Hidden gems within 4 hours drive of San Francisco?

[Spellfish]

We’ve got the possibility of cheap flights to San Francisco in August - me, DH and DC 11 and 14. Can anyone recommend something other than the stuff that comes up in Google - Yosemite, Alcatraz, Sequoia?

Happy to do those, but any hidden gems would be great. We like hiking, food that isn’t fast, wild swimming and anything mechanical (oldest DC’s favourite thing in NY was the subway museum). Not keen on super long drives of massive crowds. Can anyone recommend places to stay or activities that you’ve done and were great?

Doesn’t need to be luxurious, but not camping and not super crowded if possible. Ideally self catering in one or two of the National Parks, I think, plus a couple of days in the city.

[Ohsugarhoneyicetea]

If you stay at Esalen you can use their natural hot springs on the cliff edge overlooking the pacific in Big Sur.

www.esalen.org/visit/campus-features

[Spellfish]

Based on these suggestions, I’ve done a bit of looking at maps and guidebooks, and am wondering whether the timings are right?

2 days in San Francisco - museums, bridge etc
4 days in Yosemite
4 days in Kings Canyon / Sequoia
Overnight in Monterey (to break up the drive back to San Francisco)
San Francisco for a night before getting the plane

I’ve got a few more days to play with as we’re going for 14 - I’m torn between extra days in the parks and one more stop, but not sure where especially as we don’t want to drive for more than 4 hours in a day. I’d love to fit in Death Valley or failing that Mono Lake, but in August I think we’d melt, and it would be a lot of driving as there’s no short way to get from there into Kings Canyon.

[ninjafoodienovice]

Definitely Monterey, the aquarium is out of this world and the fresh seafood was really lovely too.

Also second the cable car museum in SF. In downtown SF you can go into one of the skyscrapers (pretend you have a meeting) and just ride the elevator to see the views

[skellingtonboot]

Nice link @LondonMummer

I've book marked it for future reference.

We have been to SF loads of times. Last time was the whole family - us, the children and grandchildren. We stayed in Sausalito, right on the beach. Seems like a lifetime ago.

[ScottishDiblet]

I went years ago with a friend and we drove up to the Russian River and did a canoe trip there and stayed at ferngrove.com/ we loved it and would highly recommend seeing the redwoods there.

[Divebar2021]

We visited Yosemite 2 years ago but stayed outside the park to keeping the costs down… drove about 20 minutes to get into the park. I have to say it was 40degrees in August so beware of that if you’re not big on heat. We then travelled to Carmel which has a lovely beach but is quite “bouji” for my taste ( an outpost of Tiffany as an example). We were in an apart hotel though so kept costs down that way. We did a drive down onto Big Sur which we all loved… if I were to go back I’d definitely position myself along there. Hidden beaches, rugged coastline and forests. It has a very artistic vibe. The week after we left David Crosby ( from Crosby Stills & Nash) was playing a live gig at the Henry Miller library. I’m sure there’s lots of money around there but it wasn’t quite so overt as Carmel.

[CMOTDibbler]

Monterrey - go kayaking in the bay and you can be close up to sea otters, and do a whale watching trip. Last time I was there I saw an orca from the deck in front of our hotel.
The Hyatt at Carmel Highlands has the most amazing restaurant view where you eat and watch whales

Theres a good aviation museum in SF too

[Spellfish]

Wow, so many things to look up! Seeing the cable cars turn around, the quieter parks and the tips on the bridge are brilliant. The DC aren’t big on animals (we’ve tried) but historical stuff is good, and I think an observatory would be fantastic. I will go through all this tomorrow properly (doing the post school busyness right now) and probably come back with questions - but thank you all!

Oh, any thoughts on places in National Parks to stay would be wonderful. We want a good few days with not much driving and staying in one place and hiking / swimming / relaxing, was thinking Yosemite or Kings Canyon but perhaps some of the suggestions up-thread would be better?

