Anyone done a California road trip?

[Imonlysaying]

Morning! Just looking for tips really. What are the must-sees and best routes. It’s all a bit confusing! Thanks 🙏

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This was my short california break.

We flew into LA hired our car and drove out to palm springs on Friday night traffic out of LA OK. Saturday morning we got up super early on UK time and drove to joshua tree. Had an amazing time watching sunrise over the desert. Love the joshua tree national park. We drive and dud mini hikes on the different loops. It was October but hot by about noon at which point we drove back to palm springs and chilled bhethe pool and had an amazing meal out. Food scene is great but relaxed not stuck up. Love Palm springs. Sunday we went to the palm springs aerial tramway. Amazing views and lovely hikes at the top of the Mountain.

Monday we drove to temecula and stayed one night in a winery, the next day we shopped in temecula which was a western type town very cowboy like. Then we drove to San diego. We spent several nights in san diego driving back to LA on Sunday evening. Traffic OK. There's tonnes to do in SD and I did plenty of chilling by the pool with a cocktail and running along the beachfront. Amazing holiday. Could have added a few more beachy places between SD and LA or gone to universal.

Where did you stay in Yosemite? Your trip sounds amazing & congrats on the wedding!

Yosemite Valley Lodge, originally I had a tent booked in Curry Village but kept checking for the lodge as that was our preference. You the NP accommodation at www.travelyosemite.com/lodging/yosemite-valley-lodge

Except the route is closed!

We flew into San Fransico. Then drove to San Diego via Yosemite, Monterrey and pismo beach and finished in San Diego and flew home from there. Brilliant trip. Yosemite and San Diego our highlights but loved it all.

OP driving from Yosemite to South Lake Tahoe involves driving along California Highway CA-49 which is not for the faint hearted !!! Very mountainous, steep drops and extremely bendy. Why don’t you fly into San Francisco, spend some time there first and then hire a car from the airport and drive from there. Don’t bother with LA, it’s too far away and doesn’t really have a Centre in the same way SF does. Monterey, Carmel and Santa Cruz are wonderful. It takes about 2.5 hours to drive from SF to Monterey along PCH 1.
3.5 hours from there along the CA 156 + 41 to Yosemite. 4 hours back up to S Lake Tahoe along the 49. Another 4 h then back to SFO along the I-80.
so lots of driving. Also Yosemite valley south entrance has its own road system and the places of interest like Mariposa Grove /falls are miles away from the payment barrier. So factor that in.

When I was a kid, my parents took me on a US road trip. It's still my favourite holiday that I've had so far. We flew into New York, stayed there for a few days, rented a car and drove via Boston, Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, then eventually San Francisco, Las Vegas, LA/Hollywood etc to Santa Barbara in California where we also stayed for a few days. It was AWESOME 🤩

Yes and came back pregnant!! Beware!! lol 🤣🤣

It's our favourite place to go too. We did a 3-week road trip the first time - San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Monterey, Pismo Beach, Santa Barbara and LA - which were some of the best weeks of my life. Then last year we did a trip to Las Vegas, San Diego and Orange County, and next year we're going back to spend 10 days by the beach in Orange County doing all the stuff we couldn't fit last year. I would honestly go to CA every summer. It's our family's happy place.