SF three week itinerary help please.

[cleomummy]

We want to go and see my dsis in SF next July. Can't decide between two plans and which is best realistically for dcs 5 and 7 in terms on the amount of travel and sightseeing we do.

1. fly to SF spend 5 days there, then do san Diego, Death Valley, Santa Barbara? Anything else Worth doing?

2. spend 5 days in SF then fly to Florida afterwards, then 1 week Disney world, breaking it up with chilling pool/beach days though as think too much for dcs all at once. Then spend the last week exploring area. Suggestions please?

My dsis pointed out it would be 4th July when first there though so Disney land and world would be terrible and best to avoid.

I would actually rethink both options. Both are not ideal at all here for you and especially your children because they involve a lot of travelling around from place to place. It could be memorable therefore for all the wrong reasons.

Death Valley is also way too hot in summer for it to be seen at all comfortably. How would you travel to San Diego and or Santa Barbara?. By car?. Again there is a lot of driving involved and you could spend an inordinate amount of time behind the wheel. CA is a big state and is the size of the UK as well when this is measured from top to bottom!.

I would certainly knock option 2 on the head. Why fly cross country to FL to see WDW from SF when you could easily fly down to Los Angeles to see Disneyland in Anaheim (and with no time difference unlike in FL where you would have to put your watch forward 3 hours). It does not make a lot of sense. US internal flights also can be costly and there are no discounted fares for children.

I would instead consider a two centre holiday say SF and LA because this will involve less travelling around overall. You could spend say 5 days in SF and 10 days in LA or the other way around depending on where your flight back to the UK departs from. Many Anaheim hotels are geared very much towards families and its a nice part of LA to base yourselves in.

Thanks Attila- yes on looking you are right. We will leave Florida for another holiday. We have decided to stick to California this time. So I have began a rough itinerary for our three weeks
Fly to SF- 5 days with dsis, seeing SF sights.
Drive to Monterey/Carmel by the sea- Stay 2 days
Drive to Santa Barbara stopping at Malibu beach, we have friends there so a must- stay 2 days
Drive to Disneyland, stop off at Santa Monica- stay 2 days and do parks.

• fly from LA to Zion national park or Bryce canyon or Death Valley or Grand Canyon- which is best? spend 2 days there
• fly to San Diego, spend 6 days there- visit Laguana beach.

Does this sound like a reasonable itinerary with 5 and 7 yo? Want to see as much as can but also have relaxing times too without too much driving.

If we picked one out of the national parks mentioned above which would you choose?

I would say consider Yosemite. It’s not too far from SF and it’s beautiful. They have lots of stuff for families and lots of activities etc in all the NPs. Would definitely not recommend Death Valley in mid summer. It was warm (low 20s) when I went in January! Especially with kids I think it would be way too hot. As well as Yosemite I’d recommend the coast, Monterey is very nice. I wouldn’t recommend LA personally as I though it was quite an unattractive city but I know some people like the big attractions.

Swifter- yes going to avoid LA itself, been there and it was ok but no desire to go back. Only going to do Disneyland.

So you would recommend Yosemite over other national parks mentioned? Maybe fly from SF to there, back to SF and then do our itinerary rather than doing it later from LA?

Yosemite and Mammoth mountain are good ones to include. It you're happy to drive but the USA is so spread out you really do need a car to get around

@cleomummy

The reason I would go for Yosemite is that it’s not going to be too far out of your way/too far from SF. I’m not sure what you mean when you say you’d fly there though? It’s a four hour drive to Yosemite from SF. Sure you could fly to an airport that’s a bit closer, but you’d still have a two hour or so drive to get into the Valley. You’d just drive from SF. Yosemite is one of the most famous NPs for good reason. It will be hot in July but manageable. It has a lot for kids, you can camp, lots of walks and guided tours etc (although all the NPs will have lots to do!) I’d do Yosemite on this trip and save the other NPs for another trip. I’d start at SF, side trip to Yosemite and then back to the coast to drive down the coast to LA then fly home from there.

In response to your question about your other options for NPs. Death Valley is very beautiful. But it will be too hot in July. The highs will be up into the high 40s. Winter is the time to go. It is also far from San Francisco - about twice the driving time of Yosemite.

