California holiday- advice appreciated!

[Bluebird23]

Hi,
We're hoping to visit California this summer. Myself, DH and DC (age 12 & 10).
Current itinery is:
Fly in to San Fran
San Fran - 3 nights
Lake Tahoe - 3 nights
Yosemite area - 2 nights
Sequoia - 2 nights
Big Sur area - 2 nights
LA area - 7 nights
San Diego - 4 nights
Fly out of San Diego or Lax
We've road tripped through Europe many times, so not overly concerned about the driving, but we want to enjoy the trip and not be stuck behind the wheel all day.
Any advice or recommendations would be much appreciated. Also, any tips about things to do and recommendation re the best beaches for family friendly body boarding would be great.
Thank you

Sorry...itinerary

What do you like to do? Are you big hikers, etc?

I would try and add at least another night on the highway 1 trip. There are lots of places to stop off and it is a long and slow drive down there.

There is a lot of driving on your itinerary

As pp said, that's a hell of a lot of driving

I would reconsider the 7 nights in LA - 3 days is probably enough. Add the extra 4 onto one of the other destinations

Agree, add a night to highway 1 and remember it can be affected by forrest fires, so have an alternative plan as a back up. Would highly recommend Santa Barbara for a night or 2.

I would also add a night to Yosemite if you're into hiking/outdoors (otherwise possibly not). It's a massive area with so much to see and do. The Mist trail was our favourite and is great for kids that age as it is an interesting climb with the attraction of (partly) hiking through the spray of a massive waterfall.

LA area does not need 7 nights, unless you're really into shopping so you can save some nights there.

Book Alcatraz NOW!
Recommend tented cabins in half moon village, Yosemite, great fun!

7 nights in LA is way too much. Cut that down and add it to the time you spend further up the coast as others have suggested.

What sort of activities do you all like doing?.

Purchase some decent scale road maps and plan your drive carefully. CA from top to bottom is about the size of the UK. CA should be savoured and not seen as a tick box exercise of places to see, it cannot all be seen in one visit.

There is far too much driving between places and you will also get sick of the car as a driver. You'd be better off spending more days in fewer destinations. For instance the distance between the Big Sur area and LA is about 300 miles and that is a lot to cover in a day, do you routinely drive that far here?. And LA is a huge sprawl of a place made up of around 100 interlinked cities.

I would do a circular route of Northern CA and fly out of SF rather than LAX or SD (LAX is a awful place to both arrive into and depart from). Only BA as well operate a direct service between SD and the UK also.

I’m just planning my trip and doing very similar (not LA), we’re spending 3 nights (5 days) in Yosemite and going to try to add in Death Valley too.

Also doing the south fork overnight kayaking/camping trip if you’re interested in that sort of activity. They do similar in Kings river near sequoia NP.

Contemplating whether to miss Tahoe and focus on the coast however we’re only there for 16 days. Surprised that the temperature only around 20 in the summer in the big sur area.

You should also book the accommodation inside Yosemite now as much is booked up for the summer

Agree that 7 nights in LA is a few nights too many. I would reallocate nights to Yosemite, Big Sur and Sequoia NP. Believe it or not, there can be traffic jams in the national parks.

YYY.
Book Yosemite asap. Also Alcatraz.

www.timeout.com/california/things-to-do/best-beaches-in-california
Surfing/body boarding beach suggestions.

You can get pretty cool weather in northern CA, so doing count on body-boarding conditions.

don't count

No Grand Canyon?

Driving in Europe is not really comparable to the US. Your itinerary will mean days of driving because you are trying to do too much. You need to think about what you specifically want to see and do and narrow your focus. Is there a reason you are doing 4 nights in San Diego? Recommendations? La Jolla is lovely, Carmel, Mendocino. Napa Valley. Driving up 101, beautiful scenery. Build flexibility into your schedule because if you really love somewhere, you might want to extend your stay there.

We went a few years ago, I’d take a couple of nights off LA and add them to Yosemite or Seqouia maybe.

We loved San Diego, Sea World was one of the main reasons we went, but know it’s not for everyone. The USS Midway was a highlight too.

LA we only did 3 nights, did Universal, walk of fame, La Brea Tar Pits and The Grove for the American Girl store (DD was 9 at the time and this was an absolute highlight for her!)

We have spent longer in the LA area because there is Santa Monica, Malibu, the Getty Centre and the Getty Villa plus driving along Mulholland Drive and the Paramount studio tour. There is loads to see and do but Brits tend to go to the big name theme parks and central grotty LA. There is so much more to see. You can also easily get to Pasadena and the Huntington gallery and gardens. Or even out to Joshua Tree and Palm Springs.

I would actually cut out San Diego (or you could drive there from LA) and redistribute the time to Highway 1. Not going to Monterey or Carmel is daft. Ditto Santa Barbara. You can also track the history of this coast be visiting the Missions.

La Jolla near SD is a nice place to visit but so are some beach areas north of LA. SD has some museums but we didn’t think they were exceptional.

Big Sur won’t be 20 degrees in the summer.

We did this with DC 5 years ago, we rented an RV and stayed in parks with some incredibly dodgy ones that we can laugh about now!

Agree that it's a huge amount of driving, and would leave San Diego and cut down on L.A. Disneyland is great fun in LA and very doable, Santa Monica is fun and half a day you'll see everything else. We loved the science museum to see the real life space shuttle close up.

