American west coast

[OhCobblers]

Considering a trip Sep time but possibly earlier in the summer. We don't want to do the whole of the west coast but some fun driving, LA, San Fran, nice but not horribly expensive hotels! Seeing some obvious tourist attractions!

Does anyone have a clue where to start planning or researching this kind of trip?! Thank you!

Google is always helpful.

September is a great time to go
San Diego is wonderful that time of year
Pretty close to LA
Deffo hire a car and drive the coast
Look at trip advisor for hotels

Actually, I would start with Mumsnet - I've planned many a holiday using an advanced search on here as a starting point. I did the West coast years ago. Just remember to factor in plenty of stops - the reality of long drives with kids of any age is no fun. Also check out the weather for the last few years to get a sense of how hot it will be. When were the forest fires in the last couple of years? I don't want to be alarmist but these are issues which would be a real consideration for me.

@HundredMilesAnHour

Google is always helpful.

I do know that!! But hearing from anyone who has done it is much more helpful!! I've had a huge amount of travel recommendations and ideas from MNetters over the years either directly or reading other peoples threads!

@franke

Actually, I would start with Mumsnet - I've planned many a holiday using an advanced search on here as a starting point. I did the West coast years ago. Just remember to factor in plenty of stops - the reality of long drives with kids of any age is no fun. Also check out the weather for the last few years to get a sense of how hot it will be. When were the forest fires in the last couple of years? I don't want to be alarmist but these are issues which would be a real consideration for me.

Thank you - def looking at San Fran and LA. Was thinking Carmel too ?

I did San Fransisco - Napa - Yosemite - Santa Cruz - Monterey/Carmel - Morro Bay - Santa Barbara - San Diego and then back up to Los Angeles.

I absolutely loved San Francisco and was blown away by the coast, beaches and national parks that I encountered. Yosemite was incredible, as was the drive down Big Sur. They are both on the 'remember forever' list. That and San Fransisco were the highlights. I hated LA.

Carmel is nice - very nice. But there is nothing standout about it, other than the coast road it is on.

If you go after Labour Day, the weather is still nice but you'll get your pick of accommodation and it's off-peak prices.

The west coast is so beautiful. Have a great time.

In terms of tourist attractions - I'd recommend the evening tour of Alcatraz. It is particularly eerie and you get a real sense of what it must have been like as a prisoner on the island catching sounds of the folks eating and drinking onshore.
And if you're passing, Hearst Castle has a fair amount to see and a fun history.

September is great weather wise but the fires raged inland (we had to cancel trips to Tahoe) right around then. August is very hot down south (actually September is too)

Before we started getting terrible summer fires I’d have said sept/oct is perfect but the last couple of years the fires have been intense

A couple of highlights from my trip ( about 10 years ago tho!)

We did an amazing kayaking trip near to point Lobos where we saw loads of wildlife. There is also a nature reserve there which was nice to walk around.

Big sur is beautiful - there was an amazing restaurant with spectacular views called Nepenthe where we stopped for dinner and drinks.

Have a wonderful time, it's beautiful!

My top tip would be to make sure you Google any local festivals, touristy events and ensure you book accommodation in advance if you want to be at them.

We didn't and ended up spending the night in the car as there was no accommodation available!

It depends how experienced you are driving in the US because LA can be very busy and traffic is heavy, so you can spend a lot of time just driving to get across to things in LA if you aren't careful and that's so boring. If you drive the coast road there's a place to stop where you can see seals about half way between, though I can't right now remember what it's called, sorry. San Francisco is much more easy to get around and you can walk to places much more easily. We had a great few days in SF staying in an airbnb in one of the historic suburbs quite near a subway stop. The waterfront is great and the trip to Alcatraz was weirdly a highlight for us all. Have a brilliant time.

In terms of planning the trip we have in the past looked at the itineries offered by US roadtrip specialist holiday companies such as roadtrip USA just to get an idea of potential routes and then booked our own. Once you get a doable route planned (max 5 hrs driving a day is best) then hotels etc are easier. We use expedia to find reasonable hotels and most have been OK - just double check locations vs anything you might want to see as a lot of US cities are quite sprawly and its no fun being stuck in a retail park on the edge of town (true story!)

Carmel is lovely for a few hours,not a stopover as not enough to do.
San Francisco is amazing,3 days should cover it.
Alcatraz was the highlight for us too,still remember the omelette I ate for breakfast sitting in the sun at Fisherman's Walk, bliss!

We are different to other people in that we do spend time in each place! We don’t just rush on to the next place. We find it nicer to get to know somewhere rather than be a tourist. I also highly recommend using Lonely Planet for any planning on this route. It has all the recommendations you will need.

So, I would start with SF. You can get out to Sonoma or go over the Bay to Sausalito. However SF has enough to see as well. We didn’t think much of Fisherman’s Wharf but there are fantastic areas elsewhere.

We did stay at Carmel for 2 nights. There’s enough to see in the area and the beach is the best for R&R. The Mission is worth a visit and it’s nicer than Monterey (but you should go there). You need to check out whale watching trips.

Further down there’s Big Sur, Hearst Castle and a choice of beach resorts. Plus there are wildlife areas.,Then visit Santa Barbara before LA. We stayed in Santa Monica in a B&B. We really liked it there and it’s a good base.

