Californian family accommodation ideas?

[SaffyWall]

We're thinking of a family road trip around California and I was wondering if anyone had any family accommdation recommendations - for 2 adults and 2 teens. Hotels, B&B's, motels, lodges - I'm open to any ideas.

We're thinking of visiting LA, Las Vegas, Yosemite, San Fransisco, Monterey and Santa Barbara (and possibly some other spots too?). DH and I did a similar trip 20 years ago but didn't really book any accommodation in advance and I really think we need to be a bit more organised with children in tow!

Thank you.

Madonna Inn - San Luis Obispo.

Delightfully bonkers.

https://www.madonnainn.com/

Ah amazing OP, we did a roadtrip like that last summer it was brilliant.

San Francisco - maybe look at Fisherman's Wharf area. We were originally going to stay in Union square but after going glad we made the switch to Fisherman's Wharf.
Yosemite - highly recommend the official national park accomodation in the park. Originally I grabbed us reservation for a tent in Curry Village, but I really wanted the lodge. I kept refreshing the page nearer the date and managed to grab the lodge, which was a great location. You can book and cancel up to a week before so whilst it sells almost a year in advance, people start cancelling nearer the time.

Monterey - We stayed in Best Western Plus Monterey Inn, it was great.
Vegas we stayed at the Aria.
We ended our trip going Vegas > Grand Canyon > Lake Havasu > San Diego so can't advise much on LA I'm afraid!

Also if you use Facebook I recommend the 'California Dreamers and West Coast Wanderers' and the 'California Road Trips' groups for tips.

Most places sleep 4 so if you don't mind bunking in together you could wing it, I've never pre booked except in cities in the USA, and even that I book only a day or two before. It's so much more plentiful than Europe

In Monterey do not stay at the Tides. It is the worst place I have ever been.

The Garland is popular in LA, a bit cheaper than other places. It's noisy (up against the freeway) but has a pool and good for kids and the rooms are decent and clean.

In Santa Barbara, I'd think most hotels on the waterfront would be ok. A local told me never to stay at the Milo! Harbour View and Hilton are nice.

Was about to say Madonna Inn but someone got there before me! Definitely stay there if you can.

We did a similar road trip a few years ago. We started off in Santa Monica then headed north along the Pacific coast with stops at Santa Barbara,Pismo Beach, Monterey then finally San Francisco.Can highly recommend the Pismo Beach Lighthouse suites. Spacious 2 bedroomed suites with fantastic views of the ocean.Visited Solvang village and Hearst Castle along the way.

Highly recommend going via Lake Tahoe and Death Valley to Vegas if you can.

We went with our kids in 2021. I'll tell you where we stayed and whether I recommend it or not!
San Francisco: Riu Plaza Fisherman's Wharf - absolutely fine business type hotel. Pool was cold and actually SF is pretty chilly so you don't really need a pool.
Yosemite: Tenaya Lodge - stayed in a little log cabin in the woods by the hotel, which was lovely. TL is an hour south of the main gate of Yosemite though, so that's not ideal. Some friends of ours stayed at Evergreen Lodge and said that was great.
Monterey: Portola Hotel - we loved this hotel and it was our favourite of the whole trip. Great location, lovely breakfasts, but I don't know if you'll get availability for this summer. It's not the cheapest, but it is lovely.
Santa Barbara: Franciscan Inn - just a bog standard motel-type hotel really, but it was fine, clean, had a laundry, although I needed to go schlepping all around to get quarters for the machines, which was a PITA. Good location though only a block back from Cabrillo Highway and near Stearns Wharf.
LA: we got an Airbnb, so can't recommend, although we almost stayed at The Garland, which has movie nights by the pool and is supposed to be a super-fun place to stay with kids. It's near Universal Studios, if you're planning to go there.

Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite IS very lovely. Quite a bit of driving to get into the park though (and parking can be a challenge) so if you go high season perhaps better to stay in the park and take the shuttle buses around.

Thank you all. Some great ideas - I'm going to spend the weekend looking at them all.

Lat time we were in Califonia we stayed in an utterly bonkers 'Gone with the wind' themed hotel near Sequoia - I thought it was the maddest hotel in the world, but seems like the Madonna Inn might have topped it!

We did a similar road trip but also went to the east coast as well. In Yosemite I would recommend Tenaya lodge. It was lovely with gorgeous pools and a fire pit where you can roast marshmallows. It also had free laundry facilities which were a godsend half way through our road trip!

if you can get to Lake Tahoe, it’s amazing and I would recommend the Hyatt in the north of the lake. Absolutely stunning

Yeah Yosemite is tricky for accommodation. You either stay in the Yosemite Valley, which is the ideal location, but the accommodation choices are very limited. The Ahwahnee Hotel is gorgeous, but it's expensive and then there some very basic tent camps - we parked by Curry Village on a boiling hot day in August and were SO glad we weren't staying there. People were sitting in camp chairs outside their canvas tents, which must have been like ovens in the 100°F heat. It definitely wouldn't have been for us! The El Portal area (on Route 120) is probably the closest with hotels to the park entrance, or there are a good selection of hotels on Route 140 as well. I'd probably look at those.

I live 2 hours south of Yosemite and go there often. Make sure you have a reservation to go into the park! They’ve limited the number of people who can enter at peak times since the post-covid rush. Look on the official National Parks website. Have an amazing trip!