Grand Canyon is stunning and worth visiting. But it will also be hot. Depending on where you are, up to the high 30s in the bottom of the canyon. It’s also even further than Death Valley from San Francisco. You could do it by flying to Las Vegas but I think if it were me, I’d stick to California on this trip as there’s already a lot you could see without having to do internal flights. I’m just not sure it makes sense flying around when you’d have other NPs nearer that you haven’t yet been to?

Zion - obviously as you already know, it’s an internal flight or a very long drive! So on this basis I’d avoid for the same reason as Death Valley - I’d rather visit places nearby first and save this for another trip. I haven’t been but it looks great and the average temperatures don’t look too high.

Mammoth - again I haven’t been. It’s not as far as some of your other options and the weather looks fine.

Thanks swifter I will include the Yosemite NP from SF then go down the coast. Probably better for dcs then doing Disneyland with all that walking and then NP straight after. I think I thought you could fly nearer the NP but it's still two hours from airport now I ve looked it up.

I really want to see Grand Canyon and do helicopter ride so might include that but much too far to drive would certainly have to fly if we did which starts getting expensive

I would re-examine this second part of your proposed itinerary:-

"Drive to Disneyland, stop off at Santa Monica- stay 2 days and do parks.

• fly from LA to Zion national park or Bryce canyon or Death Valley or Grand Canyon- which is best? spend 2 days there
• fly to San Diego, spend 6 days there- visit Laguana beach".

You seem to be making the mistake of trying to pack too many places in and by doing this you will end up not seeing much.

Disneyland is a long way away from Santa Monica and you would be better off staying in Anaheim if you want to take them to Disneyland. The last thing I would think your kids would want after a long day at the parks is another 90 minutes or so (traffic can be bad) in the car back to Santa Monica. Anaheim is fine as a city and there are lots of family friendly hotels and restaurants in that area.

The nearest airport to Zion NP is Cedar City which is about 30 miles from this NP. I liked Zion NP very much but stayed in LV to go there. Its still however, about a 3 hour drive from Las Vegas on roads which are mainly two or single lane. The Grand Canyon is also far nearer to LV. Would therefore give both a miss this time around and think about Yosemite instead. That can be quite easily reached from SF and IIRC there is a train service to Merced which is near there.

If you were to stay in Anaheim as well you could drive from that city down into San Diego. No need at all to fly there from LA and as previously mentioned US internal flights can be expensive.

@cleomummy even if you fly to Las Vegas, it’s still a four hour drive to Grand Canyon. You can do a day trip from LV or the helicopter ride but it’s very far out of your way just for that and you’ll spend more time travelling than you would actually enjoying the NP. So you’d really have to want to see GC to make it worthwhile.

Ah thank you. Guess will give GC a miss. Think we will stay where Disneyland is for the two days rather than travelling back and forth to Santa Monica. On google maps it says it's only 42 mins so will stop off at Santa Monica before arriving at Anaheim.

Will change it to fly to SF, 5 days, drive/train to Yosemite. Will two days there be enough? We are not really hikers and I worry 7 yo will just moan the whole time. He's that type of child unfortunately. What's the best part to go to?

For a not very outdoorsy family, the place to stay in Yosemite is somewhere in Yosemite Valley. There's a range of accommodation, from a relatively fancy hotel (similar style to the one in The Shining), to a more basic motel, to tent cabins and campgrounds where you would need to bring your own sleeping bags, etc. There are plenty of shorter walks and places to see waterfalls, Half Dome, and many of the other sites that don't require a long hike. And there are interpretive ranger programs, plenty of which are specifically geared for children and families. Two days could be fine, depending on how much you wanted to do and see.

But it all fills up very quickly once reservations become available, especially during the summer. You need to make sure you can actually get in on the dates you want before making definite plans. You can stay outside the park and drive in to the Valley for the day, but traffic will be very crowded and slow.

Thanks sly

So if we're going early next July when should we book Yosemite to make sure we get in? I like the idea of a log cabin in the valley but not somewhere too basic. Is it dangerous with bears? Flights not released yet but I like booking in advance.

It can definitely be dangerous with bears! But that said, if you follow the rangers' instructions (especially about not leaving food or other interesting-smelling things in your car or around your campsite), they're very, very unlikely to actually bother you. Several thousand people a year visit without any problems, and the ones who do have problems have often done something stupid, like trying to take a selfie with the bear, or not following the rules about securing food & food waste. In most situations bears will prefer to leave you alone, or can be shooed away if you make yourself look big and make loud noises at them (We did an outdoor education trip to Yosemite when I was in school, and I remember being told to bang pots and pans at them). But yes, it's something to be aware of.