Your kids might also like Santa Cruz on the road to Big Sur, it's straight from an 80s movie with a boardwalk fairground (was in the Lost Boys), great pizza restaurant where pizza served on frisbees! And lots of very cool skater types. Also Monterey aquarium and the area around is lovely.

I think Big Sur and the road from SF to LA is my favourite part of the trip so don't go through it too quickly! We stayed too in Pismo Beach and remember lying on the beach watching hundreds of pelicans fly overhead. So many great experiences that you might miss in a car.

I’d pick the car up as you leave SF - you can get over the flight and adjust to the time zone and it avoids having to pay for SF parking.

I’d also skip Tahoe (unless you have a particular reason for going) and spend more time around Yosemite / Kings Canyon / Sequoia and along the coast. Yosemite will be heaving in the summer, Kings Canyon is much quieter.

Unless you’re doing a lot of theme parks you won’t need 7 days in LA.

I tend to put together a spreadsheet (useful for hotel and other bookings) and work out driving distances between stops to get an idea of how much driving is involved.

Def recommend Santa Barbara. I would stay max 3 nights in LA itself but consider Malibu, Santa Monica, and Newport Beach, all nearby, for the other nights.

Palm Springs is another option!

Thank you for all the brilliant advice and recommendations.
We're thinking of dropping Lake Tahoe and looking to split time between Santa Monica and LA.
We would love to add the Grand Canyon to this trip, but thought we may be taking on too much.
I think we can add another day, so we'll have 24 nights in total.
Rough Itinerary
San Fran 3 nights
Yosemite 3 nights
Sequoia 2 nights
Big Sur / Coast 4 or 5 nights
La Area 3 nights

Santa Monica 4 or 5 nights
San Diego 4 nights

Thank you for the suggestion about creating a spreadsheet. I've made a start on this and it is really useful for plotting the distance / driving times.
Any comments on the new itinerary are most welcome.
Thanks again

I do appreciate that the distances are vast, but I

Not sure how you squeeze it in, but we Leo Ed Bass Lake. It's between Yosemite and Sequoia. You can hire a motor boat for the afternoon and have fun towing the kids behind on an inflatable tyre! One of the highlights of our holiday when we took dcs aged 13, 11 (and 6!).

Yosemite is a must see, but overrated. Way too busy. Sequoia much quieter and equally amazing. Check out some of the ranger activities in the evenings (star gazing, for example).

Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades are nothing special unless you are desperate for a beach holiday. In which case I would say Malibu or Laguna beach. You can easily visit Santa Monica whilst in LA.

LA is a business district really.

We went to Beverly Hills for the day/afternoon, then down to 3rd street in Santa Monica in one day. Then the next day in Malibu. We stayed in Silver Lake and drive everywhere. Went to the griffin observatory one evening.

We absolutely loved Bug Sur, Carmel Valley and Monterey. We stayed in a fab motel in Carmel and drove in/out various places for day trips.

Tahoe I thought was a bit of a dump. I wouldn’t go there again.

We arrived in LAX and drove up to SF.

We stayed at the Dream Inn in Santa Cruz for 3 nights as our Yosemite trip was cancelled due to forest fires.

I’m confused by the addition of Yosemite & Sequoia as to me they’re the same place. We went to SF, Yosemite and Carmel in August last year.( we waited until the US schools went back when the flight prices went down) We spent an equal ish number of nights in each area over 2 weeks. You don’t need a car in SF and the traffic is terrible so I would rely on public transport and Uber etc. SF is pretty edgy in places but it’s possible to avoid it if you stick to standard tourist areas ( although that’s not really my bag my DD enjoyed it ) We picked our car up on our last day and drove to Yosemite which took about 3 hours. We were advised to avoid Lake Tahoe at that time of year which was described as like “ Blackpool “ - not my words. The temperature went from 21 degrees in SF to 40 degrees in Yosemite. My DD7 was a trooper but the heat put paid to much hiking. We stayed outside the park at a hotel with a pool and I was very grateful for that. Carmel was very chi chi and low rise - independent boutiques, art galleries, restaurants and a lovely beach. The weather was perfect for me and about 25 degrees and the light was so amazing. We saw pods of dolphins swimming along the bay. We drove a day along Big Sur coast and that was cool - wooded and a big more indie than Carmel ( see the Henry Miller library). We also went to the aquarium at Monterrey but sadly went on a public holiday ( Labor Day I think) and it was absolutely rammed. - not very enjoyable. The exchange rate was terrible when we went ( $1.1 to £1 ) and eating out was not the bargain it used to be. Our final hotel had a kitchen of sorts but if I were to go back to the area I would try and get an apartment / Air BnB. I did love it but it was not a cheap holiday.

I agree with PP get the car on the way out of SF, parking is extortionate. I’d highly recommend the San Francisco Whale Tours company. We did a trip with them and they were great. My 8 year old said it was the highlight of the holiday. I’d also say just spending time seeing fisherman’s wharf, Lombard street and the other sites is great. We did the hoho bus going over the golden gate at sunset which was amazing, I would have loved to hire bikes and cycle across it but DH broke his arm just before we went so that was out.

Not been to all the places on your list but agree with pp parking in SF is difficult.
Try to get a hotel in San Diego with free parking as some hotels are $30+ per day.
I am a fan of the hop on hop off bus. We did this in SF and the trolley bus in San Diego, one of my favourite places. Make sure to do USS Midway. The tour guides are all volunteers who have served on the ship. Take the trolley tour which covers Coronado, Balboa Park and Gaslamp Quarter to name a few.
If you could factor it in I would definitely recommend The Grand Canyon. Awesome.