Columbia Pioneer village on route)
4 nights Monterey

Though just realised that is 13 nights so have 1 more night to play with somewhere - maybe a 5th night on the coast relaxing, an extra night at Sacramento or in San Francisco.

Napa : check that the wineries will be open - pretty bad fire damage this year

otherwise sounds FAB.
makes me want to go back

Take an extra night in San Francisco! Go over to Muir Woods, unforgettable. Go across the bay the other way to Berkeley and Oakland (not Oaklands!) There's not much in Sacramento, one night is too many, but that's just my opinion!, as a native.