Los Angeles to San Francisco - recommendations please

[iwonttaketheeasyroad]

Hi all

Im thinking in 2023 of doing the drive from LA to San Francisco (also hoping to do Yosemite Park). It will be myself and my two daughters who will be 15 and 10. Anyone done this and can give us any tips ? recommendations ? Hoping to have 3 weeks to do this trip and its a bit of a holiday of a lifetime so any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Nepenthe is lovely.

Try and fit in Hearst Castle and a night at the MAdonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.

Very jealous!!!

PCH/101 is often subject to road closures due to rock falls. Keep a close eye on the situation at the time as the detours can be hours long.

We've done this. You could go further, for sure - we did it in two days.

I recommend Sonoma, north of SF, for a relaxing day or two in wine country. Also San Luis Obispo, and a stop at Carmel - it's a bit twee tbh but nice beach and Clint Eastwood was mayor there (so I'm guessing it's the Bray of America?).

So jealous - it's fantastic fun. We loved Santa Monica and wandering around SF at night.

We did San Diego to San Francisco in 3 weeks
3 nights San Diego
2 nights Disneyland
4 nights in LA
2 nights Sequoia
2 nights Kings Canyon
2 nights Monteray
1 night Santa Cruz
5 nights San Francisco

Oh this was our holiday of a lifetime. Have a wonderful time. Most people book into the national parks and rave about them; we did other things. Our personal highlights:

LA - unexpectedly adored all of it
Santa Monica Beach - just wow
Universal Studios - probably one of the greatest days of my life, and I don't really do rollercoasters etc
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library - insanely surreal- sad to miss out on the Richard Nixon library in San diego
Whale and seal watching in Monterey
Sam Simeon Beach and Hearst Castle
Big Sur scenery - wish we'd spent more time there
San Francisco - alcatraz, art galleries, food, Lombard Street, streetcars, Muir Woods tour
San Francisco food/walking tour in chinatown

Difficult bits - driving into SF was crazy, never been so happy to get rid of a car
Disliked Carmel very much
Didn't book accommodation in Monterey in advance and ended up paying a frightening amount for a crappy motel

In general, book everything and try to work out if you're going outside California holidays - will be easier if so.

I agree with @Ricekrispie22 San Diego is magnificent. We did Vegas to LA down to San Diego across 2 weeks and it was ample time. So 3 weeks would be plenty to do all those main sites plus more.

(Switching Vegas for San Fran of course)

Disliked Carmel very much

Oh, thank goodness - I was beginning to think it was just me.
OH really liked it there but I found it dull as ditchwater.

Monterey is wonderful, plan on a couple of days as the aquarium alone can be a full days visit. Big Sur scenery (101 access permitting) is absolutely divine.
Santa Barbara is a nice town for a stopover.

LA is the least pedestrian friendly place on the planet, but at least Universal is fun. If at all possible start in San Diego for a few days and just a day in LA; it really is pretty soulless compared with SD and SF.

Whether it’s worth a detour through Joshua Tree National Park depends on how you feel about deserts; personally I loathed it. We adored Sequoia and Yosemite, absolutely stunning. Some great lovely guesthouses in the small towns around Yosemite make a change from hotel chains and are very welcoming.

LA is decent on bikes, buses and Uber though. Everybody is stoned now weed is legal so wear helmets if cycling.

Carmel went south for me when I walked past a shop selling fancy dress for dogs

I didn't rate San Diego and wish I hadn't wasted the time going there.
Disneyland was amazing
So was Big Sur
We saw so much wildlife which I wasn't expecting - whales/seals/sea otters etc
I liked Herat castle too, worth the stop off

We did the reverse trip - flew to San Francisco and spent 3 days there, drove as far north as Calistoga in the mountains, stopping at Sonoma, Nappa etc en route. Came back south and took PCH 101 to LA taking in Big Sur, Monteray, Carmel, St Luis Obispo, Joshua Tree National Park, Santa Barbara, Half Moon Bay and we flew home from LA
It was an epic trip but we lost a few days due to a rock slide on 101 along the way and had to double back quite a long distance.

It's a memorable drive though

Palo Alto/Silicon Valley as a day trip from San Francisco.

We did the reverse trip too. I think DH wanted to drive close to the coast

We had a great little guidebook Lonely Planet Roadtrip California Highway 1 that was a slim little volume, detailing highlights.

I think the latest version might be "Pacific Highways".

It would be fun to give the kids some input into where to stay/visit.