California Road Trip

[blueboocat]

We are thinking about a holiday to California in October 2023. I have a 13 year old and an 8 year old.

Has anyone done a road trip, San Fran to Los Angeles that could help me plan and would love recommendations of where to go, what to see, where to stay.

This will be a big holiday for us, probably only going to get to do in once so want to make sure we cover the best parts. We could probably for 2 to 2.5 weeks.
My son loves Death Valley and would love this to be included into the trip, as well as Disney in Anaheim.

Also, is late October a good time to go?

My favourite place is the Redwood National Forrest.

The exchange rate is the worst it's been in years and years. just be aware you will be paying well above the odds for everything.

I've done the full PCH road trip, and did a Deep South one earlier this year - hotel and car hire prices have shot up post pandemic, and eating out + tips etc is so much higher now our pound is so weak.

The fortune cookie factory in San Fran is worth a visit. I'll try and remember my other favourites. Cycling across Golden Gate Bridge was awesome.

It's great. Don't forget Yosemite too. Do it as a round trip - fly into la, travel out to Death Valley (easy drive) stay at furnace creek, optional overnight in vegas then up to Yosemite, out to Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, then coast road back to Anaheim, fly home.

If your budget allows always stay in the national park lodges, I love the historic buildings

This type of trip is def on my dream list...would 20k even cover a trip like this for a family of 4? Prob way out of my realm...
Have a brilliant trip OP

You'll need at least two nights in Yosemite, because it's not near anywhere, so you'll have a longish drive to get there and a longish drive when you leave. I think we stayed three nights, because we wanted to have a full day in Yosemite Valley and also to do the walk up the Mariposa Grove (which I think is now shut, so you can't do that!).

We stayed at the Tenaya Lodge, which is very comfortable, but it is an hour's drive south of Yosemite Valley. Personally, if I went back and could find accommodation in or much closer to Yosemite Valley, I would. Some friends of ours stayed at the Rush Creek Lodge, which is a bit closer, and they said it was great.

Your itinerary is fine OP, if a bit breakneck pace. Two nights gives you one day in each place, which is enough to get a taste and if that's all the time you have and you want to cover a lot of ground, it will be okay.

Try an Airbnb in Yosemite West - your own space, not camping and about half an hour’s drive from the Valley. You do need to bring your own groceries, and I think it might be a trickier drive in winter with snow. In summer it was lovely.

I'd drop a day somewhere to fit an extra night in Yosemite because of the travel time, you don't want to end up with only one proper day there.

Definitely stay in the park if you can. We stayed in the Curry Village tents which was a great camping experience but might be a bit rustic for some. We also booked our Yosemite accommodation before our flights because its so hard to get in.

I personally didn't rate LA and wish we'd have travelled down to San Diego instead. We loved San Francisco but its the most expensive place I've ever visited. A 3 day stint there cost as much as a week in Yosemite, Monterey and Santa Barbara which aren't known for being cheap options.

In Yosemite get as close to the valley as you can. I stayed in curry village in the summer, basic but fine. In a cabin in winter, still basic but lovely, it snowed. And once in a motel outside the main gate, which had hummingbirds on the balcony overlooking the river.

I love Yosemite. Try and get a full day there, so stay 2 nights, as it’s lovely early morning before day trippers and those staying outside the valley arrive and great when they get home. The best bit is hiking up off the valley floor, which can be a zoo, but get a 100 foot up and you’ll be on your own. Heed the bear advice.

And agree that on a short trip San Diego better than L A. We spent a lot of our time in LA stuck in traffic.

Tip for San Francisco - collect your rental car when you LEAVE as parking is very expensive and you don't need a car in SF. You can walk or take a taxi or tour anywhere you want to go.

We went in late October Early November 2019 and it was fabulous and lots of good advice above but be very aware about Yosemite. Some of the routes in close around that time as soon as snow arrives and the other routes demand snow chains. The patrols won’t let you in without them and none of the car rental places we tried would allow snow chains to be fitted.
We decided not to take the risk of having accommodation booked and not being able to go so we missed out Yosemite completely this time and saved for a future summer trip.

btw Alcatraz has back stage tours that sell out very quickly. I booked mine exactly 6 months in advance as soon as the tickets went on sale. Totally totally worth it.
Our highlights were Alcatraz, Grand Canyon (stayed at El Tovar), Sedona and Monterey.
Also enjoyed 17 mile drive at Las Vegas (surprisingly).
At LV watch out for strip fees and parking fees, these push prices up ridiculously. We stayed back one block with free parking and no strip fees in a time share apartment that was excellent location.
Best holiday ever.

@blueboocat
Its a great shame that so many posters are talking about cities and areas that are not in California. Highway 1 is wonderful. You don’t need to keep on the move every day. We found loads to see and do in SF and all the way down to LA. LA also has iconic buildings (Getty Centre in particular) and don’t forget Santa Monica and Malibu. We don’t do theme parks but made a huge mistake and visited Solvang. Don’t. Awful.

However whale watching from Monterey, visiting Sonoma for the wine area, going to see the Redwoods north of SF are all great things to see and do. Carmel has a wonderful beach. The Missions are worth a visit. We had lunch at The Post Ranch Inn. Nepenthe at Big Sur is cheaper! The California coast has a lot to offer and you really don’t need LV or other areas.

