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.

Sorry meant Oakland, for the airport.

Yes, decided that extra day should be an extra day in San Francisco once we started deciding on what to do there.

Heading via Sacramento due to knowing people near there, en route to Yosemite.

Use google to check out distances and drive times. These are long distances. But the roads are good.

We went to Maui & Big Island, stopping in SF on the way back. In the middle of the school holidays SF was incredibly busy, cycling over the bridge was frustrating as there were so many people. We were advised to allow some enormous amount of time to catch a ferry back as they don’t have enough room for all the people who want to do it. It was good but it wasn’t the highlight of the trip. We booked Alcatraz as soon as bookings opened up & got the slot we wanted. I think that was very well run & interesting.

Pinkie - the distances and average times are already on my plan at home. Longest day should be under 4 hours though reality may make it slightly longer. We've tried to build in places to stop en route for lunch and a wander too.

No days will be as far as we've had in the past couple of years holidays - Montréal to Toronto took a long time, and Vegas to Santa Monica was a fair distance too. Hoping so anyway - obviously traffic can always mess up plans on the day.

Regarding the temperatures: Napa Valley had a high of 39 degrees last July. It can get very hot!

Cooler than Vegas was though - that was 37 degrees at midnight and 50+ in the day.

Google The Apple a farm at San luis Obispo. Magical. Get a room with its own hot tub. X

I think it's better to head south down the PCH so you are on the coast side of the road so I would definitely try to do San Francisco to LA rather than the reverse.

My biggest regret was not getting a couple of nights in a cabin on Big Sur.

Of all the places we went I was underwhelmed by Carmel, much preferred Monterey. Wished I had known to book whale watching trip from Moss Landing rather than Monterey pier and had booked it in advance.

Bambini where did you you stay in carmel please

Northern California is beautiful. I would check out Napa though as a lot of wineries were damaged or destroyed in the fires. This is a great place for wine tasting and has a lovely deli where you can buy a picnic www.vsattui.com/

We stayed here, 4 in one room. It was lovely and good location - would stay again though there are lots of nice similar places.

www.booking.com/hotel/us/svendsgaard-s-inn.en-gb.html?aid=356940;label=metagha-link-localuniversalGB-hotel-420069_dev-mobile_los-1_bw-0_dow-Wednesday_defdate-1_room-0_lang-en_curr-GBP_gstadt-2_rateid-0;sid=28a1bef9752c2c19c7d93a2be0bcc76f;checkin=2018-01-03;checkout=2018-01-04;dist=0;group_adults=2;hapos=1;highlighted_blocks=42006906_103242864_0_1_0;m_occ=2;matching_block_id=42006906_103242864_0_1_0;room1=A%2CA;sb_price_type=total;srepoch=1515023854;srpvid=cd16a876f0790038;type=total;ucfs=1&

Sorry, it was Svendsgaards Inn - link went wonky!

Ill look at that place britsinUS, thanks.

Has anyone done the wine train at all? Looks quite expensive, but saw it recommended in a few places.

Woohoo! Flights now booked and accommodation for Yosemite sorted too. Thanks all

Ta1kin We spent 9 nights in San Diego this summer and there was loads to do. The no.1 reason to go is the sea lions at La Jolla. So entertaining and if you keep your distance having a paddle there is an amazing experience. It is a lifeguarded designated swim area and learner snorkelling groups go in there. DS age13 said it was the best experience (on a trip that included SF too).

Other things we enjoyed were watching dolphins from the beach, Palomar observatory (back via Julian and famous apple pies), first baseball game for DS, USS Midway (far more interesting than expected). We stayed out at the beach area not downtown. Great food & seafood - didn't have a burger in 10 days !

Have you thought about Lake Tahoe?
It's on my list!

Lake Tahoe is too far for us this trip.

Have now booked the accommodation for Yosemite, Napa and Six Flags.
Still need to book for San Francisco and Monterey plus another mid journey hotel:

I am currently debating where to stay between Napa and Yosemite for a night. I know its only 4 - 4.5 hours drive but would still prefer to split it personally.

Had thought of staying at Sacramento - but not convinced and wondered if there was somewhere nicer to stay midway.

Any recommendations?