I don't know when they release Yosemite reservations, but it's worth looking now to find out when that is and making note of it. Bookings might not open up for several months, but the the more popular places often get filled up as soon as they're released. The park (like pretty much all US National Parks, I think) is much more crowded than it used to be.

Just to add that Santa Monica and Malibu are really close to each other. Not worth staying in both. Santa Monica is better for children. Also don’t bother with San Diego. Other places are so much nicer!

Can your sister not recommend an itinerary? If she lives there, surely she has some ideas? Personally I would go north from SF as well as south. See the giant redwoods. Also drive to Yosemite. You need a car. 2 nights isn’t enough. No, bears will not attack you.

We never moved all the time when we had young DC. They hate it. Build in down time at hotels with pools and access to the beach. Carmel has a great beach! Enjoy the scenery and see the wildlife. Go on a whale trip. Go to Hearst Castle and enjoy the mission at Santa Barbara. Don’t rush it and you will enjoy California a lot more. It is expensive though!

There are some great things to see in LA but you must have a car. It’s tatty in some places but there are some areas that are great. Why not stay in a south LA beach town? You can fly home from LA.

Just an aside: I’m not sure anyone hiked down to the floor of the Grand Canyon with children but in the summer the temperatures in any Nevada, Arizona or Utah Park will be like hell on Earth. Not sure children would really enjoy that when they could be playing in the surf at the coast. It’s a much better trip at Easter!

Thanks for the ideas bubbles.

The reason I was thinking of finishing at SD was so that can be our down time after quite a lot of travelling. Was thinking of renting a villa for the final 5/6 days there to chill out rather than actually seeing much of SD. Maybe doing few day trips to Laguna beach, point Loma, Catalina and la Jolla beach.

Perhaps we would be better spending more time in a few of the places as we go down for more chill out time and after Disneyland spending our final days in Carmel/ Santa Monica and doing those trips from there rather than going down to SD? Is SD worth it? Was also thinking of going to lake arrowhead from Disneyland too. If we stopped at Santa Monica or Carmel it would save a 1 hr 30 drive a allow more time in the other places.

Redwood would be too far I think.

We will certainly be renting a car.

We were hugely disappointed with SD. The beaches are great in other areas and I would not bother with the drive. We stayed in La Jolla and it’s a great place but I wouldn’t rate it better then Carmel. I would definitely spend more time staying at places on Highway one rather than going further south. I would end with Disney/south LA beach area. Fly home from LA.

You seem to be still making the mistake of trying to pack too much in and by doing so you will end up seeing not much apart from the car. Why travel to Lake Arrowhead as well from Disneyland?. Why there too?

There are nice beach towns not all that far from Anaheim and that part of LA too; places like Newport Beach and Huntington Beach for instance.

With the ages your children are you would be better off I feel doing a two centre holiday in one part of SF and LA, perhaps 7 or 8 days in each spot, basing yourselves in each one to explore the surroundings.

If your departure airport happens to be LAX as well it would make more sense to stay within the greater Los Angeles area.

Thanks Attila. Yes going to stay around Santa Monica rather than going down to Dan Diego to explore that area more and allow more days in each place as we go down the coast.

Arrowhead lake was just a place someone mentioned in one of the travel threads as somewhere worth seeing as part of a California road trip. I looked it up and thought it looked nice and liked the area of staying in a cabin in the forest.

I think, with the ages your children are, minimise the road trip idea. There are lovely paces to chill out and see bits of California in greater depth. With the time you have, SF, (5) Yosemite, (3) Highway One (6) and Santa Monica/South LA Beach Resort (7) will work. Very well. It will be great.

If non of you are hikers I would ditch Yosemite. It's beautiful but the roads are very windy and it will be busy/slow driving.

We've done California a few times. Stayed in San Diego summer 2017 and found lots to do. It's less tacky than Santa Monica. La Jolla beach and swimming with the sealions was the best experience. Recommend www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g60750-d83361-Reviews-Bahia_Resort_Hotel-San_Diego_California.html Has a private beach on a inlet so no big waves but also easy walk to main beach. Shows kids films by the pool or beach some evenings, old style clam bake & very close to Seaworld.