When in the area, go to Malibu and the Getty Villa. Beach life is interesting there. Then do not miss The Getty Centre in LA. It’s an amazing building. I also recommend driving the full length of Mulholland Drive for the views and Hollywood sign, visit Paramount Studios and The Hollywood Museum in the former Max Factor factory. Central LA is fairly horrible and yuk but there are some iconic buildings here. There’s a great day trip out to the Huntington Gallery snd Gardens at Pasadena which is world class. There’s a car museum in Pasadena too.

We thought SD was ok. We stayed at La Jolla which is much nicer. It’s where the seals and sea lions are. They are ultra smelly though! You can fly back from SD. You really need 2 weeks plus if you want to get to know this area and not skim the surface. We spent more than 2 weeks doing SF to LA. I don’t follow coach trip itineraries because they miss so much! Take time and enjoy it.

Loved our trip to West Coat - I am in car with DH going to see my Dsd and trying to work out how long ago it was .... 1997 !!!

So will have changed vastly since then

But still remember the following as standouts - Alcatraz trip, blueberry buttermilk pancakes sitting at Fishermens Wharf, walking across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito - lovely afternoon there and ferry back to SF, helicopter over Grand Canyon, the lovely road trip recommended by lady in gift shop along the canyons , drive through big Sur coastline , (could not go to Yosemite due to snow - this was May !)
Driving into Las Vegas early evening and staying at MGM Grand for the night
Driving through Death Valley and meeting 2 bus loads of German tourists - they gave us diet cokes
DH agreed with all this and addded Hoover Dam

We did a 3 week drive for our honeymoon.
Started/ended in LA. Headed up the PCH - stopped in Monterey which I loved, would love to return there one day.
I wasn't impressed with San Fran, Alcatraz was good but didn't like the vibe from central San Fran.
We then went across to Yosemite, Vegas, Grand Canyon.
Heading back to LA we stopped in Palm Springs which was also amazing!
Also loved San Diego.

I spent alot of time reading peoples blogs to get ideas. We had a mix of really cheap hotel/motel rooms up to a super luxury one in Palm Springs.
It was expensive overall but an amazing experience 😊

@OhCobblers
I think you have to decide if you want to rush around like a blue areas fly and just visit “big” attractions and go into other states, or whether Highway One has enough for you on this trip. We like to get to know places a bit better and relax on beaches or in nice hotels. Americans will often chat to you and give you restaurant recommendations. As you can see, we approach holidays differently so I think you need to decide what type of person you are. I’m definitely in the slow lane!

We’ve done this trip a couple of times - pre and post kids.

I pull together a spreadsheet of likely stops and the driving distances between them - the US is vast and it’s easy to spend a lot of time in the car if you’re not careful.

Also tend to book accommodation in advance via Booking.com or Hotels.com, which can easily be cancelled if your plans change. Many hotels have laundry facilities which means that you can travel light.

Alcatraz is great for a visit - you will need to book this well in advance.

Keep an eye out on Highway 1 updates, it can be shut due to fires, landslides etc.

A few years ago we did San Diego, up through LA to SF, then across to Reno, Yosemite, Death Valley, LV, Palm Springs and back to San Diego over 4 weeks and it was a whistle stop tour (we had done the more cultured bits of LA on a previous trip so this time it was a quick stop to do Universal Studios and Venice Beach / Santa Monica pier and Hollywood for the DCs).

Who is ‘we’ OP?
Sounds like you’re looking at a road trip style holiday?
Booking flights , accommodation, car hire separately?
How long do you have? 2 weeks , 3 weeks , less, more?
Do you a ‘must see/do’ list?
Are you happy to walk/cycle if required?

thank you so much for all the info so far! some great ideas. DH has now thrown a spanner in the works as he thinks we (included teenage boys) should include NYC. So looking at flying to San Fran and spending 9/10 days driving and ending up in LA or San Diego if time and then flying to NYC for 3/4 days.
How does one see the Grand Canyon if you don't want to hike or go in a helicopter?!
@tanstaafl i'm happy to cycle a bit ! and walk a bit but trying to make sure we have downtime too, ie, beach, side of pool etc,

You just drive into the park and look over the railin 😂

It’s a long way to go for looking at a canyon! The GC is amazing but so are lots of other natural sights in Arizona. Just doing one is ticking a box. With your timescale, stick to west coast and spend a few days slowing down.

DH is being a bit of an idiot too. Talk him out of that. Another ticked box. NY is better twinned with east coast cities and destinations. Don’t do this and end up sitting in airports for hours!

"H has now thrown a spanner in the works as he thinks we (included teenage boys) should include NYC. So looking at flying to San Fran and spending 9/10 days driving and ending up in LA or San Diego if time and then flying to NYC for 3/4 days".

I would also talk him out of doing that; apart from anything else it will just further eat into your valuable holiday time.

You also do not want to spend most of your holiday going from one place to another via the car after a mere day or two. If you have two weeks I would make it a two centre holiday and spend a week in each. San Diego can be reached from the southern most areas of LA (Anaheim for instance in a couple of hours). LA is itself made up of around 100 individual smaller cities joined together.

And you're a fair old distance from the Grand Canyon if either in LA or SF because the best place to see the GC is from the Arizona side of the canyon. Indeed stick to the West Coast and slow down a bit.

Talk DH into separate trips for the East Coast and for Arizona / Utah / New Mexico. You could do a fab trip to take in the Grand Canyon, Arches, Bridges, Bryce, Zion, Monument Valley, Santa Fe etc.