[LondonMummer]

Exploratorium is also a MUST (for the fog bridge alone)

Here are the details of our trip. Some of it won't be your bag but there are some hidden gems on there

affordacool.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/california/

[LondonMummer]

Definitely Roaring Camp Railroad to see the redwoods. Fantastic day out (after that keep driving down to Monterrey and visit the aquarium)

[nellly]

Drive up to Mendocino county and see the redwoods and some small off the beaten track towns

[nellly]

Sausalito, gorgeous little town and you can hire a bike at fisherman's wharf, cycle there over the Golden Gate Bridge and catch the ferry back to where you started

[Libertynan]

Also.. Sorry

If you do decide to drive over to Tahoe and want to break your journey - check out Murphys. It's a small town midway between the two. It's big on wine and wine tasting. So not much good for the DC. It's a little bit of history though, with some nice old buildings and a small museum. It's very hot there in the summer though.

[Libertynan]

Also Muir Woods is worth a visit. In the same area try and get to Sausalito.

In summer the fog is at its worst - so you may need to drive over Golden Gate Bridge a couple of times to see it :)

[Libertynan]

Tahoe is fabulous. It's about 4 hours from SF and is worth it.

My family live there so we tend to visit every time. Beautiful scenery. Great restaurants. My favourite lake beach is Roundhill Pines. Get there early to get a parking spot and spend the day there.

Also for a bit of history if you are in the Tahoe area head to Virginia City - you can spend half a day there or longer probably?

[GrumpyPanda]

Bodie Historic Park would be great fun with kids - it's a goldmining ghost town. Bit further than you specify but totally doable as a round trip with either Yosemite or Tahoe. www.monocounty.org/places-to-go/bodie/

Or for closer to home and away from the crowds, the Russian River area is lovely and can be combined with a trip to Fort Ross (former Russian colonial outpost and museum).

[PragmaticWench]

Julia Pfeiffer state Park has the most stunning waterfall down onto a beach. You just wander from the car park and find yourself on a cliff overlooking the beach. We turned into the car park on a whim and were so glad we did!

[popcornsong]

Jamestown is a great Western town from gold rush days. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was filmed there as was High Noon. Now full of saloons and antique shops and Western memorabilia. There is a Walk of Fame which reveals just how many movies have been filmed there, an historical railway park where you can ride a Western steam train (the one from Back to the Future III) and you can try gold panning. Also would agree that Monterey (and Carmel) are lovely although the former quite a tourist trap. Do not miss the Madonna Inn.

[PastMyBestBeforeDate]

Tahoe and Monterey were going to be my suggestions.

[adoreyou]

Came on to say Sausalito.
Beautiful place.

Hire bikes in San Fran, cycle through the park, over the bridge into Sausalito.... I think you can get a ferry back... one of our best day trips

[Covidclaire]

I love Point Reyes and Tomales Bay. Great walks if you’re into that.

And some great self catering cabins on the shores of Tahoe.

[SpinningTheSeedsOfLove]

Would you be interested in observatories? There are a lot in and around the Bay Area. Just google for them. I would definitely want to visit one of the open-to-the-public astronomy ones.

[Aboutcoffee]

Came to say Muir woods.
Also Sonoma Valley.
South of SF take route 1 to Monterey.

[MrsMariaReynolds]

Not exactly hidden gems, but the Hearst Castle in San Simeon is interesting. Further down the coastMadonna Inn in San Luis Obispo is amusing. Solvang is an interesting townsupposedly with a Danish flare. 🤷‍♀️

[DorotheaFrazil]

We went sea kayaking at Elkhorn Slough (about 1hr45/2hrs south of SF). Saw sea otters and sea lions up close and personal from the kayaks and it was amazing! It's not the open sea so more like an estuary so you can manage it with zero kayaking experience.

The aquarium at Monterey was also one of the absolute highlights of our trip.