Death Valley in summer is just a “no”. October it’s doable but you could visit Joshua Tree NP or Sequoia and Kings Canyon NP. Death Valley hasn’t much to offer in my view. It’s just what DS has heard of. The Huntington Gallery and gardens at Pasadena are worth a detour. There’s a car museum, Petersen, in LA too. Most people overlook it, sadly. As they do the Getty Centre.

If it helps this is my itinerary for August
Monterey Number of Nights: 2
Santa Barbara Number of Nights: 2
Sequoia Kings Canyon, Sequoia Number of Nights: 3
Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite Number of Nights: 3
Mammoth Lakes Number of Nights: 2
Lake Tahoe Number of Nights: 3
Redwood City, CA 94063, United States, San Francisco Number of Nights: 1 (night before flight home)
We'll have a 7yr old

'The pacific coastal highway from SF to LA was stunning. Have to say LA was a bit of a let down'
Agree with this, we did the Pacific Coast highway when our daughter was a baby, had already done LA so we flew in and drove straight to Santa Barbara

Death Valley in summer is just a “no”.

It’s yes from me. We did it roof down just to add to the atmosphere.

We stopped because my husband wanted to go for a walk to take photographs and a woman cycled past with her bike all laden with camping gear. It was 50 degrees.

We're paying just over £8.5k for 3 of us in August inc car hire, most hotels room only but 2 or 3 and bed and breakfast rates

We did three weeks in August a few years back and had to cancel Yosemite because of the fires which were really bad that year.

Started in LA which was fun - we did Warner Bros Tour which I thought was great, and as we had kids with us we spent a day at Universal which was fun but SO busy. Went to Santa Monica which I'd gladly never go near again.

We loved whale watching at Monterey (make sure you use travel sickness remedies even if you don't normally get sick!), night tour at Alcatraz.

We also did Death Valley in August, not sure why a previous poster said it was a 'no', we had an amazing time during the day and swimming in the warm swimming pool under a very dark sky at night, looking at the milky way is a great memory with the kids.

Got to admit I was pretty underwhelmed by Grand Canyon. We went to the South Rim but it was a long day and I didn't feel it was the amazing experience we thought it would be.

Weather got us a bit - it was glorious most of the time but Karl was out in full force so we didn't see the Golden Gate Bridge however cycling across it to Sausalito was great. It was also really foggy the whole way down from Carmel to Santa Barbara so didn't get to see any of the 'scenic' views! I loved San Francisco so much to see and do there, Monterey was a bit odd but we stayed at Carmel rather than Monterey which was a lovely place, and Santa Barbara was my other favourite stop.

I think the Grand Canyon is amazing, but the first time I went we hiked down and camped. Second time took DH and we were just there overnight. Hiked down a bit - he still loved it - but I liked the first time best.

Another tip OP - as you can see from this thread people's opinions of different places vary hugely. For some, a place will be the highlight of their trip, for others it will be a 'wish we hadn't bothered'. So do you own research as well and chat to people you know who've been and who tend to enjoy similar things to you. We got some amazing tips from MN and from the FB group 'California Dreamers and West Coast Wanderers', but in the end it was our trip and some things that people raved about (see Solvang above as a good example), simply weren't anywhere near as great as people said, whereas for us watching sea otters just puttering about in the marina outside the restaurant in Monterey where were having dinner was amazing.

Yes, some of the things highly recommended on this thread weren’t that great for us (Alcatraz too crowded to enjoy the tour, and covered in flies, cycling over the bridge meant dodging tourists and battling a strong headwind) while we loved some things that haven’t been mentioned (the Exploratorium, the cable car museum, all of Yosemite).

My top tip is to pack for all weathers - in summer, we needed everything from coats, hats and gloves to sunblock clothing and big hats.

Yes, we thought Alcatraz was pretty disgusting too with all the birds and flies @BookedOut. Maybe it would be better in October when the OP is going? I thought the whole island stank, although the audio tour of the jail itself was really interesting (for adults - my at the time 13 and 10-year-old DC didn't find it so).

Another thing we didn't love was driving Highway 1. I know, radical right? When I said that on CA Dreamers and WC Wanderers I got leapt on. But for us, the first 10 miles were amazing - gorgeous views, etc - but after that it was 5 hours of tedious driving slog with one DC feeling carsick from the winding roads. If I went again, I'd drive the bit south of Carmel and 'Ooooh' and 'Aaaah' at the views, then turn around and go back and drive down Highway 101 instead. But that's just us. Each family is different.

I've done this (or similar) loads of times — it's great.

Distances are worth double checking. If you stick to the (boring, inland) freeways, you can do SF to LA in about five hours. However, if you want to do the scenic route on the Pacific Coast Highway (aka Highway 1) it's about eight.

Highway 1 is nicest from about half an hour south of San Francisco to an hour south of Big Sur, IMO. Once you start approaching LA it becomes a bit less pretty.

Keep an eye on the road reports for mudslides, especially in the central California area. This can shut Highway 1 and cause a lot of issues/delays.

One insider tip from me. Don't call SF 'San Fran'. The locals loathe that and it immediately marks you out as a noob. It's San Francisco, SF or 'the City'.

Cafe de la Presse (if it's still there) on Grant Av in San Francisco is brilliant for breakfast.